I'm camped at Bandelier national monument, where rodents carry horrible diseases, and suddenly I have mice in my cargo bay. Well I'm exaggerating a little cuz I've actually only killed two mice with traps so far and I've been here a month. Still, I've traveled all over the country and never had a mouse get in before I got here. Has this happened to other folks on this forum? Are the mice coming in through the chase the wires and hoses run through? Was anyone able to find a way to keep the mice out? Just thought I'd ask on here before attempting to reinvent the wheel.
Stainless steel wool stuffed into where the cable tray goes through the bulkheads. Some have had success with spray foam.
Pamela
Scott get real peppermint oil and cotton balls, put them everywhere, mice and other rodents will stay away. My mom puts them out on tin foil
I use the peppermint cotton balls, Irish Spring soap ( left in the box) get it by the bulk at Costco,I think it's 10 or 12 per package, s/s Brillo Pads and have used the spray foam for the front bulkhead and rear. It's a WAR!!!
Scott I'm sure that you are aware of the ability of rodents crawling up the shore power cords or water hoses. In older coaches this can be more of a problem since they might have better access to the cargo bays. Something for others to think about when running utilities.
Down south the last two winters we saw lots of folks with 2 or 3 hundred dollars worth of rope lights circling their entire coach, fiver, trailer, tents what ever. They all claimed it kept kangaroo rats, pack rats, spiders, snakes and all manner of nasty things away.
I found no believable foundation for this but pages and pages of urban legend surely posted by the rope light manufacturers association.
Peppermint stuff seems to do the trick for us as well as closing up all of the easy openings. Amazon sells something called mouse magic that we have used. Little bags of strong peppermint infused something. I am sure you could add more peppermint oil to each bag too. We put them in small plastic yogurt cups, one or two in every bay door and a couple in the engine bay.
Somehow I would rather smell peppermint than bring back the Irish Spring olifactory memories from the 1970s. English Leather, Brut, OMG don't get me started. 👃
Just me. Roger
...my dad used Hai Karate hahahahaha!
Back to the 50s. Aqua Velva and Old Spice. I'm a fragrance free sort of guy now ... for decades.
....well this has JUST happened to me, in my new storage lot in NC! Had put moth balls around every tire when I left a couple weeks ago, (nothing plugged in) came back 10 days later, happy there were no signs of 'em in the coach...went to dump the tanks when leaving the park & found they'd shredded paper towels (lining an open bin) in the bay...can they get into the coach now or might they just be confined to the bay? No time to clean out the entire bay but I'm going to battle when I get back! Did not want to leave traps out while gone. >:(
Peppermint oil and cotton balls. We made cups from tin foil using the bottom of a cup as a mold. As others have said we put them everywhere. Oh and 3 or 4 mouse traps. :D
We take a soda or "barley pop" can, cut it in half, , take the bottom half and make about 6 or 8 vertical equally spaced cuts about halfway to the bottom of the can. We then stuff cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil in the can, then bend the 6 or 8 vertical pieces over the cotton balls.
I then put these deterrents in the engine compartment, under the lift up dash, on the frame rails in the engine compartment, and on top of EACH tire, along with inside almost every compartment/cupboard where ducting or piping runs are routed.
Five years now and not a single rodent.
OH, I also ran a string of LED lights in the engine compartment and leave them on whenever we are out camping somewhere.
I don't think Rocket is much of a deterrent, but he would catch one (if he was awake) just so he had something to play with. He did try to do that with a "flying mouse" (bat).
Peppermint oil on cotton balls .... I used empty glass spice jars with the perforated plastic top. (But now Mr. Wonderful has been throwing them away, so I have to begin collecting again. Grrrrr)
We had considered glass containers but I worried that I would forget where I had put them all and if I didn't remove every single one then one or more could fall out on the road & break--the ones I placed on the frame rails in the engine compartment.
Plus, I always seem to have a goodly supply or soda or barley pop cans.
By the way, I did "find" three cans that weren't removed in the spring.
As others have said Peppermint Oil on cotton balls which I place in reused plastic cups, obtained after eating sugarless Jello purchased in a food markets dairy section.
