Mice in floor heating duct work...help!!!

[cage5516]

Hey all...I've had problems with mice the last couple of years. I have a 2012 Windjammer 3008w. Just opened the trailer today after winter storage and yahoo...no mice!!! So I thought. Last year we sealed every possible opening, and stuffed steal wool in every opening we couldn't seal, threw bounce sheets around the trailer, put mint oil all over as well. We also screened off the floor vents...I looked down and there was poop and leaves in the duct work. How in the heck are they getting in there and how do I stop it???? Help!!!!! Very frustrated and feel like giving up the fight!!!

[rana]

I've learned my lesson over the years. If ya can't beat em....

I've gotten in the habit of tossing a few peanut butter balls and granola around the perimeter of my camp space. It does tend to attract a few critters, but it does keep the mice and ants out of my rig.

[Jeanny]

This is what has been working for us!
A few 4-5 inch pieces of pvc pipe with holes drilled through to be able to stick metal post through and anchor to the ground. Filled with mouse poison. Placed under the RV.
Inside of the RV I use empty Gatorade bottles with some moth balls in them and place in and under cabinets. This way the mothball smell is gone as soon as u dispose of the bottle in the Spring.
Good Luck to you and Happy Camping!


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Jeanny

[donniedu]

Get a bunch of sticky traps, lay them all over the place where critters might go. They do work. Check them weekly and dispose of any filled ones,and replace. Every week or so move the unfilled ones to another place.

[vibe]

Are you sure you plugged the heat exhaust port. I bought camco screens for mine and haven't had a problem since then. I had a dead mouse in my ductwork and used a long shopvac hose and ran it in the ductwork and sucked up the mouse. I do put a couple of mouse hotels inside the camper but have seen no signs. Good luck with it, I know how frustrating it can be.

[Frank H]

We have had good luck so far with a product called "Cab Fresh". Camping World carries it and we also found it at a Feed store. Hope this helps.
Frank H.

[harleyguy]

We have our trailer parked on our property in the woods. A few years back while we were getting ready to go to bed we heard noise coming from our
bedroom closet. Looked in the closet and found two mice climbing down our vent stack pipe. I have see one climb a tree so I don't know if they jumped down from the trees around our trailer or climbed the trailer sides to get to the roof so make sure to check around your vent stacks. We use glue traps which you just throw away if you get one and fresh cab. They say they can get in a hole the size of a dime.

[Flybob]

Originally Posted by Jeanny

This is what has been working for us!
A few 4-5 inch pieces of pvc pipe with holes drilled through to be able to stick metal post through and anchor to the ground. Filled with mouse poison. Placed under the RV.
!


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Jeanny

Please do not use mouse/rat poison. Most all brands work by causing the mouse to bleed to death internally. The bleeding makes them thirsty and they go in search of water. While searching for water many times they are eaten by hawks and owls which are then poisoned and die also. I have seen way to many birds of prey who were victims of poison. Use traps.

[cdangel0]

And please use the old fashioned traps designed with the metal bar and spring. These are designed to break the neck and make the death painless. Glue traps / Sticky traps work by trapping the mouse and making it starve to death. I've seen 2 mice stuck on a glue trap next to each other, resorted to cannibalism for survival.

I know they're pests to us, but they are living creatures and should be dealt with humanely.

I prefer prevention to elimination - I sprinkle used kitty litter around under the trailer while in storage. The scent of cat urine does a wonderful job of keeping mice away.

[Jeanny]

Thanks everyone.....I really mean that!
I was so into keeping the critters out of our RV and never even thought about what you have pointed out.....No more poison!!!


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[cage5516]

Exhaust port covered from day 1. I was thinking it may be possible that they were falling on top of the trailer from the trees...but then that just seems so weird. I'm trying to avoid killing any of them at all by finding a way of stopping them from getting in. They are only in the floor heating ducts so I need to find how they are getting into them. Oh and fresh cab didn't work at all.

[muddyrode]

i hate mice. I use cab fresh , pepermint oil, dryer sheets,and moth balls i buy the plastic solo bowls and put the stuff in them seperatly and place them everywhere, that way the smell does not soak into anything, in spring just pick up all the bowls throw them out let it air for a couple of hours good to go.
i live out in the country have mice in the sheds and barn but have never had any in the campers
cross my fingers knock on wood so far so good

[oxcamper]

We found a product called Cab Fresh which seemed to work well this past winter. It's packets - like very large tea bags - that you place near the openings and storage places. You can get it at some home depot / lowe's / menards type stores in the bug and critter repellant isles. It's totally harmless, is a repellant, not a poison. In addition to the steel wool, we've used peppermint oil and peppermint tea bags in our pop-ups in the past which worked good too.

[cage5516]

so does anyone know how they may be getting into the duct work? It's not from inside...help!!

[kandl]

Originally Posted by cage5516

so does anyone know how they may be getting into the duct work? It's not from inside...help!!

Mice can enter through an opening smaller than the diameter of a dime. I've seen them squeeze through the ventilation ducts on the external access panel for our reefer. Any given RV, unless comprehensively mouse proofed, has numerous points of entry into just about anywhere within that RV - including the duct work for the heating system.

[Filthy Beast]

Originally Posted by vibe

Are you sure you plugged the heat exhaust port.

There is no way they can get from the exhaust of the furnace to the ductwork. If this was possible you would also have CO getting into the rv. If they are in the duct, you now probably have a hole in one of the distribution tubes that will let a lot of heated air into the belly of the rv.

[youroo]

Originally Posted by Filthy Beast

There is no way they can get from the exhaust of the furnace to the ductwork. If this was possible you would also have CO getting into the rv. If they are in the duct, you now probably have a hole in one of the distribution tubes that will let a lot of heated air into the belly of the rv.

Correct Info! The (Ductwork) is very THIN Flex and can be (Chewed) by mice VERY easy, it is Not Sheet metal! Youroo!!

[kandl]

Originally Posted by youroo

Correct Info! The (Ductwork) is very THIN Flex and can be (Chewed) by mice VERY easy, it is Not Sheet metal!

Not to mention that very few (any?) RV producers actually seal the heating system duct work. Some of our floor vent connections to the main ducting have gaps more than large enough for these critters to gain entry.

[biznsa]

We had mice last fall in the area underneath the 'frig. I placed 2 BIC mouse traps and the next day both were full. I removed them and placed 2 more for a few days and nothing. I then tossed numerous Bounce sheets around the inside of the RV. When I de-winterized this month, no mice. I've been told by numerous folks that moth balls and Bounce sheets are excellent for repelling mice.