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Old 09-20-2018, 06:45 PM   #1
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squirrels getting in

I have a Columbus 381fl 2016. I have squirrels getting in to my underbelly on my coach getting to my storage compartments bringing walnuts with them the size of apples. I checked the whole under belly and top vents and found nothing. I did seal all holes for wiring and anywhere else last year. I cannot figure how they are getting in. I am ready to pull this whole underbelly off and see if there are any breaches from the outside of frame to the inside of underbelly. this underbelly is an 1/8 inch plastic. Forest river was a joke when I called them and my dealer is scratching their heads. I can see mice getting in to a camper but not squirrels. We have never had this with any class A or travel trailers in the past. Any help would be great.
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Old 09-21-2018, 11:05 AM   #2
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Sqirrels?

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I have a Columbus 381fl 2016. I have squirrels getting in to my underbelly on my coach getting to my storage compartments bringing walnuts with them the size of apples. I checked the whole under belly and top vents and found nothing. I did seal all holes for wiring and anywhere else last year. I cannot figure how they are getting in. I am ready to pull this whole underbelly off and see if there are any breaches from the outside of frame to the inside of underbelly. this underbelly is an 1/8 inch plastic. Forest river was a joke when I called them and my dealer is scratching their heads. I can see mice getting in to a camper but not squirrels. We have never had this with any class A or travel trailers in the past. Any help would be great.
The first year we had our Travel Trailer the wind blew the little door off the stove vent and broke the tabs by which it is held on. It wasn't cold yet so I just left it off while a new one from Amazon was enroute. (We are full timers.) Before the door arrived, we had a whirling dervish inside our trailer. It would knock things off the walls and gnaw on anything. I finally trapped it, but we also had a Norway Rat. He was so fast we only saw a blur, but we googled rats, and the distinctive shape of its' scat told us what it was. We trapped it too, in a rat trap, and it was so big it was running through the camper with a large rat trap attached. It takes very little room for them to squeeze in!

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Old 09-22-2018, 08:12 PM   #3
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squirrels getting in

I checked all of these things including the roof and air units. Forest river makes a playground for rodents. I sealed up so many holes that mice or chippies could have got in. I went through 2 big cans. There is got to be somewhere else they are getting in from the underside between the frame and under belly that you can not see. I will probably have to pains taking the under belly off a little at a time till I can see the breach. I will never buy another camper from forest river again. 65,000 squirrel house.
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Old 09-23-2018, 08:02 PM   #4
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You're kidding yourself if you think that Forest River is to fault for the rodents getting in. Those suckers will get into any RV if they are determined to do so. Motorhomes stand a better chance of keeping them out than any trailer does, MHs due to the elevated chassis and flooring provide a better barrier to them. Trailers of any type or quality are not going to be able to keep them out, the chloroplast is not designed or strong enough to detour a rodent that chews for a living. I live in NC and we are infested with millions of squirrels and they get into any and all RVs regardless of manufacturer.
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Old 09-23-2018, 08:24 PM   #5
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squirrels getting in

I have been on this property since 1999. Had a class A and had chippies that chewed through a air intake. Also had a travel trailer and had some mice problems. Never had squirrels that were getting in. There is a breach between frame and underbelly somewhere. You have to see it to fix it. I don't think WI squirrels are any smarter than NC squirrels. Thanks for the input.
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Old 09-23-2018, 09:19 PM   #6
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Have you tried lighting up the inside of the trailer or those compartments at night and seeing if you can see light coming out of that invisible hole? A very bright LED light might do it. Those critters are pretty crafty at chewing just the right size hole to get in and store their nuts.

Do you suppose they know something about this upcoming winter that we don't?
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Old 09-24-2018, 11:42 AM   #7
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squirrels getting in

that is one of the first things I did, from inside and outside of compartments, looking in and out. Taking it to the dealer next week. Without taking the underbelly off a little at a time I think I'm not going to get far. Thanks for the help.
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Old 09-24-2018, 11:55 AM   #8
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So let me get this straight. YOU can't find any openings but it is some how Forest River fault for a squirrel in your camper. WOW!

I's sell right away. Why would you want to keep such a POS?