I also place LED lights out around coach activated by a digital timer which can adjust for DST/Standard time plus adjust time for the section of country you are located, you can purchased at Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-7-Day-Indoor-In-Wall-Digital-Timer-15089/100685874). In addition I have 2 sets of LED solar rope lights around coach purchased at Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-rope-light-68353.html).
Another possible thought, just saying, might be to put a motion sensor LED light (http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-rope-light-68353.html) in any area of entry you can think of, secured with Velcro, have not tried yet personally, well yes I did place one LED light in the cars engine compartment with the hood opened while parked at Organ Pipe National Memorial this winter, but might be an alternative? Try anything to help keep the critters away!
Tony
At home I leave all basement doors open . I have a 12 pound black cat named Pepper . He patrols the coach house . He packs a pistol and an attitude . If he smells something that should not be there , se sets up camp right there waiting . Maybe his smell is the very thing that keeps the vermin away . So far , zero problems .Pepper has an apprentice named Spotsy who in the training mode . I see Pepper holding class from time to time .If-- Spotsy turns out half as good as Pepper , I'll be a happy camper . :D :D :D Brad Metzger
A couple of mice got into my coach this summer. Not sure where we picked them up, but discovered them while in Rocky Mtn. NP. Not sure how they got in, but suspect that it was via the sewer/ utility compartment. The gap around the sewer pipe is big enough to let small mice in. From there I think they used the furnace ducts to travel around as we saw one come out and then go back in the outlet in the bathroom. Found some chewed up paper in some drawers and also in the electrical compartment under the bed. Walmart has small plastic box traps that can be baited with peanut butter. Found one in the big drawer under the stove hiding in the pots and pans. Removed the drawer and took it outside. Thought we were mice free, until another showed up the next day in a trap. Since then no evidence of more mice. I'm keeping the traps, and have stuffed wet sponges around the sewer pipe. When dry the sponge stays in place. I also foamed the opening where I think they got into the compartment under the bed. I probably have a hole/s in the furnace ducts, but so far have not found any.
The smell of dog food brings the nasty critters in from long distances. In the 10 years I lived in my old coach, I found stashes of dog food in many places including in the hearing ducts, water heater. under the dash and in a dash air duct.
I bought a couple of old fashioned wooden mouse traps and some newfangled "better" mouse traps that are circular black plastic thingys that you bait with peanut butter through the bottom, then twist the trap to wind up the spring and set it. So far the better mouse traps haven't caught any mice but the old fashioned wooden mouse trap has caught two... so much for new technology... Last winter I made a tight fitting wooden plug for the opening under the utility bay where my shore power cable comes in. I never leave my water or sewer connected so I only cut out an opening just big enough for my 50 amp cable. There's a slight gap around the 30 amp cable when I have to use it instead of the 50 amp cable. I made the wooden plug to prevent freezing but it does work to keep out rodents. I'll try to find some peppermint oil tomorrow when I go to the store. I'll see if I can find some stainless steel wool too. I have ordinary steel wool but I suppose it could become a rusty mess if rain water got to it. I plugged a night light in to the engine block heater outlet and I turn it on each night. I lift up the bed to verify the bulb isn't burned out and check the mouse traps I put under there. I don't want to catch any of our really cool looking Abert squirrels so I put the better mouse traps in the engine bay because the opening in the better mouse trap is too small to catch anything larger than a mouse... so I guess I could just put them on the ground around my coach without endangering wildlife... unless you consider mice to be wildlife? :)
Amazon a good place for peppermint oil
Scott,
Look in the pot scrubber section of most any store, they usually are in a green wrapper.
Pamela
Almost any health/vitamin store will carry 100% pure peppermint oil (mentha piperita), usually one fluid ounce size for around $5-$6.
From New style Smartplug shore cable plug (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=21830.msg171504#msg171504) with photo attached:
Years ago, we removed the hinges and made two aluminum angles that are visible in this photo. We can fully remove door and with cable slot and removable pieces of metal to close off slot, we feel we can close off the space to better protect from critters. We also added a 2nd sliding latch, shown with string between them.
Also if a door hangs down, it can be crushed when lowering coach. We have tried different ways to close off the space around the shore cable, and this is our latest and best. We never connect to city water except to gravity fill tank, and we never leave a sewer hose connected, so we did not need to accommodate these hoses with a critter secure opening. (We fill and dump about once a week and then put the hoses away).
