MICE!!!

[LSC9901]

Is peppermint extract the same thing ? If not where do we get peppermint oil ?

[DrT7575]

Extracts are normally made from grain alcohol (vodka) and a few other things like glycerin too. Oils are more directly steam distilled from plants.



I buy from these two places:


https://www.libertynatural.com/ - 16 oz is under $40 - says it is steam distilled.



https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/


I am a veterinarian and make extracts from vodka but don't drink it.

[MO Fred]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

Is peppermint extract the same thing ? If not where do we get peppermint oil ?

16 fl oz - Peppermint Essential Oil 100% Pure, Uncut - GreenHealth From Amazon. This is what I have used last few years. 16 oz should last 6-12 months.

[NCC-1701A]

Mousetrapmondays.com is great. Most rodent repellant rumors are dispelled through actual testing. Peppermint oils did show exception. LED rope light? Rats and mice LOVED them...lit up their way to the bait like airport landing lights! :-)


https://mousetrapmonday.com/videos/d...ith-real-mice/

[kb7uxe]

https://mousetrapmonday.com/videos/d...ith-real-mice/

ok for this guy i works,,, mmmmm

[astrnmrtom]

Rant mode on....

Repellents remain popular because they are easier than proven methods, don't require poisons, and are seen as "natural" or "Safe." They appeal to human logic - aka we avoid smells we don't like, so it makes sense rodents will do the same. The failure in that logic is; rodents lives and instincts are much different than ours. Their world is full of various smells, not all of which are pleasant, and one of their survival skills is being very good at constantly evaluating their environment to determine what's a hazard and what isn't.

People forget, rodents are a problem any place there are humans, including industrial areas with extremely louds noises, bright lights and foul smells. Think a refinery doesn't have mice or rats? A chemical plant? Sewage treatment plants? Do you think a field of peppermint plants is rodent free? A rodent may avoid a new smell for a time, until it figures out the smell poses no hazard, in which case the new smell vanishes into the background. This is something the brain is programmed to do, another ancient survival technique. Persistent smells fade into the background so your senses retain the ability to recognize new smells. The old Febreze commercial nailed it with their "Have you become nose blind?" commercial. It was a take on a real thing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_fatigue

For 16 years, I dealt with mice and rats in chemical storage rooms, rooms full of smelly cleaning supplies, equipment rooms with all kinds of loud equipment cycling off and on randomly, rooms brightly lit 24-7, and rooms that contained all those elements. All that mattered to the rodent was; did this room provide one or more of three things - Food, Water, or Shelter/Protection from predators? You'd be surprised to know that mice and rats makling runs and nests in fiberglass insulation didn't bother them, and anyone who's worked with the stuff know fiberglass insulation is irritating as heck. Can you imaging pushing your face through the stuff? Mice do it without a second thought. If mice could run along areas where cleaning chemicals have dripped, many concentrated and very aromatic, why would a drier sheet or bar of soap deter one? I know most people haven't dealt with mice in those environments, but the reality is, mice or rats are everywhere people are including smelly places. They have really adapted well to the human world. Imagine all the nice smelling nesting material mice can gather from drier vents. They'll even use those vents as entry points to a house. Vents that regularly spew moist perfumed air and lint from scented laundry detergent, fabric softener and even the new scent booster crystals. I can guarantee you all the mouse nests in the vicinity of your local laundromat contain dryer lint.

Place humans into a survive-or-perish situations, and they too will quickly learn to ignore unpleasant things in their environment. People including children, rummage in huge trash dumps on a daily basis to find food is one. Villages where carboard shacks are next to open sewer trenches are another example. The smell repellent logic used in the RV world is a first world perspective, and for some strange reason continues in spite of the fact billions has been spent in pest control research world wide and the research has repeatedly shown repellants don't work. Countless people have spent their careers working on the problem. If the things frequently suggested on forums worked, it would be SOP in the pest control world and it would be taught in every class and repeated in every yearly recert class. Rodents were a topic every year because they are so common. The problems is, the results of real research doesn't pop up when doing a Google search, but the personal testimonies do, because the same subject is repeated so often on the web. No one reads research papers other than other researchers.

