MICE!!!

[JOC1212]

Do LED lights around the bottom of your RV really keep rodents away from your RV???

I've found some battery powered devices that work but you need one for each compartment and then there is the on going battery replacements issue (we forget to check them)

How to the LED light strings work??

[Lt Dan]

The consensus and tests have shown that LED lights do not deter mice. Here is another ongoing thread about the same issue.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/mou...nt-591461.html

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by JOC1212

Do LED lights around the bottom of your RV really keep rodents away from your RV???

I've found some battery powered devices that work but you need one for each compartment and then there is the on going battery replacements issue (we forget to check them)

How to the LED light strings work??

No!
LED lights don't do a thing to deter mice. There's quite a few things that DO have at least some affects on mice. One is dryer sheets. Another is Irish Spring bar soap. We just finished up a month long couple thousand mile trip and one night while both of us were sitting opposite each other on the living room couches, we BOTH spotted out of the corner of our eyes, something dart across the living room floor at about 8:30 at night. YEOW!!!!!!!!! What in the he.. was that??????????????

Well, we determined it had to be a mouse or smaller rat. So, we talked with a few folks (and friends) camping near us and the overwhelming consensus was, DRYER SHEETS AND OR IRISH SPRING SOAP. So, what did I do? I got a bar of Irish Spring soap, got my wifes cheese grater our and grated up almost the whole bar and made a pile of grated Irish Spring soap.

I then got her box of dryer sheets out and placed one sheet, with a small pile of grated Irish spring soap on it, in every place imaginable. I removed the lowest drawers in the entire coach and placed them there. I placed them in the lowest part of kitchen and under sink cabinets. I placed them in every single outside compartment. I placed them in the compartments near the entry point of both my sewer hose and shore power cord. I had those sheets with a small pile of Irish Spring EVERYWHERE.

WE have not seen any evidence of any meeses or rat-people anywhere in or around that coach since.
Scott

[astrnmrtom]

No, they don't.

Things like that were covered in our classes (Pest control licensing and training). The info came from people who study such things - experts in the field. While rodents are a pain for us RVers, they do billions of damage world wide every year. If those things worked, they'd be part of standard treatment in professional pest control and every pest control truck would be stocked with lights, smelly bars of soap, and cases of drier sheets. . Believe me, if something so simple could have save me from crawling or climbing in some nasty places, plugging holes, monitoring bait stations, repairing damage I'd have been a over it.

One thing to understand about rodents is they are smarter than you think, and their very survival depends on deciding what is safe, and what is dangerous. They continually evaluate their environment, and while sometimes warry of new things - rats especially - they'll soon learn something like a light, steady, bright or flashing, poses absolutley no danger. Remember, rodents are a problem in industrial facilities where there's light, loud noises, terrible smells. Mice in our facilities didn't have any problem with cycling steam boilers, air compressors and pumps. Many of those rooms were brightly lit. They also weren't bothered by storage areas full of aromatic chemicals and cleaning supplies. It's very common for people to think of things from a first world human point of view. If we don't like something, we avoid it. If our survival was on the line every day, annoyances would just be the cost of surviving.

Re: Irish spring and drier sheets. It's the myth that keeps on giving. We were shown photo in class of mice curled up sleeping comfortably in shredded drier sheets, and contently washing themselves right in front of a ultrasonic pest chaser, and for Irish Spring - note: soap is made from fat and if hungry enough they'll even eat it. See attached picture.

Do a search using the word mice or mice and my screen name and you'll get lot of info. With summer ending, and winter on the way, mouse posts will be seen more and more. The questions are the same, as are the answers.

1st step is the hardest, the least fun but the most effective. Plug the holes. The other two steps are covered in other posts. Good luck.

[Craig1960]

Everyone has their opinion what does and doesn't work. I've read on here that you can't catch a mouse in a trap that has already caught one unless you wash it but I know in my case I have a couple traps that have caught several mice over the years and I don't wash them so that's a myth too.
I have seen chewed Irish Spring soap as well but it was at least a year old and probably lost any effect it had, same for the dryer sheets but I still use them once in awhile.
In the end you should try to find where they are getting in and plug the hole with steel wool or just seal it if you can. In my case I haven't found the door with the welcome mat for them yet so I use traps for the most part along with the soap and dryer sheets but try to replace them at least once a month.
I use to catch 3 or 4 a week when I moved to my acreage, now its 1 or 2 a month if that. I read peppermint oil worked too so I use that once and awhile too. I never head about the lights so I have no opinion either way on that.

[Ray,IN]

Dryer sheets must repel elephants, there has been no sign on one in our house basement for over 50 years.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Dryer sheets must repel elephants, there has been no sign on one in our house basement for over 50 years.

OTOH I've poisoned several mice in the basement.

[Mr Ted]

Originally Posted by astrnmrtom

No, they don't.