We made two different cable slot covers, one that closes off with cable in place, like in photo. And another that closes off the slot completely for traveling or parking without electric service.
Susan & I have been following this thread with interest, because we'd like to mouse-proof our coach. However, perhaps a better solution came along today. Look at the photo carefully, just behind the black connector to the dump hose.
Umm, we're offering this visitor to anyone who is having problems with mice!
More seriously, what's behind the wall in the utility bay on which the hot/cold water faucet is mounted? When the visitor saw me, he eased backward through the opening around the dump pipe. Presumably, he is curled up on the belly skin behind the wall with the faucet. We've never seen a coach with the belly skin off. Where might he go next, if he decides not to come back outside?
With thanks in advance for info and suggestions. Glad it's not a scorpion and we WILL do some serious sealing soon.
Richard, if you can dig him out, I'll overnight you my keys & all y'all gotta do is toss him in a bag, hike 2 minutes up the hill to my coach & stick him in the big storage bay! :)) I could use a little rodent control right now.
Seriously, best see if anyone can identify what kind of snake he is before you get too involved, maybe get Robert to help you catch him or call the county wildlife folks?
Richard,
Mike thinks by what he can see that is a Black King snake. You should be able to pull the screws out of the top panel along with the lower trim piece along with the soap bottle, towel holder, and remove the cover panel. This will give access to the back side of the holding tanks. There is a nice warm little hiding hole in there for a snake. He can escape via a crawl hole between the tank supports. If he goes that way the will come out over on the other side under the water manifold.
If you are anywhere around East Texas you could swing by and Mike will help you flush him/her out.
An edit: Here is a link that took me a few minutes to find BlackKingsnake.com | (http://www.blackkingsnake.com/)
Pamela & Mike
Dani — Believe me, if we can entice him out, he's yours! We'll let you know if you need to overnight the keys. :-)
Pamela & Mike — Thanks for the likely ID on our visitor. Presumably, not harmful? Read your link, thanks, but it's what they didn't say that worries us. We'll look under/in the manifold area tomorrow. He was not at all bothered by using our awning hook to knock gently under his hiding place.
Nice to think there is no route up into the coach from there! Wish we WERE somewhere around east Texas. We'd stop for sure! Thanks for the offer.
Richard,
Mike said that the Back King snake is one of the most docile of King snakes. At least with him on board you shouldn't have a rodent problem and the snake don't have a taste for wire insulation. One other thing, tapping on the underside of the coach belly pan won't bother him as that area is aprox. 1 5/8" thick.
Pamela
On a side note how Mike can recall this info faster than I can look it up on the computer still amazes me.
Here's a little update including preliminary results of my very unscientific rodent riddance testing. It looks like peppermint really does repel mice. I was catching mice in my cargo bay with a mousetrap right up to the point where I put peppermint extract on cotton balls and stuck them in the wiring chase, which is the only place I can find that the mice can get in. It's been several weeks and I have yet to catch a mouse in the cargo bay since I put the peppermint cotton balls in the chase. A few days ago I noticed a cotton ball on the ground beside my coach and presumed a clever mouse had thrown it out, so I put an Altoids peppermint candy in the wiring chase instead. I still haven't caught any mice inside the cargo bay with an Altoids in the chase. I really like the smell of Peppermint except it gives me a craving for York Peppermint Patties (get the sensation) which I don't have any of unfortunately but maybe I'll buy a huge package of them at the after Halloween candy sale?! :)
The much ballyhooed theory of leaving a light on inside the engine bay apparently doesn't work well to repel mice. I put a mousetrap on the frame rail beside the engine and it catches almost as many mice at night with the light on as it does during daylight. As a result I won't be running out to buy a hundred dollar coil of LED lights to put under my coach and annoy my neighbors. I unplugged my engine block heater and plugged a night light into the socket just to test the theory of leaving a light on in the engine bay.
The newfangled plastic "better mousetraps" apparently don't work well. I bought six of them, of two completely different designs, and so far they've caught exactly one mouse between the six of them. One of the newfangled mousetraps was actually destroyed by a clever mouse that threw it off the frame rail and broke it. The old fashioned wooden moustraps catch so many mice that I actually wore one of them out already. The thing was stained with the blood of many a mouse so it was probably time to replace it.
