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Old 05-30-2020, 01:52 PM   #1
Dave W
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I HATE mice!!!!!!

The joys of owning an RV


Our 5er is now parked at its Lake Champlain summer home - and it stinks at times when the sun hits the rear corner. It looks like I missed a mouse doorway and one or more of those little beasts decided to die in the belly.


I pulles down the back of the Coroplast and it looks like that little @#$% had a poop party before expiring. Being 110 miles from home, didn't really have enough of the right tools and parts to pull the rest of the belly cover down for a good house cleaning plus it was 95*F and very high humidity last week when there.


That belly cover will be loosened up on the driver's side only - hooray, it has real screws too - to the axles each way then cut about half way across then mopped out with Dawn antibacterial detergent and water, and when dry, Febreezed to kill any lingering odor The cover will then be reset and taped with Eternabond.


Oh and that mouse doorway that I missed when plugging the other holes - Keystone in their infinite quality control left a 3/4" gap at a spring hanger which will be filled with Great Stuff urethane foam and/or taped closed with Eternabond.
 
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Old 05-30-2020, 06:32 PM   #2
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Yeah mice are bad. At least you have a solid plan to evict them.
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Old 05-30-2020, 07:25 PM   #3
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I live on a farm. My camper sets 10 feet from a hay barn and 8 feet from my garden. Not worse case but worse than most. We have a tractor shed where my tractor, motorcycle and tow truck stay. Of course we had a mouse problem, tried everything stinky stuff, plugged holes, noise makers, nothing worked. I put a noise maker on my silverware. Guess what a mouse did on my silverware, you got it.
The mice were always in my camper. They would always jump out of my tractor when I started it. They got in my motorcycle and chewed the tail light wires into and did a 1000 dollars damage to my tow truck auto climate control.
Several years ago, 3 maybe I got a product from called Tomcat from Tractor Supply. It’s I bait box you put bait sticks in. They come in two sizes. One takes 8 baits the other takes 12. In a few months after pulling them out the problem started to go away. I haven’t had any trouble for over 2 years. I see a dead mouse once in a while. I haven’t had one die in my camper and never see any evidence of them. I’m convinced you solve a mouse problem by preventing it before it happens.
If someone tries this get 10 large boxes put 2 at each landing gear and 3 at each set of wheels. Tie the top of the boxes down. Cats and coons can get in them if you don’t and wire them to something because heavy because the cats and coons will drag them off. That many baits should last several months.
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Old 05-31-2020, 05:10 AM   #4
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We always have a mouse and rat problem at La Posa South were we winter every year near Quartzsite, Arizona. On YouTube search for "pvc pipe mouse and rat bait station". These things work great in keeping mice and rat populations down. We spread about 6 to 8 around are camp area. Other camper folks complain abut the mice, until we show them our approach.
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Old 05-31-2020, 05:34 AM   #5
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Lynwood - I've seen those bait boxes and have used Tom Cat pellets outside, loose. My concern with them is that if a mouse has nested in the trailer belly, takes some of the bait, returns to his nest then dies, I'll have another decaying one that will stink - again. My history with bait traps and mice is not good. When we bought our house (in the woods) 27 years ago, we quickly found that it was infested with mice. The previous owner used some bait trays, literally dozens of them. It took me weeks to clean up the mess, caulk the sill plate, seal the attic and garage. I had to tear out a couple walls and in one case remove 20+ years of accumulated nesting and bodies almost 3 feet high between two studs. Even as late as a year ago I found a couple skeletons and a bait tray - but we do not have mice.


We also have chipmunks which are as bad or maybe even worse and they wont touch Tom Cat. Those little rodents have undermined my driveway, gotten in a long ago TT and did major damage and twice chewed the heater valve apart on the last truck - but haven't gotten in this 5er..


We use good ol' Victor traps and a couple Rat Zappers and I'll be plugging the newly found gateway. And hope!!!
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Old 05-31-2020, 08:24 AM   #6
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Dave I understand your concerns however I haven’t had one mouse die where I could smell them in over 3 years. I waited over 2 years to post this in our forum. I didn’t won’t that to happen to anyone. The mice can’t eat or drink in our campers unless we feed them. When they go out they eat the bait we leave them and don’t return. Clearly blocking entry holes is hard at best and probably impossible. I know I couldn’t do it. I find dead mice out side at times but they haven’t caused any damage.
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Old 05-31-2020, 09:06 AM   #7
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Highly recommend traps vs any type of poison. Poison leaves a lot of unintended victims and travels up the food chain.

Asphalt or concrete are good surfaces to park your rigs on - mice and pack rats don't like to expose themselves crossing wide open clean spaces to get into your rig.
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Old 05-31-2020, 09:59 AM   #8
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Highly recommend traps vs any type of poison. Poison leaves a lot of unintended victims and travels up the food chain.

Asphalt or concrete are good surfaces to park your rigs on - mice and pack rats don't like to expose themselves crossing wide open clean spaces to get into your rig.

That's the other reason for not using Tom Cat or other poisons. We have a couple dogs and the woods, or what's left after the jerk in back of us illegally cleared his lot, is teaming with wildlife from deer to coyotes, turkeys foxes, fishers and even a black bear once. I wont use sticky pads or drowning buckets either as it's inhumane. If I have to 'dispose' of rodents, a trap or Zapper is instantaneous.