I even see the same myths posted on RV "How To" pages where a writer who has no experience in the field just repeats what they've read in forums. Just today I read a "How to keep your RV pest Free!" article where the writer listed a bunch of completely incorrect information. One was the Ant corn meal myth where using corn meal as bait kills ants because they eat it, drink water, and the cornmeal swells inside them and causes them to explode. That was what was written as an explanation as to why it works. The writer had no idea that adult ants don't eat solids. They take the cornmeal back to the nest, feed it to the grubs who in turn excrete a liquid that the adult ants ingest and feed to the queen. The website in a how to article was spreading bad information which people then take as fact. People believe in the myth because sometimes when they try it, the ants go away for a while. It works!!! people will say, yet all they've done is filled the ant's pantry and they no longer need to forage for a while. In the mean time, the nest population grows, and they return later with a vengeance, or the nest splits into several satellite nests and you have ants popping up all over - you've actually made the problem worse. Since the person assumes it worked before, they apply it again and the cycle continues. Your local ants have hit the jackpot thanks to a complete myth. The website's writer was simply repeating something they'd heard without doing any real research or talking to a real pest expert. The writer even went so far as to say certain smells like peppermint oil, or other "essential oils" repel ants too. Again, did she ever stop to think that maybe fields of peppermint plants have bugs crawling around in them, ants included? Of course not, because she wasn't a pest expert even though she was writing an article on how to keep your RV pest free in the website's How To section. Articles like this are more common than people realize, and only serve to feed the myths. I could go on to explain why personal testimony isn't a reliable way of judging a treatment's effectiveness, but I'm sure most people have already dozed off by now.

Ok, deep breath, happy thoughts, happy thoughts...

Rant mode off... till next time.

[Craig1960]

You may be right for the most part but for some of us where we live the things you say doesn't work does work. I stopped using Irish spring and dryer sheets for awhile and guess what, I started catching mice in my traps. Started using them again with some peppermint oil as well and traps were empty again. How do you explain that?

Years ago I parked my m/h at a friends place for the winters along with his son and another guy. I used Irish Spring and bounce sheets they didn't use anything. Come spring they had mice and I didn't. Lucky maybe but I'm going to keep on using what seems to be working for me until it doesn't.

My thinking is all animals, rodents and people for that matter adapt differently depending on where they are. Mice here don't seem to like what you say they do where you are. Rats aren't allowed in Alberta so we don't have to worry about them. lol

Originally Posted by astrnmrtom

Rant mode on....

Repellents remain popular because they are easier than proven methods, don't require poisons, and are seen as "natural" or "Safe." They appeal to human logic - aka we avoid smells we don't like, so it makes sense rodents will do the same. The failure in that logic is; rodents lives and instincts are much different than ours. Their world is full of various smells, not all of which are pleasant, and one of their survival skills is being very good at constantly evaluating their environment to determine what's a hazard and what isn't.

People forget, rodents are a problem any place there are humans, including industrial areas with extremely louds noises, bright lights and foul smells. Think a refinery doesn't have mice or rats? A chemical plant? Sewage treatment plants? Do you think a field of peppermint plants is rodent free? A rodent may avoid a new smell for a time, until it figures out the smell poses no hazard, in which case the new smell vanishes into the background. This is something the brain is programmed to do, another ancient survival technique. Persistent smells fade into the background so your senses retain the ability to recognize new smells. The old Febreze commercial nailed it with their "Have you become nose blind?" commercial. It was a take on a real thing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_fatigue

For 16 years, I dealt with mice and rats in chemical storage rooms, rooms full of smelly cleaning supplies, equipment rooms with all kinds of loud equipment cycling off and on randomly, rooms brightly lit 24-7, and rooms that contained all those elements. All that mattered to the rodent was; did this room provide one or more of three things - Food, Water, or Shelter/Protection from predators? You'd be surprised to know that mice and rats makling runs and nests in fiberglass insulation didn't bother them, and anyone who's worked with the stuff know fiberglass insulation is irritating as heck. Can you imaging pushing your face through the stuff? Mice do it without a second thought. If mice could run along areas where cleaning chemicals have dripped, many concentrated and very aromatic, why would a drier sheet or bar of soap deter one? I know most people haven't dealt with mice in those environments, but the reality is, mice or rats are everywhere people are including smelly places. They have really adapted well to the human world. Imagine all the nice smelling nesting material mice can gather from drier vents. They'll even use those vents as entry points to a house. Vents that regularly spew moist perfumed air and lint from scented laundry detergent, fabric softener and even the new scent booster crystals. I can guarantee you all the mouse nests in the vicinity of your local laundromat contain dryer lint.

