Use of LED light strings to detour rodents

[Maggiesclan]

Hello all,

My wife and I have heard a few stories about tactics to battle rodents near or in RV’s.

The tactic we are wondering about is the use of a long string of LED lights laid underneath the perimeter of the RV. We heard that rodents don’t like light and stay away from the LED’s.

Last year we spent time in Yellowstone and rodents were around. Unfortunately we found a couple mice inside our RV and the Squirrels got into our vehicle engine compartments and made a mess.

Any proven anti rodent tactics would be appreciated. Thanks!

[dieselguy]

There will be a lot of people where you're camped that won't appreciate you being lit up like Edison Lighthouse with the strings of light on the ground ... However a few others will think it's cool. We seldom have an issue with rodents while camped, but again we never leave anything out to attract them.

[BB_TX]

We never had any problems with rodents while camping. But mice are not particularly bothered by light, daylight or lightbulbs. We have a “rustic” hunting cabin, meaning it is far from being rodent tight. Not unusual to have a mouse come out from hiding and look us over. Set a trap and catch it and likely not long before another appears. They can be entertaining to watch as long as they stay out of our food. But no, I would not welcome them in our RV.

Had squirrels chew wiring in my 2007 F350 on three different occasions when they still used wiring that was apparently tasty to rodents. And built nests. About $500 each time. Finally found Critter Ridder spray at Home Depot and sprayed all wiring and vacuum hoses under the hood. Never bothered it again.

[jcurtis934]

Had two times that they infested our rig, even with no food source draws outside the rig. Sealed up every hole I could find and never have had another issue. Lippery even sells metal that can be installed around leveler entry points to seal up those super highways. I made my own long before they were available.

[DQDick]

We've always used rope lights and never had an issue.

[wed]

The best we have found is to place Cab Fresh in the RV. It’s a great product

[DutchmenSport]

On subject, but slightly different too.

I was in the Army and in 1984-1985 I was in Korea, 2nd Infantry Division, 1/72 Armor Battalion, Camp Casey, South Korea. I was a chaplain assistant. 1/72 was undergoing a renovation. All our building were the Gomer Pyle Quonset hut style buildings. At that time, the military was forbidden to build any new building on the camp, nor tear any down. So the renovations of the Quonset Huts was well underway.

As a Chaplain Assistant working in the Battalion Chapel, the Chapel was also a Quonset Hut, and it finally had it's turn at renovation. That mean we had to move absolutely everything into another building. That meant pews, desks, chairs, file cabinets, the alter, flags, religious ornamentations, books, and of course all our battle ready camping gear (you know, the Mash style tents, the diesel burning stoves, all the extra parts for the Jeep, everything). It was all moved into a temporary, really trashed out Quonset Hut and there we set up space for a very small sanctuary, with about 2 rows of pews, the pulpit and the alter.

Between the front of this building where the "sanctuary" now existed and 2 desks at the only door on the opposite end, were located my desk, the chaplain's desk and a couple file cabinets. Between the front and the back, the building was stuff, jam packed with military equipment that was probably a hundred years old.

The building itself was a total wreck. The furnace didn't even work. More than half the light fixtures did not work. We ran an extension cord with a light bulb hanging over the pews. The floors were rotted, and the roof leaked. It smelled, it was musty, and just one heck of a nasty building.

One thing that always happened after a religious service, it was my responsibility to set out cookies and some kind of drink. Most of the time that drink was coffee. This was a challenge too, as there was no running water in this building either.

The Chaplain decided it would be nice to leave cookies out during the week so folks could come by and grab one or two at will. So, the first day we tried this, I set the cookies out! It took only a few minutes that I looked up at the roof.

Down the middle of the Hut ran an air duct for the old furnace that did not work. It was missing the vents, had holes and rust all over it, and I saw "IT" staring down at me, from that missing vent, directly above my head. The BIGGEST black rat I'd ever seen in my life! Honest. The thing was as huge as a large house cat! Absolutely freaked me out! Absolutely. I got out of there pretty darn fast. I didn't give a thought to the cookies.

Well, I waited for the Chaplain to return before I went back in. We agreed that if the rats had not attacked us yet, they never will. So, we entered.

To our shock and horror, there was probably about 6 rats attacking the cookies! When we entered, they didn't even move. They just stared at us. When we moved closer, every one of them grabbed a cookie and scrambled off under all that junk piled and packed up in the middle.

Luckily, we were in that temporary building for only a couple weeks. When it was finally renovated, the original Hut that got overhauled, was really a very attractive Chapel. Completely renovated inside, complete with a beautiful office space and a newly added area to store all the field gear and religious paraphernalia.

Moral of the story, neither lights nor people will keep rats (and mice) away. Remove the warm bed and the good food, and they'll seek shelter somewhere else (maybe).

On Edit: To finish the story of the rats.... I set up a small desk outside the building. As long as it didn't rain, I was OK sitting there. I lugged a manual typewriter inside and out to do my administrative tasks.

The Chaplain decided to shift gears also. He moved the Sunday services outside under the trees. We'd both together move a pew outside and the pulpit. We all agreed, we didn't want to be inside with the rats.

We never told any one from our battalion what the real reason was for our outside office and chapel. We just simply told them we were practicing so we'd always be "combat ready."

[Maggiesclan]

Thanks for your responses!

[Maggiesclan]

Did you use steel wool and/or spray foam?

[MandK]

I used Greatstuff pestbloc to seal up some spots (many) when we bought the trailer. Still have to get something to close off the holes where the hydraulic slide pistons are. Steel wool works well on small holes. It’s what everybody uses to fill the garboard drain plug hole on a wintering boat.