Rat droppings

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Rat droppings

August 18, 2016, 03:13:39 pm

We left our RV at our house in the mountains foe 8 weeks. I opened one of the basement doors where I store tools and found numerous rat droppings. Have not found where he entered yet. Does anyone have a suggestion of locations where he could have gained access?

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #1 – August 18, 2016, 03:25:57 pm

Steve,
They don't need much of a hole to get in.
Is the sewer hose opening completely sealed?
Worse, is he still in there somewhere ? That's no good!
Maybe you need a cat! 😁

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #2 – August 18, 2016, 04:07:33 pm

There's not much room in these coaches for rats/mice to get in, but they are smart cookies. A friend had a coach given to him, and he thought, "what a nice gesture." It had been sitting for a while, and he called me over to see what the deal was with the smell. Yup, ciritters! It took him a year to tear the inside end-to-end to beat the smell. If the guy/gal just got into one of the bays, big deal. The only opening we have would be the wet bay when we're hooked-up, and there is no way to get upstairs (I hope!).

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #3 – August 18, 2016, 04:16:15 pm

We keep one of these baited with peanut butter and if they get in they get caught. Catch and release but away from the motor home

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Re: Rat droppings

Reply #4 – August 18, 2016, 04:35:30 pm

Quote from: sedelange – August 18, 2016, 03:13:39 pm

Does anyone have a suggestion of locations where he could have gained access?

Steve,

Have you sealed off where the cable tray goes through the front and rear bulkheads? If not that is a prime entry location. Stainless steel wool or spray foam around the cables & hoses.

Pamela

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #5 – August 18, 2016, 05:48:15 pm

I have not inspected cable entryways. I am going to empty basement to see if I can follow a trail. No openings in the sewer bay.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #6 – August 18, 2016, 05:53:46 pm

Steve,

The way we get to them is raise coach & block up. Slide under and you can get to both the front and rear cable tray openings from the outside. To get to ours from the inside we have to take the water tank out on one end and the fuel tank out on the other.

Pamela & Mike

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #7 – August 18, 2016, 06:07:34 pm

Looking at the size of the droppings and from experience with one I found eating the engine wiring on the jeep Cherokee we keep up here, I am guessing the rat is about 6"-8" long. We didn't have a rat problem because we had a nesting pair of bald eagles. The moved after the Little Bear Fire in 2012 that was about a mile from the house.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #8 – August 18, 2016, 06:10:39 pm

Quote from: sedelange – August 18, 2016, 06:07:34 pm

Looking at the size of the droppings and from experience with one I found eating the engine wiring on the jeep Cherokee we keep up here, I am guessing the rat is about 6"-8" long. We didn't have a rat problem because we had a nesting pair of bald eagles. The moved after the Little Bear Fire in 2012 that was about a mile from the house.

Forget about my previous post. You need a bigger trap!!

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #9 – August 18, 2016, 06:51:35 pm

Copper mesh is also recommended by some "experts" to plug rodent entry holes. The theory is the rats don't like the taste or feel of copper in their mouths. Also, copper is more resistant to corrosion than (plain) steel wool.

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Re: Rat droppings

Reply #10 – August 18, 2016, 07:08:09 pm

You can get the rat size glue traps at Home Depot .
I would set a few around anywhere you see droppings.
Put a piece of chocolate on them. That will often work.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #11 – August 18, 2016, 07:11:40 pm

Quote from: craneman – August 18, 2016, 06:10:39 pm

Forget about my previous post. You need a bigger trap!!

Yeah, and forget about releasing too!
Willard........catch and filet.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #12 – August 18, 2016, 07:28:28 pm

I have a commercial size rat poison box that I purchased after the one decimated my jeep. I plan on putting it in the basement. I will be here 3 more weeks before I drive rv home. Hope to rid RV of critters that way. Hoping to find entrance before then. Finishing up dishwasher replacement at house before I crawl under bus.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #13 – August 18, 2016, 08:23:18 pm

Here in AZ we use a Hav-a-hart trap baited with a big gob of peanut butter. In the coach I keep spice bottles stuffed with cotton balls and saturated with pure peppermint oil. We have had no invasion of packrats into the coach ... but they do go for the peanut butter!

