Mice In The Motorhome

[Pat60]

HELP...we are not full timers but do often go out on trips...live in Florida. This is our second time dealing with a mouse or mice situation. Can sometime give us some good advice on how to keep them out of the motorhome. We have set up sealed mouse poison (none touched...they tell you not to open the bag) and we are also doing the glue traps with peanut butter as bait.

We found mouse poop in the battery compartment so that led us to start looking and when we pulled out drawers in the bathroom we found nests made out of paper towels with acorns, etc. brought in from the outside.

We are going to open up the basement to start looking for holes that allow mice to get into the interior of the motorhome...at least that is a start...I hear steel wool is great for stopping up holes.

I have heard that they hate the smell of mothballs...I want them to stop coming in and not having to deal with this problem once they have moved in...

HELP...Pat

[wolfe10]

Pat,

You are on the right track. Seal all holes you can find. Since you are in a humid area where steel wool could rust, I would use bronze or stainless steel course wool to fill the holes around wires and plumbing. You can also use the spray foam insulation.

Don't store food in the coach.

If your coach is stored in the same place all the time, I would put some regular mouse traps with peanut butter around the tires/perimeter of the coach and try to diminish the number of mice in the area.

Brett

[hermanmullins]

As Brett said, seal all open access points under your coach. If you have water or Electric hooked up to your coach you may want to put a bag of moth balls right where they enter the coach. You might want to put a few on top of each tire. Traps all around.

At one time we had squirrels in our attic. To find where they were getting into the house I stationed family at all four corners of the house then I took my sons BOOOOOM box set it in th attic as loud as it would go. They left in a hurry and we saw where they were getting in and were able to seal the openings.

Even squirrels could not stand my sons music.

[Pat60]

Thank you very much for replying to my call for help. Yes we do live in a humid area and I hope I find a Home Depot or Lowe's who carry bronze or stainless steel wool...Ocala is pretty limited on stuff.

Unfortunately we keep our coach at our place of business which has a "public dump" on the next property.

It is kept clean and it is supervised but where there is food, there is rodents and we have problems.

You both have given me good advice and will put it to good use and see if we can prevent the problem from happening.

Right now we have the coach at home and will see what we can do to eradicate the invader or invaders (and let's hope it is not invaders with an "s")...

Pat

[cmarq]

Cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil and placed throughout the MH have eliminated my problem. I also use brass steel wool to plug the electric and water openings. I haven't had any mice in 6 years now.

[grrr16]

Hi Pat

I have used Irish spring soap bars in different part of our couch and 3 years now no mice. Good luck Mike Whipple.

[Guest BillAdams]

Traps and peanut butter. Mice move in but they don't move out!

[dickandlois]

Well! Dryer sheets work,spread them around if you do not like the smell of moth balls. Also! Steel wool around the openings where you need to run hoses and power cords keeps the little critters out.

I use plumbers putty, the rope style or the blocks that you remove and mold up the size needed to plug around things, it stays soft for a long time,seals the areas from dust and can be removed to make repairs easier.

R.M.

[bizsmith@yahoo.com]

I agree with the use of peppermint oil but be sure you go and get peppermint oil. Peppermint extract you find in spice racks in the grocery store will evaporate too quick to be effective. My dog cannot be in the motorhome for a while when I first put it out. He sneezes rather violently so I just imagine how the mice react. The fragrance lingers but at an acceptable level after an hour or so but I think it still repels the mice.

[Pat60]

Thank you all, once again, for all this valuable advice...We did catch the rodent and I am sorry to say it was not a mouse which confirmed my suspicions by size of poopers and size of next...it was a rat!! I can still see it in my mind.

It did eat the poison my husband put out as I was freaking out and wanted an instant solution.

Thank gawd it did not get out of the motorhome into my yard.

We found it in the basement of the motorhome in the battery compartment which leads us to believe there must be holes to the interior somewhere in that compartment.

We will be going to the Strawberry Festive in Tampa and will be staying at LazyDays and will have service do some maintenance for us and we are hoping that they can lift the motorhome so we can see if there are any holes underneath we can plug up. I hope that is not wishful thinking.

Thank you again for the speedy replies...I will see if I can find peppermint oil in Ocala but am figuring not...Pat

[charles10]

We have used much of the above. Recently was told bounce sheets spread around was good for critters, will try that soon at home. Also supposed to repel insects.

Moth balls work great for repelling almost all critters if you can stand the smell. Put several in half closed ziplock bags and spread around. Over did it in the house once and had to go around and get rid of some bags. Maybe putting them in basement might not smell to badly.

We use Irish spring around shrubs to keep deer away.

Living in the country we share with many critters, do not use poison as rat poison killed my dog after she ate the dead rat.

[Raylin]

Sure wish someone had something we haven't tried - have tried all of the above and they did not work. First of all, have you ever looked under a motor home for ways critters can get in. They are numerous, plus a mouse can get through a key hole practically. We even this year bought some high dollar rodent repellent. Yes, have tried a cat - she ended up a pet. I guess if you put all the answers out there, the thing that works best is plain old mouse traps. We use a raisin which was recommended by a pest control company.

[w6pea]

Well we went to the RV today to run the Generator since it hasn't been run since we got home in the middle of July. Low and behold what do we find but signs that we have mice now.

Thanks for tha thoughts about what to use to get rid of them.

[StellersJay]

Check out this product, "Fresh Cab Rodent Repellent (4 Pouch Box)". It is sold on Amazon and at some of the big box stores. Some people swear by it and others swear at it. It is said to have a pleasant odor that is pleasing to us, but repels mice. It was developed to keep mice out of stored farm equipment. We haven't tried it, but have heard a lot of very positive comments on the product.

