Mice problem

[chtree]

Hey guys,

Does anyone have suggestions on the best practice to keep mice from coming into the coach. I'ts in a heated garage but I'm in and out going to work, and I work in the woods so I could easily bring one home unknowingly. We went out this morning and found lots of "sign". So we removed anything resembling food that wasn't in the fridge.


Thanks,

Chris

[Jon Wehrenberg]

They can do a lot of damage and I know of no way to stop them from entering the coach. They somehow find pathways despite every opening from the underside into the house seemingly sealed. Even if we could keep them out of our garages, they have an opportunity to enter when we are in RV parks and campgrounds.

On our coaches I opened panels in the bottoms of cabinets that were intended to access valves and devices, and placed containers of mouse and rat poison in the area and then replaced the panels. I probably have 3 or 4 scattered through the coach. I do that so if we ever brought our pups on board they would not be able to get at the poison.

I also placed a couple in the bays. One is in the water bay and another is in one of the center bays.

We don't leave food in the coach, and we do not leave water, which they will crave after eating the typical poison baits. That way they will leave the coach in search of water.

I am always on the alert for signs, like mouse droppings, chewed paper (used for nests) or scattered bait around the containers (that I can see) to show activity. The last thing I need is to have my wires chewed.

[sawdust_128]

Contact your local cooperative extension service. They will have recommendations specific for your location based on species and state licensed pesticides/rodenticides. Or, you can look for a document produced by your State Deprtment of Agriculture or Extension Service with a title something like "Pest Control Manual".

And how about you complete the info in your signature please?

[GDeen]

I put those glue traps all around the floor in my barn - caught lots of scorpions, and other insectual varmits but no mice yet. Hope to keep them from ever getting to the bus.

[merle&louise]

Buy a cat and keep it in the garage:D

Simple solution for a complex problem.

[garyde]

Bait traps in your 4 corners of the garage, consult a local Exterminator if the problem persists.

[chtree]

Thanks guys,

I think I'll try all of the above and gang up on them!


Chris

[Jamie Bradford]

I think you should ask Miles how he got rid of the rodent he inherited;)

[hillndale]

watch out with the bait traps b/c the mice sometimes wind up stuck in some hidden place like in a wall where they'll decay. i'm not really a cat person but that is definitely the most effective way to stop them.

[chtree]

Thanks, I've caught 2 and I set traps in all the likely spots. What is this other rodent we're hearing about?


Chris

[rahangman]

We are using 4 seperate Electrical "gizmos" that supposedly emit a high pitched sound (above human hearing) that supposedly does not both our dogs. It seemed to work in my barn, and so we have put them inside the bus in 2 seperate locations (they plug into a normal AC socket and don't use much power) and put 2 outside to "surround sound'em" Hopefully it is working, we find no trace of them as we did in the barn. The barn is now clean and hopefully the bus will remain that way also.

[Yankee802]

Just got back to the coach after going up north for the hollidays and found we now have uninvited guests, NOT happy! There are mice droppings from the galley and even in the bedroom, we were only gone a week. Guess we'll have to take everything out of every space and clean, wasn't planning on doing this level of cleaning untill spring. We haven't had any signs of rodents untill now, I guess just our being fulltimers was discouragement enough? I'll lay traps with peanut butter and wait. Do you guys think they might just leave being we have returned?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

On the rare occasions when we have had unwanted guests we have placed DeCon (or whatever it is called) in numerous places around the coach, all hidden and all accessible by removing panels or drawers so if we ever have our animals on board there would be no way they could come in contact with the poison.

Right now I have seen no evidence of furry critters, but I have the bait boxes in two of the bays, beneath the sofa under a drawer, and beneath the removeable panels under the kitchen sink and a bathroom vanity.

I am sure there are numerous schools of thought about this, such as using traps so the carcass doesn't end up hidden stinking up the joint, but so far the few times we saw evidence of mice, and then set out the poison bait, the problem went away and there was no lingering odor if any. I suspect the poison makes them thirsty and they go out of the coach in search of water.

I cannot find any points of entry, but they still can find a way in or out.

