Keeping Mice Out Of Motorhome

[woodlodge]

What is the best way to keep varmints out of the my coach over the winter?

I have heard Bounce dryer sheets in the basement and drawers and also mothballs?

Anyone used these things or have any other ideas?

[nitehawk]

Put steel wool around any landline ports in use. Use a few drops of oil of peppermint on cotton balls thru out the coach, including the engine compartment. OIL OF PEPPERMINT--NOT PEPPERMINT EXTRACT!! Oil of peppermint can be found at most natural vitamin stores but it is not cheap anywhere: about $5.49 for .34 ounces. The advantage is that mice and other rodents really hate and avoid it. Bounce sheets have on occasion been chewed on. If it makes you feel more confident use all three preventatives as you can never have enough!!

[jmonroe]

I've had mice build nests out of the dryer sheets. This year I'm taking a multi-pronged attack. I've got moth balls in the basement storage areas, Fresh Cab in the large rear closet and under the bed and living room sofas, peppermint oil in the smaller cupboards and storage areas. As I already had them, I also went ahead and plugged in the electronic repellants I had, but they had not been successful, on their own, in repelling the vermin.

With all of this, I'm not at all confident that I won't find their calling cards all over come spring. They are nothing if not tenacious.

[woodlodge]

Thanks, I think I'll try a multiprong attack also. Will use moth balls in the basement and the bounce sheets inside. May try the oil extract o. Cotton if I can find it. Hopefully I will get lucky and keep the pesky little varmints out.

[woodlodge]

What is fresh cab? I'm not familiar with this product.

[AllegroRed]

I put mothballs in a paper cereal bowl and place the bowls on top of the tires, not inside the coach. I use Irish Spring soap bars, cut them in half and place them around the coach, mice hate that smell but humans like it. I place them in the closet areas, behind the sofas, etc. I use about 4 bars.

My first year I thought folks told me Ivory soap, big mistake, the mice ate the soap bars, Ha.

[jmonroe]

woodlodge,

Someone on another site had recommended the Fresh Cab. I'm providing the link to their site / information. Smells much better than some of the other options.

Fresh Cab

[skyking8]

Please do not use moth balls inside of your RV. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that para-DCB, moth ball chemicals, may be reasonably anticipated to be a carcinogen. Oil of peppermint is very effective. Not cheap, but mice and rat damage isn't either.

[Butch39]

Over many years, and afew different Rvs, we have used, "dried blood". Dried blood is a fertilizer, and mice do not like the smell of it. Normally we can not smell it...but do not allow it to get wet......at that point; you will smell it.......not good. Must admit that the mice will enter, evidenced by a few droppings , but they will not stay. We place a small amount in the plastic yogurt caps and place them throughout the interior and exterior compartments of the motorhome. In number, 12+ inside, and another 12+ outside. Of course during winter storage, we remove all food stuffs, maybe without food they choose to leave. Knock on wood, we have not had any damage of any kind, and this is all we use. We purchased a used Jayco Designer 36' foot 5er, a few years ago, and they had placed dryer sheets in it to protect it against mice, and we never did get the odor of those sheets out of it in the three years we had it....they may have keep the mice out, we do know the the sheets kept us out. The odor was sickening....

[BernieM]

We tried moth balls, dryer sheets, etc..... NO GOOD... they still came in..... resorted to good old fashion traps with peanut butter..... we got the best results on top of the generator.... front of coach was low and they could climb up the generator exhaust pipe..... we averaged 1 -2 a day.... they finally stopped or we got um all!!!!!

[DMCCRAC2001]

A simple way to keep mice and other critters out of your RV is to poke holes in a Gatorade bottles or the like , fill them with moth balls and place them on the ground on the inside area of each set of wheels.

[rbaigner]

2yrs ago had a mouse problem. Went the local janitorial supply and got 5 urinal tabs. Most guys recognize the big non edible peppermints. Didn't unwrap them-- just placed them randomly. Haven't seen any mice since.

The original problem was using rat poison, it dehydrates the pest so they go for water, one went for my black tank and actually ate a hole in it, but the tank repair is another story!

[gregroelens]

We use whole cloves placed in old margarine tubs throughout the unit plus a bunch of fresh eucalyptus and leave it set on counter year round unit smells nice and have had no mice or spiders or any other bugs used this for about ten years now and works great.

Greg and Theresa Roelens

99 Allegro Bus

[fossfactor]

Knock on wood not problem yet... like the Fresh Cab idea along with the Irish Spring! We will try this! What is it they say an ounce of prevention outweighs the havoc these lil guys can cause. We had Full time friends that had German cockroaches they couldn't get rid of...

[bizsmith@yahoo.com]

Oil of peppermint has worked for us. Do not use peppermint extract found in grocery stores. It evaporates too fast.

[campcop]

We have a bigger problem here, pack rats........had them get into my 5th wheel one year, took me couple of days to clean out the mess and repair the damage. I now have a solar powered light that lights the engine compartment each night for the pack rats(they don't like light) and I use traps with peanut butter once in awhile as well. I do use the oil of peppermint too.

In inspecting the bottom of our Vista, I see that it is pretty sealed...so far so good.

[jeffreywg]

Does using the urinal tabs leave a smell that you can't get rid of?

[coreygrubb]

An easy method to scare away mice is to take dog or cat hair, put it in a nylon footie tie it up and place them anywhere you see activity. The scent of a predator will make them look elsewhere.

[AUGIEP]

I used Fresh Cab this winter and I am happy to say there were no signs of varmints in any part of my motorhome. The big plus is it has a pleasant scent but mice hate it. I bought it online.

[gamblers2]

Fresh Cab is available at our local

Ace Hardware, not cheap but hopefully it works

[tajfish]

I had trouble with mice/rodents eating wiring and vacuum lines in our first motor home, a Pace Arrow. We live in the country and so we got a couple of outdoor cats (got them taken care of shots etc) and no more trouble. We have had our Discovery for 5 years and the cats are doing a great job keeping the varmits away. Only draw back is one of the cats likes to get on top of the generator once in awhile, twice he hit the start button on the gen and turned it on. We were close by both times so it did not run long. The first time I did a search trying to find out what would start a gen and we found a few other people with cats that did the same thing, the second time he was caught in the act. Still a good cat and a real good mouser.

[tinkertim]

Keep on a rolling, they can't jump in at 60 mph ,

[Ahrmless]

Nobody suggested getting a cat

[lewisedge]

The word "humane" is not what came to my mind for rodent control. Aside from their disgusting droppings, mice can transmit the deadly hantavirus and other diseases (See http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html) and will inevitably be destructive to a motorhome's infrastructure. I was able to remove an unwelcome infestation of mice that had invaded our motorhome with several old fashioned but highly-effective Victor mouse traps and chedder cheese.

To keep the mice away I'm using Essentially KateS 100% Pure Peppermint Essential Oil 4 oz. with Glass Dropper and Detailed User's Guide available from Amazon. It costs only $11.95 for a 4 oz bottle as of this date and has far more five-star user ratings than Fresh Cab. If you're displeased with their peppermint oil in any way the supplier will replace it or refund your purchase on its return.

[jleamont]

lewisedge,

What do you put the oil onto and how frequently to you add more?

I have Cab Fresh in the coach now in the basements. It is almost worn out and I will looking into my other options, this seems like a good one to explore.