Place humans into a survive-or-perish situations, and they too will quickly learn to ignore unpleasant things in their environment. People including children, rummage in huge trash dumps on a daily basis to find food is one. Villages where carboard shacks are next to open sewer trenches are another example. The smell repellent logic used in the RV world is a first world perspective, and for some strange reason continues in spite of the fact billions has been spent in pest control research world wide and the research has repeatedly shown repellants don't work. Countless people have spent their careers working on the problem. If the things frequently suggested on forums worked, it would be SOP in the pest control world and it would be taught in every class and repeated in every yearly recert class. Rodents were a topic every year because they are so common. The problems is, the results of real research doesn't pop up when doing a Google search, but the personal testimonies do, because the same subject is repeated so often on the web. No one reads research papers other than other researchers.

I even see the same myths posted on RV "How To" pages where a writer who has no experience in the field just repeats what they've read in forums. Just today I read a "How to keep your RV pest Free!" article where the writer listed a bunch of completely incorrect information. One was the Ant corn meal myth where using corn meal as bait kills ants because they eat it, drink water, and the cornmeal swells inside them and causes them to explode. That was what was written as an explanation as to why it works. The writer had no idea that adult ants don't eat solids. They take the cornmeal back to the nest, feed it to the grubs who in turn excrete a liquid that the adult ants ingest and feed to the queen. The website in a how to article was spreading bad information which people then take as fact. People believe in the myth because sometimes when they try it, the ants go away for a while. It works!!! people will say, yet all they've done is filled the ant's pantry and they no longer need to forage for a while. In the mean time, the nest population grows, and they return later with a vengeance, or the nest splits into several satellite nests and you have ants popping up all over - you've actually made the problem worse. Since the person assumes it worked before, they apply it again and the cycle continues. Your local ants have hit the jackpot thanks to a complete myth. The website's writer was simply repeating something they'd heard without doing any real research or talking to a real pest expert. The writer even went so far as to say certain smells like peppermint oil, or other "essential oils" repel ants too. Again, did she ever stop to think that maybe fields of peppermint plants have bugs crawling around in them, ants included? Of course not, because she wasn't a pest expert even though she was writing an article on how to keep your RV pest free in the website's How To section. Articles like this are more common than people realize, and only serve to feed the myths. I could go on to explain why personal testimony isn't a reliable way of judging a treatment's effectiveness, but I'm sure most people have already dozed off by now.

Ok, deep breath, happy thoughts, happy thoughts...

Rant mode off... till next time.

[Hpozzuoli]

Here’s my view. I have been rving for years. I usually keep them all indoors. Since moving we are in the process of building a new rv garage. I see no difference between outside storage and inside storage where I am. The mice get in no matter what. Nothing deters them. No smells, noises, or black magic remedies.

What I found to mitigate the most damage is set up snap traps everywhere. Give the mice somewhere to go instead of letting them hunt. I leave them outside on the ground, in the bays, and everywhere in between. Yes it’s lots of work maintaining all those traps, but it beats mice damage, mice poop, and electrical gremlins.

[pasdad1]

Big difference in leaving the RV parked for months unattended, and full time RVing.

The peppermint oil / blinking rope lights does work when you are parked for only weeks at a campground, and then move on. The rodents don’t get long enough to get rid of their fear/distaste of the lights and smells.

Only time I briefly had a mouse was the time I didn’t put out the lights and oils.

[1972VWbus]

I have 'Mice Dice' that use peppermint oil in them (refillable as well) Works pretty well.


But I ordered this which will get rid of them (gift that keeps on giving lol!)


https://www.ebay.com/itm/29485679734...09d4%7Ciid%3A1