[garyde]

I have found them in the water bay and the engine compartment but not inside the Coach. Mouse and rat poisen is what I use. They eat it up.
Traps sometimes work.

[rfoster]

Yankee, you are not the only one. I believe the mice know more about the weather than Al Gore. I have never had a problem with mice wanting to ride the bus before this winter.

I think its the cold and maybe the coldest its been for this time a year in a long, long time.

The bus has been sitting in the man cave since November and I have not checked the closet or under the sink and when I did found little Baracks in the closet and under the sink. I have caught only one and have put out about 300 traps (7)since Monday.

In addition, one of the household cats has been relocated to the basement (under protest) to assist with the problem.

[Jamie Bradford]

As General Ursus said in "Beneath The Planet of the Apes" ( and I paraphrase here )

"The only good mouse... is a DEAD mouse"

Let the games begin.................. Good hunting.....................

[gmcbuffalo]

I have found rats or large mice drooping in my engine electrical box before. No idea how they could have gotten into there. Two times now I have brought the little buggers home with me in my tow. I was hunting and parked the Excursion in camp sites and picked them up. They made nests out of the insulation. The trouble with many parking sites too much food scrap litter around attracting the rodents and then they find your car for a overnighter.

I use traps and poison blocks both in the bays ( usually the first place they get into before the interior of the bus) and in the engine compartment of the towed vehicle.

I keep a premanent block in the battery area of the Excursion. I also check for nest every once and awhiled.

A good squirrel nest on the engine of your bus is a good fire hazard. When I found the dropping in the bus engine compartment I also found a nest back on the tranny that filled 2-5 gallon pals of arboravitae branches.

GregM

[sticks]

I " accidently" leave one of my barn cats in the bus barn for 24 hours every 4 or 5 days. Haven't seen a mouse yet. Do have to clean up cat poop on the barn floor though. Oh well, life is full of choices.

[sawdust_128]

.............. Do you guys think they might just leave being we have returned?


I am reasonably certain they are making the same inquiry of you.

[CAPT MOGUL & Sandy]

This is a small looking mail box which uses 4 c-batteries and electricutes the mice or rat. All you do is put some peanut butter in one end of the box, sit it down in a corner, turn the switch on and the next morning the critter is laying inside of the box. You just dump the critter out of it and rebait it. SIMPLE and NO mess.
You can buy them at Home Depot. I bought one to catch a rat on our back patio. With all the palm trees here, they love to come out and play at night. Caught 3 now and truly NO messes. Just bait, catch and dump it. Again, it is called the VICTOR Box.
Sandy

[parksincpp]

As General Ursus said in "Beneath The Planet of the Apes" ( and I paraphrase here )

"The only good mouse... is a DEAD mouse"

Let the games begin.................. Good hunting.....................

Love the picture Jamie

[sticks]

the Victor boxes don't work in Iowa. It's so cold here the mice beat you back into the house after you release them.

[sawdust_128]

................ I believe the mice know more about the weather than Al Gore. .....................

Roger, mice know more than Al Gore about everything.:eek:

[hhoppe]

We had a problem with Rafter Rats eating the wiring in the engine compartment of our first bus. I used Pet Safe boxes loaded with decon in the area and put cotton balls loaded with Pepermint Extract in and around the wiring locations near the engine. They love crawling next to your warm engine if you use the block heater. Good luck.

[CAPT MOGUL & Sandy]

the Victor boxes don't work in Iowa. It's so cold here the mice beat you back into the house after you release them.

Sticks, you have to TURN ON the Victor box!;) The ones I got weren't able to "beat you back into the house" because they were DEAD from the electricusion!!:D
Sandy

[sticks]

you're "all bad" ( but with good ideas)

[Yankee802]

Got one mouse with trap the first night back. Also got some of those sonic plug-ins to hopefully keep them away. I haven't seen evidence of any more, so keeping my fingers crossed. I don't keep the engine block heater plugged in, so hopefully I wont get any rodents there either. Took the coach on it's montly maintenance run, all went smooth, and would think it would help dislodge any varmints too.