Annoying Critters

[bldrbob]

If you have the electronic repellers and have to replace the Decon I would think they are not working.
BOB

[Ernhrts3n8]

I put in the dryer sheets, charcoal, moth balls, you name it and it still hasn't worked. We cannot find the holes that the little sob's are coming in from. I am at my wits end. We came into the trailer this past weekend to dewinterize and I had 7 dead ones! I hate them little mice. I am a seasonal camper and just can't figure out how to keep them away!

[quikduk]

I see it has been a while since anyone posted their problems with rodents entering their coaches/trailers so I thought I would revitalize this thread.

First off, I think I would have named it something other than "Annoying Critters" but that is just me.

I went to change out the water pump to a quieter version in out DP the other evening and when I opened the compartment door, I saw "fresh" mouse poo and pee. I went through this on other coaches before and couldn't understand how they had gotten in this better "sealed" coach.

I got the shop vac and some wipes and began to clean up the few droppings when I had a thought. If they were here... Oh No!!! I got the Mag light out and pulled the "beauty panels" off of both sides of the fresh and waste water basement compartments to get a better look.

Talk about a crap fest!

[quikduk]

To continue this saga...

I found a sizeable nest of leaves, dog hair, grass clippings, twigs and a 12" snake skin...

I hate snakes!!!. I figure the mouse (mice?) grabbed it when they were "foraging" for nesting materials. I also found what happened to the dried dog poo that I thought my son had thrown in the trash afer scooping it up. Apparently he had "stored" it in the scooper, perfect for a mouse shopping for "food". That is NOT going to happen again!

I realized I had a job on my hands now but also realized that this compartment had a gap to the MAIN basement 4-door compartment. I opened all of the doors and what did I find? You guessed it. The stuff was EVERYWHERE and on EVERYTHING. Man was I mad! I yanked everything out of the compartments, vacuumed everything and threw out a lot of stuff (I secretly wanted new stuff so I actually hired the mice... )

After 4 hours of vacuuming, it is all gone except where I can't verify (sides of holding tanks in the compartment) but I am rigging up a vacuum extension that will bend down and hopefully suck up any remaining "items"

[quikduk]

OK, while the last post is being reviewed for content (I thought I was being relatively "calm" and "PC"... ) I will finish the story with a more "G" rating.

I found that all of this commotion was due to a short between my brain and my hands. In my haste to dump and sanitize my tanks before whisking the kids off to Tae-Kwon-Do lessons two-three weeks back, I neglected to screw the waste hose compartment bottom cover back on.

I guess you could say I screwed up...

This gave it/them a nice 6" dia. hole to come and go as they pleased. I also found some other potential holes so I will be sealing these with expanding foam or silicone post haste.

I have glue traps in the compartments at present waiting for it/them to return but seeing as they are noturnal and I discovered and "cleaned" the mess up at night with bright halogen lights all around without seeing them, I think they were out "foraging" and now are "locked out".

I now have to "sham-poo" the basement carpet areas and am buying the Rubbermaid Toughneck plastic bins for everything that will fit in them. These "lock" better all around their perimeter rather than the Sterlite brand which allow you to pull up and seperate the sides of the lid from the container.

I'll take a few "after" shots since I don't think you guys/gals want/need to see pics of rat-poo.

Ken

[Glenn and Kathy]

We had lots of problems with rats nesting on the engine. Tried moth balls, tried Bounce sheets. Tucked them into the vallies in the manifold. The rats moved them out of their way and nested where ever they wanted. Tried Decon, killed some, but did not solve the problem.

DW did some research and came up with a product called Shake Away, supposed to smell like fox and Bobcat urine. Made little bags out of old nylons (hers not mine!) and hung one by each wheel. I also hung a bag in a nearby tree they were stripping for nesting material. Also set up two electronic devices. Over three months now and no sign of rats!! Last three weeks only used Shake away.

Glenn

[quikduk]

Glenn:

Thanks for the tip! I'll look for some this weekend and try that. I...er...I me she has to have some older nylons I could use for this.

Ken

["007"]

Well this is the time for all little critters MICE to find some warm nesting areas and they like to pick my MH.
For the past two years I have been useing the old type spring mouse trap baited with peanut butter.
Caught a grand total of 13 last year and two so far this year. All compartments get a trap and around refer, furnace, under kitchen cabinets and Generator compartment in most cases they do not make it into living quarters of coach. A couple of years ago found one up in cabinet above micro said it was time for war. Before used dryer sheets, noise makers??? and stickey traps. The good old trap makes life alot easier.
Someone said they had a rat they make some real large mouse style traps for them also.

[quikduk]

Well I decided to place the fold up cardboard/paper traps in addition to the large sticky traps all over the place after I spent another hour vacuuming up poo.

I was really ticked off but I was determined (in a crazed sort of way) to get this/these bugger(s).

I finally got the S.O.B. the other night. It was NOT a mouse but a RAT, about 4-6# or so. It wasn't dead yet but was firmly glued to the sticky trap. I re-baited the rest and will watch JIC but I think this was the only one.

I will say that his system was "regular". What a PITA. I have sanitized all of the kitchen utensils and hard ware and still need to sanitize the coach and shampoo the carpets.

All I can say is PBBTHTTTTT!!!!!