We are still using glue traps baited with peanut butter and check the motorhome very frequently.

Sam

[w6pea]

Sam

I went online and ordered some this morning, after reading a number of good reviews on the product. Also Amazon seems to have the best price for it and if you are a prime member it free shipping.

[tbutler]

I guess we are lucky. As far as I know, there are only three entry points for mice into our motor home storage compartments and/or living area. Those are all associated with the water, sewer and electric. After our first mouse moved in I made collars for the power cord and the sewer pipe. The water hose already had a collar so I didn't change anything. Last summer I had knee surgery, June 2 they replaced the left knee, on July 28 they replaced the right knee. I had failed to put the collars in place before the first surgery and by the time I was mobile enough to tackle installing the collars we had new borders. I installed the collars. Then I had to clean out the basement. Anything that could be used for nesting materials were put in sealed containers. I set traps, multiple traps in each storage compartment. After about two weeks the last of them were gone. We were in a high risk area, edge of the forest, wood pile 50 feet away, I should have installed the collars as I always do. I just wasn't thinking too clearly. Anyway, I am again using the collars and that has taken care of the problem, no mice ever since. We store the motor home next to our house in the winter. The power is on all winter and the collar keeps the mice out. We never have the sewer or water hooked up during the winter so those openings are closed up tight. The fact that I can seal these three openings and have no problems strongly suggests that those are my only three weak points.

Now ants are another problem. whenever I notice ants in a campground I'll spread an ant treatment all the way around the motor home with a concentration on the area around the power and utility openings. That has worked so far.

[rvdog]

Came across this topic today while searching for an unrelated topic, well after the last post.

For what it's worth, we've had good luck with mint leaves. We put some in small mesh bags and stow them in various bins, drawers and shelves throughout the RV. As the leaves continue to dry out, just massage them a little and more aroma will be released.

It seems to work pretty well. Needed to take action when one of the critters got into my clothes and ate some of my underwear. No kidding.

(We have a crop of mint in the yard, so there's no shortage of leaves.)

[neilnbe]

Try putting the poison under and not in the coach.

We've tried dryer sheets, the sonic beepers, mouse traps, decon in the compartments...all it seemed to do was attract them even more, and they seemed to get worse! Finally I got the idea to get rid of them before they came in.

Take a cheap tupperware bowl with a lid, screw the lid, upside down, to a 2x4 (the 2x4 just keeps it off the ground so when it rains it doesn't soak all the decon, and I leave the 2x a little long, so they're easy to get to,so I don't have to crawl under the coach to slide them out), put some decon on the lid and snap the bowl on tight to the lid. Now you have a 2x4 with a upside down tupperware bowl attached to it. I usually paint the bowl black just to give them a "little privacy" . Take and make small holes (about the size of a quarter) in a couple spots around the bowl rim...so the mice can get into the bowl and get to the poison. I make 4 of these and put them by each tire under the coach. Since we've been doing this...no mice!!

I've mentioned it to a few others I've talked to with rodent problems and they all said it worked great for them too!

Give it a try.

[billbaldwin]

I've used Fresh Cab for years works great.

[tricializ]

Good to read these solutions. I've tried the ultrasonic rodent deterrent, bounce dryer sheets and traps. Doesn't seem to matter. Every year after winter, there is evidence of mice. This last time, I have found mouse crap everywhere, but no evidence of a nest anywhere (which is strange). I am hoping that they moved out being that it's summer as I am not finding any nests or any mice and I am looking with flashlights in every crevice and corner, disinfecting and cleaning EVERYTHING but just am wondering if this is just something I have to deal with being that we live on land surrounded by cornfields on 2 sides. I have 3 dogs so not sure I want to do the poison thing (although maybe that's all I can do). Will try some  fresh cab too. Any other hints are readily accepted! Thanks. 

 

[jleamont]

I use little clear plastic condiment cups, poke holes in the lid with a paper hole punch, place two cotton balls in each and soak them with peppermint oil. I place one in every storage compartment behind each door, one on top of every tire and tape them to the tire, and a few in the engine bay and on top of the generator. On the inside I use fresh cab packets maybe 4 around the interior. I tried this for the first time this year and I had no sign of them anywhere. last year I had signs of them in the storage bays and I found an abandoned nest in the generator next to the oil filter.

With the both you will have to check them to make sure they didn't fade out over time. I add more oil one time around January and that's it. Here is the oil I use.

http://www.amazon.com/Peppermint-100-Pure-Essential-Oil/dp/B00181CFIK?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

[nitehawk]

Rinse a soda pop aluminum can, cut in half--crosswise, cut vertical tabs (along can axis) about 1" down toward bottom of can. Place cotton balls in can bottom, squirt Peppermint oil on the balls. Then bend tabs over to hold cotton in place.

Poke a hole thru the cans and wire tie them in assorted places. Renew peppermint oil periodically.

Works great--and lasts!

[rsbilledwards]

Yeh, those little buggers love Peanut Butter in placed in those traps and so often they lick the stick clean. I've tried the Irish Spring and had them eat it right up, just to smile in our faces as the left their little black traces. Try a bit of cheese stuffed tight into the crevasse of the trigger and you'll get'um every time. But I like the idea of the peppermint oil and never seeing hide nor little black traces from the little devils.

 

Bill Edwards

[manholt]

Most Farm and Ranch Feed stores carry mouse repellant.  I use a green bar, that I break up into little bits and scatter all over bays.  Mice love the stuff, eat and get very thirsty, so the leave and go drown themselves.  I have no mice in my house, garage or coach!   At the Ranch, we have CAT's...