Parking on asphalt doesn't help my situation as the RV is parked half on it and half on a crushed stone area 5 months a year. The only fix is to seal the belly which I thought I had. Oh well.
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Old 05-31-2020, 11:47 AM   #9
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I've been using Fresh Cab in our unit for the past 8-10 years now in both of our Montana's and have only had one critter show up during that time and that was because we were at a campground that had a field next to it that was being harvested and one showed up during that time. It was quick action with a snap trap baited with peanut butter and it little sucker was caught that evening. Fresh Cab does not kill the critters but is a Botanical Rodent Repellant and not a poison. It's active ingredient is Balsam Fir Oil. The critters do not like the smell and leave. It comes in a pouch and is made up of plant fibers so there is nothing harmful to other animals or humans. It works great and can be bought at most big name home improvement stores, Wally World and Tractor Supply to name a few. It can also be bought off of Amazon if you don't want to go out. I put several packets around the basement areas and also add a packet where the pipes come up or go down through the floor.
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Old 05-31-2020, 12:38 PM   #10
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Rondo - ia couple years ago, Fresh Cab was discontinued for a while. Evidently some government entity decided one ingrediant was bad. It returned and we again bought a supply. Useless. When you see mouse turds and pee on a couple pouches, you know something is different since it used to work well On another RV site, a member posed a picture of a mouse eating something while sitting on a pouch. Back to Victor and his always great snap traps and hope I've finally plugged all the missed doorways this coming week.


But with that said, if it works on your mouse population, for sure keep on using it as our rodents love the smell even better then peppermint oil, Irish Spring bath soap and dryer sheets which also proved useless. We tried them all
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Old 05-31-2020, 01:29 PM   #11
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We do use the Tom Cat pellets in the shop. Mice in a machine tool computer will get in your pocket book deep. Besides the downtime they charge from the time they leave the shop sometimes from North Carolina plus miles. Mice will find a way to get into what you think is a sealed cabinet. You open the computer cabinet up and there is a mouse nest.
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Old 06-07-2020, 02:10 PM   #12
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Been telling campers this for several years on this forum and others. Kill the mice in your unit first, I suggest traps, you can toss the carcasses. Poison let’s them decay in your unit. Then spray Mouse free prevention product. Non-poisonous, gelatinous material with a menthol smell, and place around all areas of your camper coming in contact with the ground, including hoses and cables, landing gear, tires and on the axles and frame. Keeps ants out too. Available on Amazon or at many RV dealers. Bought 2 gallons 7 years ago, and just now bought another. Depends on how liberal you want to apply. I spray it on every season. You can power wash it off and repeat as necessary. I’ve even sprayed it around garage doors and other potential areas where they may infest. If you buy, get the sprayer that comes with it. A small 3 gallon compressor is adequate.
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Old 06-07-2020, 04:41 PM   #13
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We had a dozen mice go looking all thru our 5er until they got to the under belly storage compartment and found my BBQ. We used the shop vac to suck up those little guys and emptied the shop vac in the forest way away from our 5er. Yes some were alive, some were not. Now I double bag my BBQ when in my 5th wheel, and take it out when my RV is in storage. Then I have 5 of those battery powered noise makers, and 5 sticky traps, and the thing that is working the best, is Irish Spring soap bars, the original formula. They hate that smell, so I put a half a bar in each wheel which is where they climb up, because the leveling jack shafts are too slippery. Then i also put them in my under belly basement, and now after 9 months of storage not one sign of any mice. I change the bars out about every 2-3 months. I also use them in my basement and garage of my house in Lake Tahoe, and so far it has been amazing.
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Old 06-07-2020, 04:47 PM   #14
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How about the old fashion way---just get a cat---a mean hungry one??
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Old 06-07-2020, 09:37 PM   #15
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We had a house built in 1978. We had only lived there 3 months when mice invaded. One ate poison then died in the wall between the kitchen and living room. It stunk for months. Ever since then, when dealing with mice, I avoid any method that allows them to die elsewhere.
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Old 06-08-2020, 07:44 AM   #16
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Hello Dave. I read most of the responses. Lots of good suggestions. We proofed our 5er the same way as you. We use stainless steel wool in addition to urethane foam to plug some of the holes cause they chewed through some of it. Never since. Haven’t found a way yet to completely seal the Coroplast underbelly, but found it helps if we mow the grass real short where it sits before we park it. I keep a couple of good old Victor traps baited with peanut butter in the rig when stored. So far they have not made it inside. You can get stainless steel wool at paint stores.
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Old 06-08-2020, 08:05 AM   #17
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We had the same problem. In our case it was caused by the builder leaving the foundation blocks open on top. We found a way to cap the blocks and now we’re mouse free. Goodness they stink for months when they die in a wall.
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Old 06-08-2020, 08:53 AM   #18
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As said before in my earlier posts - no poison, traps only. Way back I described what we found at the S&B when the PO used DeCon trays - bleehhh.


Hopefully this week will be either not what seemed like 150*F in the shade or not raining like last week
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Old 06-08-2020, 09:04 AM   #19
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How about the old fashion way---just get a cat---a mean hungry one??

That is the one suggestion that would not work for me. I had toxoplasmosis a disease you get from cats. Most cats carry it and I got it from stirring up cat poop in my hay barn. Toxoplasmosis is deadly to a fetus. I spend 5 1/2 on the operating table. No more cats.
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Old 06-08-2020, 09:56 AM   #20
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As said before in my earlier posts - no poison, traps only. Way back I described what we found at the S&B when the PO used DeCon trays - bleehhh.


Hopefully this week will be either not what seemed like 150*F in the shade or not raining like last week
Peanut butter is harmless. Lol. Hope you will have decent weather Dave. Take care.
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