Mice

[OkieSVT]

I haven't read every word of this thread so I hope this has not been said before.
Mice hate the smell and feel of house roof shingles. I back in to a spot just short of where I want to park and put the shingles down for each tire and and back up on them. I know they can jump up to parts under the coach, but this certainly helps a lot. I haven't had a mouse this year. Just a personal remedy.

[astrnmrtom]

It was mentioned in this thread about making sure you seal around hoses and power cords. This is what I made from some plastic I had in my shop. Sheet metal would be better because the plastic does crack from use. Underneath is a bolt going through a 2/3" wide piece of aluminum flat stock longer than the width of the hole, with the thumb screw on top. I made each notch the same radius as the cord/hose and keep them in the respective compartment. Even made one for the TV cable. They go in place right away as I hook up.

I know they work because a couple weeks ago, I stood and watched as a campground chipmunk ran up the sewar hose of my RV, stopped, looked up, hopped down and did the same at my water hose and electrical cord. These little guys are pros, and quickly learn the common entry points to RVs - and this was in broad daylight with me standing 8 feet away. He didn't care.

[HopsBrewster]

Find and plug the gaps that mice can use. Don't park over tall grass. Keep a clean trailer. Keep a clean camp. Avoid paper or other soft packaging that mice easliy chew through, repack in plastic containers. Use mouse traps and rebait often and monitor them closely.

[Seon]

I live in the country and park my RV in a barn and wife placed 1/2 bar of Irish Spring soap in each storage bin and various location in the coach. We haven't had mouse dropping in years.

[W4KMA]

Originally Posted by Seon

I live in the country and park my RV in a barn and wife placed 1/2 bar of Irish Spring soap in each storage bin and various location in the coach. We haven't had mouse dropping in years.

Hate to burst your bubble but here's what mice thought of my bar of Irish Spring.
http://wouxun.us/Bounder/Irish-Spring-Mice.jpg

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by PetalumaDan

Hi everyone!
My wife and I are researching RV’s and was somewhat distressed learning that mice are often an issue in one’s RV. Is that a common concern? If so is there remedies available to stop them?

Prevention is the best thing to use. If there is no food or water to attract mice, even though they may enter, they leave in search of a food source.
We are both careful to maintain good housekeeping cleanliness.

I dropped TomCat mouse bait blocks down through plumbing holes in the MH floor, pulled out drawers and put some behind them (and ant bait blocks) JIC any do get into the MH. The only food they find is fatal to them. I can't seal plumbing holes in the floor, by design they allow warm air to all the plumbing in cold weather.
Seven years now, no mice, did get ants in S. Florida once,= more ant bait blocks eliminated them.

[arcaguy]

I can't expand much on what has bee said above other than to suggest that when you bait spring traps infuse a little bit of a cotton ball with peanut butter or put some loose wraps of thread around the barb on the trap trigger and smear them with peanut butter. I have had a rat clean out a trap several times until I used the cotton ball method. That was the last time that rat cleaned out a trap.

The only other alternative is to make pets out of them and have a traveling mouse circus.

[Donskiman]

We live in a suburban area and there seem to be plenty of mice here. We've lived here 22 years and mice get into our garage almost every winter. What's interesting is they've never bothered any of the cars parked in the garage. They did chew some wires for our sprinkler system, but I subsequently put the wires inside a pipe and we've not had a problem since then. Even though the garage is attached to our house, it's very rare for mice to come in. We also have a shed in the yard and no evidence of mice in there either. They do get under our back deck so I regularly set snap traps. We tried some live traps to catch and then release miles away, but caught so few that way it wasn't worth the bother.

Our MH will be parked on a pad beside our house. We'll have to see what sort of problem there is once we get the MH. Just curious why they would bother the MH when they've never bothered the cars. We think there may be more potential for damage by the numerous squirrels. We had a garden where the concrete pad for the MH now is. All vegetation has been removed, but we still see squirrels in that area. Maybe next year when we get the MH they will have figured out there's nothing for them to eat and they'll go somewhere else.

We have dogs and everyone next to us has either dogs or cats so we're not planning on using bait traps with poison.

[MO Fred]

Plug holes and use traps and poison. After doing that, the best deterrent I have found is to use 100% peppermint oil on cotton.... especially around the motor and along the chassis.

[richard5933]

I've got a large sticky trap under every drawer, behind every cabinet dead space, and anywhere else that mice might want to make a nest.

Remove anything from the coach which might be tempting to mice to shred for nesting, including cardboard boxes and toilet paper.

Block every entry point you can.

If you live in a cold climate, keep the coach cold and breezy. Don't heat the interior and invite them in. (But, do winterize carefully and thoroughly.)

[OlYeller]

Lots of good advice here. Here’s one not mentioned. Park your RV if you can in an open area. We had a mouse problem in our old TT which was backed in against a fence that bordered a wooded area. They were able to gain access using brush cover.

At the same storage lot, when we bought our last RV, my late wife suggested we get a spot in the middle of the storage lot. Her reasoning was that the little buggars wouldn’t like crossing the open asphalt when they had easier access to the ones along the fence. Her reasoning was sound as I’ve now had 2 RVs in the same space for years and no mouse problems.

[beamisl]

We store our motorhome in a farmer's 3 sided implement barn when home. It's around fields with plenty of food to attract mice and other critters.

First year we stored there there was one camper that had put "moth balls" around their tires and underneath their rig. I noticed there were plenty of critter footprints all around the rig and under the others, but not under this one.

Decided to try it and have used it ever since. Five years of storing here and we have never had a mouse or any other intrusion. The moth balls will deteriorate with the moisture so you may need to reapply.