My advice at this point is to put a peppermint Altoids mint in either end of your wiring chase where it goes into the coach in front of the rear axle and behind the front axle. Put an old fashioned wooden mousetrap inside your cargo bay door and another one on the frame rail beside your engine and check them every day. I'm using peanut butter as bait on the traps. I haven't caught anything except mice in my mousetraps, which is good because we have beautiful Abert squirrels with cool looking ear tufts here in Bandelier national monument and I don't want to hurt them.
....well Scott, here they've moved from the bay into the coach itself, have caught 2 in glue traps (peanut butter!) in the past 24 hours, have the peppermint oil, just no time yet....oh & 12 bars of Irish Spring....we're practically below water here in VA....bailing out of here (literally) tomorrow so will get further west & deal with it accordingly....now, who was it that said they couldn't move from the bays to the coach itself? >:D
We use "Fresh Cab" inside and in the storage bays. It has been very effective and we like its aroma. It's available at Menards and online and probably other places.
Scott, thanks for the encouraging update. Like Miz Dani, we haven't been able to place our peppermint oil on cotton balls yet (although we have purchased both) because we are dealing with east coast weather. But glad to know, in your case, it stopped all intrusions.
Miz Dani, so SORRY to hear the VA trip has proven wet. Joaquin hasn't helped, though thankfully he has stayed offshore so far. So now you are going to be a "weather refugee," as we are (currently docked in west central Georgia, waiting until we can go back to SC/NC). Shout, if we can do anything to help?
PS: Miz Dani, if we can find the snake, we'll send him your way. But by all indications, he crawled out the night after we took the photo of him peering out of the wet bay. He may now regret that, if he remained in the floods of the western NC mountains. Or he may still be down below, somewhere between the dump outlet and the water manifold block, cheering at his good fortune and toasting those of us upstairs with a glass of whatever snakes drink! ;-)
This stuff seems to work for us. Mouse Magic.
Amazon.com: Bonide Mouse Magic Pest Repellent , Pack of 12: Pet Supplies (http://amazon.com/Bonide-Mouse-Magic-Pest-Repellent/dp/B001VJ2DDG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443911415&sr=8-1&keywords=mouse+magic+repellent)
Oooo a snake. Found a garter snake in the barn one day, not in the coach.
We are fighting mice who have decided that the top of the slidng door tracks on the barn is their new favorite place. There is a cover over the track somthere is a space up there for the mouse party and the mess they leave. Sprayed peppermint oil up in there today after pressure washing that space yesterday. Smells much different.
Miz D,
In a U-270 the easiest place they can get in to the interior of your coach via the heating ducts. You need to put screen covers over the ducts that come out over your water pump. We had that happen to us when we had a U-240.
Pamela
Pamela & Mike, others . . .
And, just in case, any suggestions re: a U320? Heating ducts? No evidence of mice, but would like to take preventative steps. Ditto if the snake decided to tag along, rather than staying in the flood zone.
With thanks!
Richard,
Your coach basement heat is obtained by most likely 2 heat exchangers. One in the area of the water pump/water manifold and one in the area hid behind the wall in your service bay. The hoses that feed these go through the cable tray to your Aqua Hot so you have no ducting for little critters to migrate through into you cabin living area. You do have a couple of penetrations through the floor like where your toilet and grey water goes through but they should be sealed with sealer.
Hope this is the info you are asking for in a U-320.
Pamela & Mike
Pamela & Mike,
Perfect — that was the answer we were hoping for. Every visible penetration of the floor seems to have been so well-sealed that acouple have stalactite-like formations descending from the sealant. We're trusting, then, that those we can't see are as well-sealed.
So, thanks, Mike for the probable identification of the snake, as well as for information on the U320 construction!
Richard & Susan
Good Luck !
There are always cats in the basement.
