Keeping mice out.

[Nodnerb]

Just wondering what everyone does to keep mice at bay, both during winter storage and during the season on a seasonal site all year? Previous owners of our trailer just said to put down a layer of laundry sheets on EVERYTHING when put to sleep for the winter. They didn't mention if they do anything in the summer season during the week when no one is there. Any tips, or is it not much of an issue in summer?

[eye-five]

For summer we just make sure the camper is clean when we leave for the week. Garbage is all taken out and any food is put away and sealed up properly. I also have a couple of the rat poison blocks under the camper on the gravel so hopefully if they come sniffing around they chomp into those first.

Haven't had any rodent issues to date (knock on wood) but it's mostly just site maintenance. Don't leave openings for them to get into or a reason to want to come in (food).

Check with the other campers in the area to see if they run into issues with rodents during camping season and that will help you gauge how worried you need to be.

[Nodnerb]

That's good to hear. Thanks. Basically what we have been doing. Vacuum before leaving and take garbage out etc. Just generally keeping it clean. But we did see a mouse scurrying around outside before we left last time. Might get one of the poison traps like you use under the trailer as well. Good idea.

[Wiscampsin]

Go under your camper and seal the heck out of any hole no matter how small with expanding foam. Every place there is a pipe, wire or hose - seal it up. Great stuff has a product called Pest Block. Look in your cabinets and seal those holes too like the plumbing holes under your sinks. Some people use steel wool but because it's steel it will rust. I've always used stainless steel wool found at Walmart by the kitchen sponges. Depending on what slide out system you have look at them too. Some have rams (pipes) that extend out from under the camper main body. Screen them off too or plug them with SS wool and remove when bringing the slides in at the end of the season, then crawl under and shove back in the holes. We were seasonal for 10 years and when we closed down for the season we cleaned the heck out of the cabinets, fridge, stove/over etc. Then spread out a box of dryer sheets all over the interior and in the garage storage areas along with shaved Irish Spring soap (the green stuff, not the blue) put in washed out yogart containers, never had a mouse. Outside we spread out a box of moth balls under the camper too.

This is what we did and it worked for us. Other people say mice built nests out of their dryer sheets. The main thing is to keep them out in the first place. It's a battle but with due diligence you will win!

[NDJollyMon]

I agree with all the prevention tips above. I can tell you from experience that mice aren't afraid of dryer sheets. I've had them make a nest out of them in our RV.

I also lay some glue traps inside in case my defenses don't work keeping them out.

[AFDON]

Read on another site that keeping lights on keep the rats away. Seems they don't like light. Maybe a string of those low wattage bulbs (LED) in all the cabinets would help.

[Iwritecode]

During the season, we keep one of those plug-in, ultra-sonic deterrents plugged into an outlet that we rarely use. Seems to work as we haven't had any problems throughout the summer.

In the off-season we've tried the Bounce dryer sheets (I've heard it has to specifically be Bounce) and Irish Spring soap. They left the sheets alone but ate about half a bar of the soap.

I've heard that cotton balls dipped in peppermint oil work pretty well, but you have to replace them every few weeks.

[Velosprout]

Tomcat brand rat/mouse poison stations kept filled year-round outside my garage, RV shed, and greenhouse/garden shed. I live in the country surrounded by crops and keeping the population down is the only way to make them manageable. Regular spring traps are a second line of defense in the house and garage, but not the camper. Annually I check the camper for any gaps and seal if needed with spray foam.

[kandl]

Originally Posted by Wiscampsin

Go under your camper and seal the heck out of any hole no matter how small with expanding foam. Every place there is a pipe, wire or hose - seal it up.

[AbdRahim]

Mine reeks of peppermint oil in the winter. Probably enough to cause respiratory arrest or at least distress for something as small as a mouse or chipmunk. I also have been hanging tea balls with mothballs in them at multiple locations under the MH and in the engine compartment, generator, propane, and in storage compartments Bounce dryer sheets throughout the interior, and a few Fresh Cab packets near the water heater and furnace, behind the drawers. There are also about 5 TomCat boxes around the house. 3 winters with no entry. No entry with tons of chipmunks at the campgrounds. Hope they stay out forever.

[joe spila]

we do all of the above clean up posts..also have the plug-in devices. also made sure that any holes are plugged. I also use bug repellent in a sprayer and soak the bottom of the trailer, along with all the steel framing, any holes even though they are filled, and any blocking/jacks that touch the ground. mice need to climb to get in. I started using the spray because of ants. but noticed when I was sitting outside on the deck a mouse came running along the ground next to the deck, it ran right up to where I had spray about a month earlier and made a u turn and ran right back to where it came from. our neighbors had major issues with mice which made them leave a week earlier and everyone around us noticed mice scrambling around the area. so I believe not only did the spray stop the ants it helped with the mice. I now spray around my deck and shed also and haven't seen any signs of bugs or mice. one gallon goes a long way. i spray a couples times a season.

[Platokidd]

Bounce sheets, Fresh Cab ,steel-wool in floor holes,
Gorilla tape over holes in the trailer frame. Plug-ins work great if you have power during the off season.


Nice looking site Joe!

[crunchman12001]

X2 on Fresh Cab. I also use the D-Con pellet bait trays inside.

[Turtle47]

Fresh cab, Irish Spring soap, drier sheets, we even re-use the corn cobs from the fresh cab bags from the previous year by cutting the bags open and pouring the ground up cobs in a jar and adding spruce oil to the cob material.

[waybeck2018]

We went to the seasonal RV this week end and found styro foam from the AC duct work on the floor. On previous trip two weeks earlier I had removed all vent cover to scrub and clean them and left them out to dry well. We had placed bounce dryer sheets in each open vent hole. Saturday morning at about 3 AM I woke up to the sound of tiny feet scratching at the styro foam above my head. Never experienced that before, LOL! Before I left I sprayed Febreeze room deodorizer/air freshener in every open port in both directions in the ducting? Wondering if it works? I will find out tomorrow when we go back out.

[Platokidd]

Originally Posted by waybeck2018

We went to the seasonal RV this week end and found styro foam from the AC duct work on the floor.

Had this same issue last year. The mice or mouse must have enter through the underbelly, climb up the tank vent to the attic and clawed his way through the a/c venting.

I ran a scope through the venting to see his doings




Had to use a shop vac and rigged a small hose to clean up after him.
Also had to remove the a small board under the bathroom sink to clean up the area around the pipe vent.

[Turtle47]

Update. Even after we did all the things we did, we still found mouse droppings in our camper in January when we brought it home to clean it out prior to trading it in on a bigger camper.