Things like that were covered in our classes (Pest control licensing and training). The info came from people who study such things - experts in the field. While rodents are a pain for us RVers, they do billions of damage world wide every year. If those things worked, they'd be part of standard treatment in professional pest control and every pest control truck would be stocked with lights, smelly bars of soap, and cases of drier sheets. . Believe me, if something so simple could have save me from crawling or climbing in some nasty places, plugging holes, monitoring bait stations, repairing damage I'd have been a over it.

One thing to understand about rodents is they are smarter than you think, and their very survival depends on deciding what is safe, and what is dangerous. They continually evaluate their environment, and while sometimes warry of new things - rats especially - they'll soon learn something like a light, steady, bright or flashing, poses absolutley no danger. Remember, rodents are a problem in industrial facilities where there's light, loud noises, terrible smells. Mice in our facilities didn't have any problem with cycling steam boilers, air compressors and pumps. Many of those rooms were brightly lit. They also weren't bothered by storage areas full of aromatic chemicals and cleaning supplies. It's very common for people to think of things from a first world human point of view. If we don't like something, we avoid it. If our survival was on the line every day, annoyances would just be the cost of surviving.

Re: Irish spring and drier sheets. It's the myth that keeps on giving. We were shown photo in class of mice curled up sleeping comfortably in shredded drier sheets, and contently washing themselves right in front of a ultrasonic pest chaser, and for Irish Spring - note: soap is made from fat and if hungry enough they'll even eat it. See attached picture.

Do a search using the word mice or mice and my screen name and you'll get lot of info. With summer ending, and winter on the way, mouse posts will be seen more and more. The questions are the same, as are the answers.

1st step is the hardest, the least fun but the most effective. Plug the holes. The other two steps are covered in other posts. Good luck.

All common sense (and True) answers. Its amazing all wives tales that get spread and repeated for years and years.

[0rion]

Originally Posted by Craig1960

Everyone has their opinion what does and doesn't work. I've read on here that you can't catch a mouse in a trap that has already caught one unless you wash it but I know in my case I have a couple traps that have caught several mice over the years and I don't wash them so that's a myth too.
I have seen chewed Irish Spring soap as well but it was at least a year old and probably lost any effect it had, same for the dryer sheets but I still use them once in awhile.
In the end you should try to find where they are getting in and plug the hole with steel wool or just seal it if you can. In my case I haven't found the door with the welcome mat for them yet so I use traps for the most part along with the soap and dryer sheets but try to replace them at least once a month.
I use to catch 3 or 4 a week when I moved to my acreage, now its 1 or 2 a month if that. I read peppermint oil worked too so I use that once and awhile too. I never head about the lights so I have no opinion either way on that.

Yep.....agree on all this. I can't tell you what does or doesn't work. Only my experiences. I keep my camper on land during the fall/winter for hunting season along with 2 other buddy's campers. We have all had mouse issues. 1 buddy put solar lights under his trailer and runs night lights in the camper along with traps. He swears it all works. What I know about mice is they don't mind light as much as some think. I've seen them run through a room while I'm sitting there watching TV with all the lights on.
My plan of attack (and the one I'd recommend to anyone) is a multi-prong attack. Every fall I sprinkle shake away (link at the bottom) on tires and around jacks which is like a cat litter with peppermint oil mixed in....at least that's what it smells like to me.That stuff seems to do a decent job and is cheap. I also put out poison in several different areas in the camper plus I keep a few baited traps in there. It seems like I have some success with all my methods but when you stack all those methods it means my camper stays relatively mouse free one way or the other.

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoor...511920&ipos=34

[FIRE UP]

Well,
Whether the dryer sheets and or the Irish Spring soap worked or it didn't, I don't know. What I do know is, in the weeks/months following the initial notice of the varmint running across the living room floor in the coach, we've seen absolutely no indication there's any relatives. There's no poop, no chewed wires, and all things electrically are functioning as they should. And I have checked every cubic inch of inside the coach, inside and out and in every compartment. Maybe the dryer sheets and soap are a wives tail but, so far, we're happy.
Scott

[mlpeloquin]

Sounds like you are stationary. If so, mice will not cross mint. Grow mint around the entire perimeter around your RV and mice will never cross it. Pick a little for cooking as well.

[HighDesert]

It is actually kind of weird. Some years I have mouse problems, other years none, parked in the same spot, This past month, I have gotten 3 mice in the motorhome. I'm thinking I picked them up when I was up in a national forest campground in July. Anyway - mouse trap and peanut butter - gets 'em every time. Tried all the other gee whiz golly stuff, and nothing really worked, or I have dumb mice that don't understand what is supposed to irritate them and make them stay away.

[Tombsy]

My brother in law had his Class A stored on an acreage over the winter. He was horrified to discover that pack rats had moved in and taken up residence.
I’m was a real mess you couldn’t even see the floor for the poop and stuff they had collected.
It was so bad his insurance wrote it off.
He trapped one of the culprits.

[chuckbear]

I can tell you that led lights under your RV will repel, or rather repulse your neighbors in RV parks. Chuck