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #14 – August 19, 2016, 12:00:50 am

In a pinch I've used SOS pads... they def do not like the soap

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #15 – August 19, 2016, 01:19:32 am

+1 peppermint oil. We made small tin foil cups, put some cotton balls in them and saturated with peppermint oil. Put one or two cups in each bay. Someone also told us about Irish Spring so we bought a bunch of bars and cut them up into quarters and distributed them as well. We also bought a mouse trap and bated it with peanut butter and caught two of those little buggers. We now have 2 traps and a couple of bottles of peppermint oil.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #16 – August 19, 2016, 07:33:34 am

Quote from: sedelange – August 18, 2016, 07:28:28 pm

I have a commercial size rat poison box that I purchased after the one decimated my jeep. I plan on putting it in the basement.

Please, please - don't use rodenticides. You'd mentioned that some eagles used to live in the area. Rodenticides are a significant contributor to the decline of predatory birds - the birds catch and eat a rodent that has ingested the poison, thus killing the bird. This decreases the natural predator population, increasing that of the rodents.

The same hazard exists for family pets. We have several neighbors who lost their pets to secondary rodenticide ingestion. We had to rush one of our dogs to the emergency clinic last summer due to accidental primary ingestion of the older D-Con, fortunately treatment for that exists if you catch it in time. There are no curative treatments for the ingestion of the new "safer" neurotoxin poisons.

Poisons Used to Kill Rodents Have Safer Alternatives | Audubon

Rodenticides

Raptors and Rat Poison | All About Birds

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #17 – August 20, 2016, 12:26:58 pm

I had a 2 mice problem (he brought his girlfriend) for about a few days while we onboard. Saw one come out of a furnace vent in the bath and run back in. I believe that they got in through the slot around the sewer pipe when the small door was open for the sewer hose. Afterward I stuffed that slot with cheap cleaning sponges or you could use stainless steel wool. Once behind the panel, they could use the furnace ducts to move through the coach. I checked the ducting and could not find any holes, maybe there is a way out via the furnace return air intake. They were in the drawers at the kitchen sink and also carried paper and started a nest in the electrical compartment under the foot of the bed. I think they got in there via an opening for the electrical cables. There are small inexpensive traps at either Walmart or big box, forgot which, in case you don't want to kill them. Found one hiding under the pots and pans in the big drawer under the stove. Removed the drawer and took it outside to get rid of it. Caught the other one in a trap.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #18 – August 20, 2016, 01:04:22 pm

Quote from: Michelle – August 19, 2016, 07:33:34 am

Please, please - don't use rodenticides. You'd mentioned that some eagles used to live in the area. Rodenticides are a significant contributor to the decline of predatory birds - the birds catch and eat a rodent that has ingested the poison, thus killing the bird. This decreases the natural predator population, increasing that of the rodents. The same hazard exists for family pets.

Well said, Michelle! As an aside, we don't permit any spraying of herbicides at our site in the parks we stay at. They complain, but we tell them, "it's our way or the highway." They sure were pleased to see us leave after I let this little dear grow.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #19 – August 20, 2016, 01:09:31 pm

Quote from: Jerry Whiteaker – August 20, 2016, 12:26:58 pm

Saw one come out of a furnace vent in the bath and run back in...... Once behind the panel, they could use the furnace ducts to move through the coach. I checked the ducting and could not find any holes, maybe there is a way out via the furnace return air intake.

On a side note, I changed out my furnace last year and found lots of rodent droppings in the furnace itself, not to mention plenty in the duct work. I've gone through and added screen door mesh to every duct vent that they could possibly crawl into (water pump bay, dump bay etc, and all upstairs vents). Hopefully that will stop any further entry into the ductwork and furnace.

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #20 – August 20, 2016, 06:56:56 pm

Had torn up blue paper shop towels in my main compartment. The mouse had found a roll in a slide out drawer.

Reloading firewood two days ago I found its dryed out body in the main bay. No way out I guess with Aqua hot

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #21 – August 20, 2016, 07:38:51 pm

If you can, I suggest rat traps or rat sticky traps, baited with peanut butter. If you use poison, among other problems, you will then have to find their dead bodies.(Not a fun exercise)

Re: Rat droppings

Reply #22 – August 22, 2016, 10:37:12 pm

I have used the electric rat and mice traps that Home Depot sells both in my coach and at my home. They work! At home the barn had many rats and mice that we were not catching using spring traps. Bought a couple of the electric traps, baited with peanut butter and we were catching one per day for a month before it slowed down. When I sold my home I left the traps for the new owner, figuring I did not need them. After a couple of months in the coach I had a rate invade the engine compartment and it was crawling around above the rear cabinets. Bought another trap and got it that night. Have not needed it since but will not be without it. They are expensive and I was initially skeptical.

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