Personally, I have owned 3 different Forest River Products. In fact I live full time in one now and I have never had a squirrel problem. Never even heard of anyone having a squirrel problem but I am sure it is the manufacturers fault.

GOOD LUCK!
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Old 09-24-2018, 03:28 PM   #9
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suirrels getting in

If you knew how to read, you would have read [no openings that I could see] That doe's not mean they are not there.DUH
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Old 09-24-2018, 03:40 PM   #10
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You need to check around the front of your unit, they may well not be getting in through the underbelly. I have a level up system and there is a path, look closely, up the jack leg, thru the battery compartment and into the storage compartment. You need to look at the top of these compartments to find many of the paths.
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Old 09-24-2018, 04:04 PM   #11
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On my TT there is a channel where the axles are mounted to the frame. The rear end of the channel is open to the outside behind the rear axle. The forward end goes into the underbelly. The way I found it I watched a chipmunk run under the TT and I just happen to be in the right place to see him jump up and crawl into the channel. I have an endoscope and looked inside the channel right into the underbelly. It is a quite large opening and I used almost a can of foam to fill the channel on each side of the TT, one can will not do it.
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Old 09-24-2018, 09:05 PM   #12
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Squirrels!

Set up a "game cam" by the trailer. I attach mine to a 5 gallon bucket with the nylon strap and fill the bucket half full of water, dirt, sand, etc. so it is stable when no trees are near by. I even take the game "cam" camping with us. Lots of critters out there especially at night. Good luck finding there entry point.
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Old 09-25-2018, 12:49 AM   #13
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Set up a "game cam" by the trailer..
I've been looking for an excuse to buy a 'game cam'. Using one to catch pictures of all the critters exploring the camper while in the forest is a great idea. Hopefully it'll catch the squirrel action.
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Old 10-01-2018, 12:42 PM   #14
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squirrels getting in

Think I found where the squirrels are getting in. unscrewed underbelly and found a big hole going through the frame to under belly for mid jack. sealed it up and nothing for about 6 days now. I could tell just by looking at the insulation It was the runway. It would have been nice if this big hole for a little wire harness would have been sealed at the factory. this hole was hidden and could not be seen without unscrewing sections of under belly. Thanks for those that left HELPFUL comments.
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Old 10-01-2018, 12:49 PM   #15
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Glad you found the entryway and shared. Might help someone else with a rodent problem in their rig.

Not knowing your rig and looking ahead to a potential problem in our rig.... how did the critters get to the hole?
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Old 10-01-2018, 12:51 PM   #16
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Try this.
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Old 10-01-2018, 01:24 PM   #17
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LMAO
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Old 10-01-2018, 01:56 PM   #18
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We keep our RV on our property in upper portion of Michigan's lower peninsula and ocassionally get mice. I've tried it all. Dryer sheets, fresh cab, peppermint oil, plugged up all the holes around any wires or pipes on the underbelly and the little buggers still find a way in. The most effective way of us has been to put out glue traps. We always seem to find the mice almost always in the area of the furnace.
I stumbled across a video on You tube that I thought was interesting where the guy does an experiment with what size holes a mouse can get through. The link is below

https://youtu.be/iGXYZwZEZa0
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Old 10-01-2018, 02:39 PM   #19
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squirrels getting in

pretty good video. Your not going to keep mice out. I had a 28 foot four winds TT and always had a mouse or 2 on the glue traps. Before the TT I had a 33 foot class A Coachman and had a mouse or 2 once in awhile. On the class A had chipmunks in there and tracked it down to the engine compartment. They chewed through the air intakes. I have never had a squirrel before. I think each camper is unique and a real learning curve. The dealer wanted an arm and a leg to check it out. It took me about 8 hours on my back checking this one out. I was surprised to see how many breaches there were. The biggest was plenty of room for a squirrel and walnuts that were about the size of small apples/tennis balls. The biggest thing is not to keep any food in you unit or any grills or anything that has any smell of food on it. I found that out with my first unit 25 years ago, the chipmunks actually chewed through one cabinet to another to get at some sugar packets. I sprayed this unit last fall with mouse free, it is a heavy peppermint oil that you spray under the whole underside. It is very sloppy and very oily. It seemed to help with the mice last winter but is not worth the money or time, nor does it keep bigger rodents out.
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