Here's a little update on a "better mouse trap" that actually works, amazingly well in fact. If you put a little water in a bucket, mice will jump up into the bucket and drown in a few minutes. They can't jump back out of the bucket as they're swimming in the water. A few obvious improvements you can make to this bucket trap include the addition of bait, such as peanut butter or Nutella. You can make a couple of little holes on opposite sides of the top of the bucket and string some mechanic's wire (or coat hanger wire) through the little holes across the top of the bucket. Make a little hole in the center of the bottom of a plastic soda bottle and slide the wire through the little hole in the bottom of the bottle and out through the mouth of the bottle so the bottle spins freely on the wire like a big roller bearing. spread some peanut butter or Nutella around the center of the bottle so the mice have to crawl out onto the wire and try to stand on the spinning bottle to reach the bait. They'll fall into the water and drown. If you're like me and you can't remember where you put the roll of mechanic's wire you pride yourself on having, you can use a pair of needle nose pliers to bend the wire handle of the bucket down flat across the top of the bucket and spread peanut butter on the spinning plastic handle. You can also add a "buffalo jump" by leaning a stick against the top of the bucket so mice will climb up the ramp. You never know when a mouse might be too lazy to jump into the bucket. In freezing cold weather add a little antifreeze to the water so it won't freeze. Don't use antifreeze unless you really need it because you might poison wildlife if animals drink it. Put just enough water in the bucket so a mouse can't touch bottom and jump out of the bucket. Don't put enough water in the bucket to drown a squirrel or other wildlife. You only want to kill mice. So far the world record here at Bandelier national monument is 17 mice killed in one bucket trap in a single night. Please let me know if you've found a way to beat that record. :)
The only other mouse trap that actually works is the traditional wooden trap with a spring. I caught so many mice with those that I wore one of them out and I lost several traps too. The plastic "better mouse traps" that you see in the store don't work. I bought a couple of different types and each type caught exactly one mouse after several weeks, or months. During that same period of time I caught so many mice with the wooden traps that I lost count. It's far better to catch the mice outside the coach (or toad) with a bucket trap than to catch them inside with a wooden trap, just saying. Since I set up my bucket trap I haven't caught any mice with the other traps. I only catch mice at night, never in the daytime. I already tried leaving a light on in the engine compartment at night and the light definitely doesn't repel mice. Each morning I fish the dead mice out of the bucket trap with a couple of sticks, chopstick style, without touching them at all. I also don't have to worry about the wooden trap whacking me on the finger as I'm trying to set it... ouch!
So there you have it. Every survival skill I've learned about camping in the middle of the worst rodent infestation a semi-sensible person can tolerate... Hopefully you'll never need to know any of this. :)
The 3 places we stay long term have stray cats. I've befriended and pet them so they sleep outside of my coach (don't even have to feed them!). No rodents! Now if only I could teach them to eat ants.
...well OK here's how I finally got the 2 that were buggin' me a couple months ago....1st one was stupid enough to show his face on the edge of the trash can, I took one look, kicked the can, in he went, stuck a plastic bin on top & anchored it down with a 12 pack of diet root beer...only problem was he beat the heck out of the trash can/bag & by the time I found a willing victim (thanks Larry!) to help me get him out of the coach, (a 2 person job) he'd practically torn the snot out of the can....them little buggers sure can fight! The 2nd one wasn't very smart either, he got into a glue trap (lookin' for his lost buddy) the very next night, baited w/peanut butter....no more since then, but ready & armed with peppermint oil & cotton balls. Whoever said they can't get into the coach from the bays was fulla bulla! :))
Scott, my caretaker up at the ranch puts a flat wooden stick up to the side of a big empty bucket with a Hershey's kiss in it & they go up the ramp, into the bucket for the chocolate & that's it for them! (he fishes 'em out & "teaches 'em to swim" after that)
I haven't used a Hershey Kiss as bait. I was told Nutella is much stickier than peanut butter so you never have to re-bait the trap. I may buy some today and try it, but peanut butter works great if you don't mind re-baiting the trap(s) regularly.
Rodents will SQUEEEEEEEEZE in through some of the tights spaces imaginable!
At night, use a flashlight from inside the bay into the coach or reverse view to see if and where any light is visible from the opposite side. Once found, use the expandable spray foam to fill these holes and or a steel wool stuffed in these holes. They hate that.
Apparently I have solved the mouse problem. I haven't caught a mouse for many months now. I think mice were getting into the cargo bay through the chase that the wires and hoses go through the full length of the coach. I crawled underneath and filled up either end of the chase with "Great Stuff" and haven't caught any mice since... Hope this helps someone reading this.