Mice Advice

[svd]

We are packing up for a weekend trip, and my wife found some mice droppings in one of the dresser drawers. Now she is creeped out and isn't nearly as excited to go on our first trip! We picked up the trailer from the dealer about 6 weeks ago, and I didn't notice anything them, so we don't know if we brought it/them home, or they have moved in since it has been in the yard. We do live in the country, and have a cat that does his best to keep them in check.

I have been busy since we took delivery sealing up cracks and crevices, and have now been spreading "Bounce" fabric softener sheets around inside, because I have read that they can help keep mice away. I also put one of those shock traps in the trailer last night. Does anyone have any other tried and true ways to keep these guys out?

 

[Tom of Ypsi]

I do not know how tried and true this method is but I have heard of putting moth balls around the trailer and in any opening the mice can get into. When you have the coach stored you might try putting a pepper spray mixture around and under the coach.
Recipe for pepper spray: Finely chop 3 cloves of garlic, 4 hot red peppers add 2 tbsp liquid dish soap. Pour mixture into a 20 Gallon hose end sprayer and fill the balance with amonia.
This gives any critter a hot foot and they will not come back after a couple of tries.

Good Luck

 

[Trap]

Set some traps with peanut butter and check the trailer twice daily. We also live in the country and we put mothballs (outside) around any portion of trailer that touches the ground. So far no problem also always have a couple of traps set up just in case.

Good Luck Trap

 

[jbeletti]

SVD,

We ran one of those ultrasonic emitters over the winter. Out trailer is on a rural seasonal site with a cornfield about 100 feet away. No evidence of mice. It either works or we got lucky. I bought the unit at a JC Whitney Outlet store for cheap last fall.

Jim

 

[jbeletti]

SVD,

We ran one of those ultrasonic emitters over the winter. Out trailer is on a rural seasonal site with a cornfield about 100 feet away. No evidence of mice. It either works or we got lucky. I bought the unit at a JC Whitney Outlet store for cheap last fall.

Jim

 

[BigBlue]

We went through the mice issue also. We tried the bounce sheets and the mice used them for toilet paper. Tried the sticky traps and the mice pulled themselves off of them leaving some fur. We got some traps and baited them with cheese and the mice stole the cheese off the traps. I then glued the cheese down and that didn't help either. I than baited them with peanut butter and got three of the buggers. We also heard about a cure that seemed to get rid of them for good. Get some peppermint oil and soak some cotton balls with it. Distribute the cotton balls around the areas where mice can get in.
We haven't had any issues with mice since.

 

[sonnybeech]

We went through the mice issue also. We tried the bounce sheets and used D-con in our Park model and 5er and we haven’t had any droppings.So far...
Sonny

 

[Westwind]

You might want to take the bottom drawers out of the dresser and see if you can get to the wire/pipe chase where everything comes from the bottom of the trailer and foam it up so they can't get into the bedroom. Also under the vanity where the water/drain pipes come into the bath, make sure you are doing the floor under the vanity, I almost missed that today when I was doing mine. Good Luck

 

[Wharton]

We just went through this exercise. Found mice in drawer below the refrigerator. Took drawer out and lots of wires and gaps. Went to HD, bought foam and steel wool plus a trap. Haven't had a problem since. They were also in our heating ducts. Not sure about how to solve the heating duct problem in storage. We probably should pull the cover off the basement and look for holes but that is a lot of work. I think we will put a tin can filled with moth balls(holes in bottom of can) over each duct. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

We have RVed for 30 years and this is the first time we have ever had a mouse problem........When we get to a more permanent place we will look for other holes to plug up.

 

[JohnDar]

You might want to take the bottom drawers out of the dresser and see if you can get to the wire/pipe chase where everything comes from the bottom of the trailer and foam it up so they can't get into the bedroom. Also under the vanity where the water/drain pipes come into the bath, make sure you are doing the floor under the vanity, I almost missed that today when I was doing mine. Good Luck

It may be easier to remove the pipe chase cover in the basement (on a 3670, anyways) to reach the hole where the plumbing goes through the bedroom floor. Since the hole is rather large, I found it easier to stuff it with steel wool, rather than spray foam. One thing about the spray foam is that it doesn't always stay where you put it until it cures. Taping some screen material as a stop helps keep it from running out.

 

[Wharton]

We are going to empty the basement when we are more permanent and put in a switch to turn the water pump on in the bathroom. We don't keep the pump on overnight and it gets to be a pest to turn it on at the control panel. We did this in a previous trailer and it works great. Just a minor luxury. At that time we will steel wool/foam as many holes as we can see from the basement area. We will look at night, with all the trailer lights on so we can see all the holes.

 

[dewwood]

Several good suggestions here, I like the bounce dryer sheets. One comment on the moth balls, I would not purchase a unit that had any odor of moth balls. Just a heads up for future resale value. I am sure I am not the only one who would be put off by any odor of moth balls present in a used unit.

 

[rick_debbie_gallant]

When ever I catch a mouse I will take him or her and spike them to the corner of the fifth wheel on the outside. Once they see their brother or sister hanging out they get the hint that we dont want them here.

 

[MurrayN.]

We use the cotton balls and peppermint oil, and put a couple dozen in the basement, pump area, in the bottom of cupboards, drawers and just basically everywhere. We haven't had a single mouse yet for two previous winters doing this and we live in the country. And the peppermint is a lot better smelling that some of the other options.