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William52

William52

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
928
Location
Florida 6 Months winter.
Me and DW plan on full timing in a year or so and we have been looking at older Class A's and found the two worst enemies are rodents and moisture, the water I have found can be prevented with due diligence. But the mice we have seen about in half the coaches we looked at so what works everything? Mothballs, Decon and rat terriers. When we find one I will have to store it outside and will cover the top and keep the grass cut and use it as much as possible. And Lucy the Jack Russell will patrol the outside as much as she can. Thoughts?
 
Now you've started the traditional mice thread. Everyone has a different idea of what will work and what doesn't. We've had mice once in the last 6 years with this rig. We tried several things but the last was peppermint oil. Put on cotton balls in the basement and under the cabinets. Withing a day we got rid of all signs of mice still in the rig. Others say it doesn't work for them, it worked for us.

Ken
 
Nothing - no food,spices, nothing nadda zippo mice can live off a peeper mill or a salt shaker, we leave nothing in the trailer when we close it up for the winter, funny thing we store ours in a lot with tons of trailers, looked in the window of the unit next to us a billion dropping - ours nothing . We also put 3 open bags of Kingsford bbq briquettes in the trailer because the charcoal eats odours .
 
Keeping mice out of an inhabited RV (like yours, when fulltiming) and a stored RV are two different things.

I am convinced that the only way to completely get rid of mice is to kill them in place.  Poisons like D-con cause them to die somewhere else, like possibly within the walls or dashboard of your rig!  In a stored RV, a "bucket trap" is a great item to leave inside the rig.  See this thread: Ultimate mouse trap

I'll let some others chime in on rodent mitigation while living in the RV.  I wouldn't think that infestation risk would be as high, since mice generally want nothing to do with humans or dogs/cats.  Block all the access holes underneath the rig by packing openings with steel wool and spray-foam over the top.  That will at least slow the buggers down and maybe convince them to go elsewhere for food/shelter.
 
scottydl said:
Keeping mice out of an inhabited RV (like yours, when fulltiming) and a stored RV are two different things.
Click to expand...
Wait, are you trying to tell me there are people who buy an RV and store it instead of full time? Insane.
 
scottydl said:
I am convinced that the only way to completely get rid of mice is to kill them in place.  Poisons like D-con cause them to die somewhere else, like possibly within the walls or dashboard of your rig!  In a stored RV, a "bucket trap" is a great item to leave inside the rig.  See this thread: Ultimate mouse trap
Click to expand...

I agree with Scott. For me, nothing worked. I had dryer sheets all over the RV especially the bed. They ended up by using the bed for their bathroom. It ruined our bedspread. I tried moth balls, peppermint and a electronic device put out by Black and Decker. We still keep them plugged in only because they have a small night light.
I did not have any food in the rig so they were going out for their meals and sleeping inside the rig at night. This year, we killed about nine mice using the standard mouse trap. This fall, I saw a mouse exiting my shed so I set up a bucket trap. Within 3 days, I had 4 inside the bucket. I used antifreeze so it wont freeze. I just left the mice inside the bucket. They are embalmed. When I get home from FL in the spring, I'll dispose of them but keeping the antifreeze for next year.  CAITION, if you use antifreeze, keep it away from children and pets. 
 
All good advise.

Remove anything that might attract mice, i.e food.  (why go in?)

Block all entry points to keep them out.                  (can't get in.)

Put a bucket trap inside to catch any who do make it in.      (now I'm caught.)
    Bucket traps are cheap to build, easy to build, and very effective. They will catch multiple mice with no need to empty until spring.
 
One big lesson I learned: if you use poison, they die in the location of their choice.  Use traps and they die in the location of your choice.
 
SeilerBird said:
Wait, are you trying to tell me there are people who buy an RV and store it instead of full time? Insane.
Click to expand...
  Yeah we are about 3 years from full timers and I love cats, DW has her lil' dog. But it will have to sit outside until we retire and sell the bricks and sticks and we want to preserve and keep the coach up.
 
SeilerBird said:
Get a cat Rene, works every time.
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Hey Amber and Alex (My two Feline Companions) agree. Works every time.. Though they admit they would like a few nice little mice to play with and to have over for lunch.. or is that as lunch.
 
If you store it at home have an indoor out door cat or two. When we lived in sticks and bricks we never had a rodent problem. I'd see evidence of a rodent looking for a winter home under the hood of our cars, say a few acorns where one started a stash, before a cat got it. Our cats were always leaving dead ones on the front walk or stoop. I think neighbors benefited from our cats as well, and suspect some RV owners are benefiting from neighbor cats as well. If storing an RV in a storage lot I would look for cats on the property.

I find ants to be a bigger problem.

Bill
 
SeilerBird said:
Get a cat Rene, works every time.
Click to expand...
We had a cat outside then Lucy(jack Russell) came and ran him off. I think she hates them as much or more than the squirrels. Maybe a kitten she may accept? She's an old rescue dog(orphan) ran Hobbs the yellow tom cat off. She has taught son's dog (?) to chase the tree rats but he was raised with a cat and may accept a kitten. So I need two kittens, peppermint oil and a bucket trap( won't they drown in plain water?) I don't want to kill the giant coons at the landfill. Any effective way to deter mice from moving in is appreciated Thanks all.  Now where is that bucket.
 
William52 said:
We had a cat outside then Lucy(jack Russell) came and ran him off. I think she hates them as much or more than the squirrels. Maybe a kitten she may accept? She's an old rescue dog(orphan) ran Hobbs the yellow tom cat off. She has taught son's dog (?) to chase the tree rats but he was raised with a cat and may accept a kitten. So I need two kittens, peppermint oil and a bucket trap( won't they drown in plain water?) I don't want to kill the giant coons at the landfill. Any effective way to deter mice from moving in is appreciated Thanks all.  Now where is that bucket.
Click to expand...

They will drown in the water but faster in the antifreeze and for some reason they wont smell when they are dead
 
William52 said:
So I need two kittens, peppermint oil and a bucket trap( won't they drown in plain water?) I don't want to kill the giant coons at the landfill. Any effective way to deter mice from moving in is appreciated Thanks all.  Now where is that bucket.
Click to expand...

Plain water will freeze in my area. I use the pink antifreeze. It's non toxic as far as I know.
 
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