Problems with mice

[SouthCo]

Sealing up how they get in is important as is keeping them out to begin with. Once you have them, these work great and the AA batteries will last a whole winter/offseason without a problem. Like any trap you’ll have to check it from time to time...


https://www.homedepot.com/p/Victor-E...250S/302256999

[RogerR]

My exterminator recommends beef sticks such as Slim Jims. They don't decay if the trap is in a dry location. They also can be forced onto most traps and can't be licked off like peanut butter. Peanut butter will also attract ants.

On another note, never forget to block entry points on the inside as well as the outside. If the find a way into the belly you need to block them from entry through pipe and electrical holes during construction inside cabinets.

[Jagiven]

I have tried almost every urban legion for keeping mice away. None have worked. I have not tried Cab Fresh, but a lot of my old car guy friends uses it and like it. I take it with a grain of salt.

I have seen mice make nests out of Bounce sheets, I have seen them eat Irish Springs soap. Nothing seams to work, except stopping them before they enter.

Only thing I really do each fall, is super clean the trailer. Place a few sticky traps around, only thing I have ever caught is a bug.

When I get a new TT, I crawled under it, and filled every single hole, no matter how big. I used Copper Brillo pad pieces (no rust), then seal the holes with marine grade silicone sealant. I then go inside and do the same thing from the topside.

I also take the same copper Brillo pad, cut a slice up to the center, and wrap it around my power cord when I pull it out, and close the lid. When the cord is pushed back in, I place the pad between the cord and lid. Have caught a few bugs in it, and they where dead.

I have never had a mouse in my portable house. I have seen them in the yard around the TT.

[curver900]

if you are inside a building and no dogs/cats to worry about do the 5 gal method.. 5 gal pail with a gallon of antifreeze in it put a coat hanger wire across the top with a can/bottle with a hole so it spins put on some peanut butter and a ramp to collect mice ... it is incredible how many you catch

[33 RLDS]

Its going to hover around zero degrees at my house tonight and I live in the woods. Nothing is going to keep mice out of that weather. I just keep several traps under sinks and just outside the sinks leaving the cabinets open. I figure with the oversized crappy holes they punch for everything around hoses and such, that's where they get into the trailer. I try to check them once a week. I average about one mouse a week. My cat does not go out much in the winter so she is of little help

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by gypsmjim

My authority comes from thirty five years of personal experience with an RV permanently set up in a wilderness area filled with meeces to pieces.

All internet threads are merely someone's opinion. If your opinion is different, tell us what you know.

(PS - are you old enough to know what meeces to pieces means?)

That explains a lot, thanks ya' BOOMER!

[Screwby]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

I have tried almost every urban legion for keeping mice away. None have worked. I have not tried Cab Fresh, but a lot of my old car guy friends uses it and like it. I take it with a grain of salt.

I have seen mice make nests out of Bounce sheets, I have seen them eat Irish Springs soap. Nothing seams to work, except stopping them before they enter.

Only thing I really do each fall, is super clean the trailer. Place a few sticky traps around, only thing I have ever caught is a bug.

When I get a new TT, I crawled under it, and filled every single hole, no matter how big. I used Copper Brillo pad pieces (no rust), then seal the holes with marine grade silicone sealant. I then go inside and do the same thing from the topside.


I also take the same copper Brillo pad, cut a slice up to the center, and wrap it around my power cord when I pull it out, and close the lid. When the cord is pushed back in, I place the pad between the cord and lid. Have caught a few bugs in it, and they where dead.

I have never had a mouse in my portable house. I have seen them in the yard around the TT.

This X a million

Keep them outside where they belong first and foremost. You’ve got to crawl nose to tail and put in the work to keep them out. Then add some cab fresh because I think it’s helps some and smells kinda good (like pine resin and herbs).

Our first year we had mice in the camper and I did the dryer sheets and Irish Spring thing. We found dryer sheet nests and chewed on soap bars and mouse poop everywhere the next inspection. It was war now so I spent a weekend and crawled under, around and on top of the camper sealing every crack and hole there was. Under the cabinets, behind the sinks, under the stove, behind the breaker panel, and in the back of the bathroom closet were all mouse sized holes leading into the belly. Under the camper were all the cracks and holes where stabilizing jacks were mounted, leaf springs were attached, where dump plumbing and propane and electric wires entered the belly. There were holes in the side of the frame back by the bumper and under the steps and where marker light wires were ran too. If they can get in, they will eventually, anything past keeping them out in my opinion is secondary. We haven’t had a single mouse in the four years since I sealed her up.

[gypsmjim]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

I have tried almost every urban legion for keeping mice away. None have worked. I have not tried Cab Fresh, but a lot of my old car guy friends uses it and like it. I take it with a grain of salt.

I have seen mice make nests out of Bounce sheets, I have seen them eat Irish Springs soap. Nothing seams to work, except stopping them before they enter.

Only thing I really do each fall, is super clean the trailer. Place a few sticky traps around, only thing I have ever caught is a bug.

When I get a new TT, I crawled under it, and filled every single hole, no matter how big. I used Copper Brillo pad pieces (no rust), then seal the holes with marine grade silicone sealant. I then go inside and do the same thing from the topside.

I also take the same copper Brillo pad, cut a slice up to the center, and wrap it around my power cord when I pull it out, and close the lid. When the cord is pushed back in, I place the pad between the cord and lid. Have caught a few bugs in it, and they where dead.

