Mice in RVs

[nwsteve]

Looking for suggestions from the Board's RVers.
We store our RV in what turns out to be an old pea store house. Long since converted but there are still peas in nooks and crannies.
Looking for suggestions for anything to keep the mice out of the 'RV. We clean out all edibles and set traps and still find visitors.
We have tried herbal scent packages and not really seen any difference--well, the cat is not a real fan when he travels with us.
What has worked for you?
Thx

 

[travelover]

I put in dryer sheets, moth balls and Irish Spring soap. They made nests out of the dryer sheets right on top of the moth balls. They ate the soap.

Spring traps work pretty well, but require you to check them regularly. Poison works, but is hard on wildlife and perhaps pets.

 

[mountainsoft]

I put in dryer sheets, moth balls and Irish Spring soap. They made nests out of the dryer sheets right on top of the moth balls. They ate the soap.

Spring traps work pretty well, but require you to check them regularly. Poison works, but is hard on wildlife and perhaps pets.

We live in a forested area and mice are a routine problem in our cars. You can minimize the problem by sealing up every opening you can find. But mice have a way of finding their way into the smallest spaces you may not even know exist.

For a daily driver on rough roads, spring traps aren't really an option. Road bumps will usually trip them. However, we have had good luck with the sticky glue traps in the cars.

I recently had a mouse nesting under the hood of my latest car. Spraying Pine Sol in as many places as I could chased him out of the car. He then got caught in a spring trap in our garage.

Unfortunately, once they are established they are extremely difficult to get rid of. My daughter had a family of mice in her old car. Despite years of trapping and dismantling the car, we never got rid of them completely. They bred faster than we could catch them. We ended up selling the car.

 

[tmm2good]

We had a slide in camper that we left on our property with a whole box of dryer sheets in it. They used it to make nests. You need to close off every opening in the rv so nothing can get in. Bright lights inside and walk/crawl around outside with some steel wool and fill every nook and cranny where you see light coming out.

 

[TimeMeasure]

I've read that cutting an armload of peppermint (if you have any in your garden, you have a lot, it grows like crazy), hanging it up to dry, and then leaving it where you don't want little mouse visitors, can work. Have been trying this for the past couple months around the cellar door. So far, no mice, knock wood...

 

[ITTN]

Not pretty but does the job.
From: Bucket Mouse Traps | Five Gallon Ideas
The trap works when a mouse at the top of the ramp tries to jump onto the tin can to eat the bait. The mouse’s weight throws the can into motion, which bucks the mouse off into the bucket below.
I use RV Anti-Freeze in the winter.

 

[folivier]

Feral cats.

 

[Senator]

Poison and something like the Victor Tincat trap. Use a Bromide based poison, it is faster and safer than the coumadin types.

You need to use a multi-catch trap. With the tincat, and others like it, once one gets it it seems to attract others.

Sometimes I empty 10+ out of mine in the garage. They are all just bones by then. A gruesome death I am sure, but not as bad as a cat eating them.

 

[street]

Not pretty but does the job.
From: Bucket Mouse Traps | Five Gallon Ideas
The trap works when a mouse at the top of the ramp tries to jump onto the tin can to eat the bait. The mouse’s weight throws the can into motion, which bucks the mouse off into the bucket below.
I use RV Anti-Freeze in the winter.

These work great! They are always working for you 24/7/365 and you don't have to be there to attend them. Outstanding control system.

 

[splitwdw]

I use to use snap traps but had limited success. Started using Tomcat poison bait stations last year in basement, garage, shed and greenhouse and they work well. If you don't want to pick up dead rodents this isn't a good option for you. I check the basement every day, the smell of decomp isn't the greatest.
My husband is more soft hearted than me. He had me buy those catch and release traps for our garage of classic cars. He'd take the mice outside and release them. I told him they were the same ones coming back in but him didn't believe me. The next one he caught I took it outside and before releasing I sprayed the mouse with pink hair spray. That finally caught his attention.

 

[REWahoo]

You need to close off every opening in the rv so nothing can get in. Bright lights inside and walk/crawl around outside with some steel wool and fill every nook and cranny where you see light coming out.

^ This is the best way to prevent a mouse problem, and even then some may find a way in. When they do get in, I've had the best luck getting rid of them using glue traps baited in the center with a small dollop of peanut butter.

 

[6miths]

Yes plugging holes with steel wool is good. Can use polyurethane foam to lock it in place if you want. Trimmable after hardened.

The pail traps are very good. Also you 'ousta-mouse' houses for poison.

We have trouble in our cottage garage. Mice are very intelligent it seems.

 

[W2R]

Mice in RVs? Oh barf. I guess you all are just trying to gross me out on this nice, pleasant Sunday morning.

As someone who knows nothing at all about RV's, my solution would be to just store the RV somewhere else that isn't infested with mice. Or, sell the RV, but I know you RV fans would not want to do that.

 

[aja8888]

Mice in RV's are better than snakes in RV's.

 

[W2R]

Mice in RV's are better than snakes in RV's.

True!

Oh there's a good solution (NOT!). Put snakes in the RV to eat the mice.

 

[easysurfer]

Not from personal experience but from searching.

Here's a link to article (plus video, if you are brave enough and not grossed out to watch).

Nice video, but would have helped if the person explained what is "fresh cab" and how it works. Plus, IMO, those paper thin common masks, I wouldn't wear but a good vapor mask instead.

Finding mice in an RV can be a very frustrating experience. Working at Earth-Kind and knowing that simply putting pouches of Fresh Cab® rodent repellent in the camper will protect it from such damage makes my saga even more frustrating.

After shopping for months for the right deal and right camper for our family I found a 5th wheel about 2 hours away from my home. We made the trip and found the camper in fairly good condition. I did notice it was freshly cleaned and there was an abundance of new dryer sheets spread throughout the camper.

http://www.earthkind.com/blog/video-how-to-get-rid-of-mice-in-rv-and-clean-up-the-mess

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Oh man , this just ruined my RV passion, other than the fact I cant drive one. The 5 gallon bucket trap is awesome.

 

[audreyh1]

We're trying coyote pee. Many of my neighbors use it.

We're trying to keep out squirrels as well as any other rodents.

 

[GrayHare]

It sounds like you have a cat. Mice know to avoid cats and to detect them by scent, so take some of kitty's urine-used litter from the cat box and place it in a small ashtray-sized container near suspected mouse entry areas. Has worked like a charm here. One litter clump works for about six months before it dries completely and needs to be refreshed.

 

[W2R]

We're trying coyote pee. Many of my neighbors use it.

I can proudly report that I have no mice, snakes, or coyote pee in my nice, clean, civilized Dream Home with city water/sewerage and everything the way I want it.

(Just in case you all were feeling sorry for me since I have no RV).

 

[travelover]

The bucket traps do work, but you need to "service" it regularly or you have a bunch of rotting, stinking mice floating around in the bottom of the bucket before long. In my experience, any of the traps work best initially then the mice either wise up or Darwin kicks in, because the subsequent ones are a lot harder to catch.