I have never had a mouse in my portable house. I have seen them in the yard around the TT.

You got it right.

Our RVs are set up on private land. My buddy has the property next door. He has mice ALWAYS in EVERY RV he ever owned. I have NEVER had a single mouse....(except once).

My regimen is to crawl under the trailer twice a year and check for openings. If I spot one I fill it with SS steel wool and top it with automotive asphalt based undercoating. I also look in every cabinet and bin inside the trailer to see if there is access somewhere.

One Fall we came down for the weekend and found a mouse nest with babies and a full supply of winter mouse food in the trailer. The nest was made from a paper towel roll hanging on the wall. After cleaning it out and getting ready for bed I opened the furnace cover to light the pilot light and found paper towel bits in the furnace. I went outside and pulled the cover off of the furnace fresh air vent and found that the window screen behind the cover had rusted through and that's where the mice entered. Five minute fix to replace the OEM screen and we haven't had a mouse since.

My buddy sprays every mouseproofing stuff known to man. You can smell his camp site a mile away (exaggeration). He also insists on using great stuff expanding foam spray to fill the holes. Apparently mice like that stuff and eat right thru it.

If they can't get in, they won't BE in.

[JaycoJoe66]

I use a very very good product which got rid of all little critters around the RV and home. It is made by TomCat. It is a peppermint / cinnamon spray. Sold at Lowes and Home Depot and I am sure elsewhere. It comes in a spray can and also in a 1 gallon jug. I bought the gallon from Amazon at about $28. Well worth the cost. I spray around the bottom and wheels of the RV and the outside foundation, and the sills inside the cellar and now for 2 years not even the trace of a dropping. Works on Chipmonks and Squirrals as well

[Bob The Camper]

You can get a pest grade spray foam. Get under your trailer and plug every hole...every hole. Even if you think they couldn’t get through that hole, fill it. Be sure to get them all.
If you then still have them inside get the traps and bait with peanut butter.
Done.
I had the same issue and even had one run across my face in the night. That there is motivation in itself; if cleaning up all the giblets and washing everything down isn’t enough. Remember these critter can carry hantavirus. Not something to take lightly.

[chevyman30]

I also use the dryer sheets... Never a problem.... Place them everywhere.

[4468461]

Put Bounce at all tires & any other entry points ... has worked for us

[HawkRanger]

We bought a rat zapper from Lowe's for around $40. Takes 3 c batteries and a small bit of peanut butter. So far: one big rat and several mice on one set of batteries. Best of all no more chewed wiring! Zaps them graveyard dead, dump it, and turn the switch back on. Fits perfectly under the hood of our Greyhawk.

[Annikins]

Aw, lets play nice here.

[Fredmoldno7]

I use Fresh Cab and my trailer is outside in the woods 24/7/365. So far no mice. I will be going to check it as soon as the snow melts and I can get up the dirt road.

[tazz46]

Hi all, I have been in the pest control industry for 19 years in northwestern BC. I have heard of just about all the home remedies for mouse control. I am here to tell you that they all only work temporary ( 2 to 3 weeks), then the mice get used to the smell and/or sound. Then they will return. The only methods that work are steel wool, metal mesh screening and sanitation!!!
All packaged food ( anything bagged or boxed ) has dust of the food on the outside of the packaging. A mouse can smell 1 drop of food 1/2 a block away. They fit through a gap of 1/8 of an inch, jump over a foot high and can chew through concrete to get to food. Sanitation and exclusion are 80 to 90 percent of rodent control.

[Kimkempf]

Originally Posted by freetime58

You might just attract more into the unit with the peanut butter????

Anyway, to repel mice, cotton balls dipped in peppermint oil spread around the inside will do the trick.

I have Diamond Kote Mouse repellent undercoating applied to my unit this fall..........guess what it smelled like, peppermint! Guaranteed for 10 years, comes with a bond that covers your insurance deductible if it happens to fail and you get some rodent damage.

Hi free time 58. I’d love to know how your diamond coat is working out?

[Youngsters]

Guess there will always be two schools of thought on this mouse thing; try to keep them out and trap them when they do get in. Maybe a combination of both is the best answer.



Anyway, it does make for an interesting thought on the old saw "build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door."



Should it be "build a better repellent and the...

[muckinfuss]

Nothing is 100% foolproof...nothing. Consider the effectiveness of rustproofing, self-cleaning ovens, catching the big one with the lure of the day, etc.

That said, I've subscribed to a version of the bucket for over 20 years as the main mouse catcher for the following reasons....mice use dryer sheets to make nests once the foo foo is gone, ...in their search for food and nest space both before and after they are possibly being repelled by the peppermint snake oil or your repellent of choice- they pee on everything which to me is worse than their little turds they leave and lastly; ...anyone who has had mice take the poison back to a nest in a wall and then 5 or 6 of them die and decompose when the weather warms back up isn't going to be a fan of the stink that lasts for at least two weeks. Not to mention the biologic inevitability of maggots entering the food chain and eventually turning into some version of flying monkeys in your space.

With the bucket, mice don't go anywhere and the food thing is a primary driver. Next best choice...the green sticky type of trap from Thomcat. I've picked them up with as many as three mice to a trap...once they are on it, they also don't go anywhere.