MICE!!

[jayemright]

Hello Everyone,

We live in the wilds of eastern Canada and have spent much of the late summer and fall doing battle with the mice. I go out daily to our 1985 Sunrader to check my "Trap Line" and and have taken out about a dozen from the traps, and lots of droppings. I have crawled all around underneath, looking for a place that they might be getting in but have not seen any openings that they could be getting in. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I should be looking to plug the holes, or if there are any other things I can do to keep them out? Thanks in advance for your help.

James

[dayoff53]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I should be looking to plug the holes, or if there are any other things I can do to keep them out? Thanks in advance for your help.

James

Some thoughts:

I have a crack opening between the wheel well and the coach wall - visible under the couch or from outside in the wheel well. Also, a mouse-sized opening from the generator compartment into the coach around the wiring. Both of these areas were originally sealed with sticky black goop that has hardened, cracked and separated (wheel well) or softened and drooped (wiring). You may want to check those two places.

[Maineah]

If you find holes underneath stuff them with brass wool or SS wool the little @#$%#@#$ are tiny and can get into some very small spaces. They make a product that is sticky I was thinking of putting it on top of the wheels figuring mice don't jump well and would have to go up the tires to get in. Have a look in your air filter box they like to get in there and take up residence along with their food evicting them helps with over population.

[Derek up North]

I can vouch for mice loving V6 air filter boxes. I'm batting 2 for 2 on the boxes being stuffed to capacity when I bought them. I'm surprised they still ran!

[flatspin]

This is my solution. His name is Gonzo.

I can vouch for mice loving V6 air filter boxes. I'm batting 2 for 2 on the boxes being stuffed to capacity when I bought them. I'm surprised they still ran!

[Maineah]

I have two cats do you think he can train them? I would be glad to send them to class. Actually the dog is probably better but he is too big to get in little spaces.

[BobBeery]

I bought my Toy late March this year. Drove it home 900 miles. Found air filter box jam-packed with mouse nest including a dead baby mouse. It will be parked outside all winter in northern Michigan so I will sure check that air filter box next spring.

[WME]

Google "Fresh-Cab"

[Gulfstream Greg]

Mice can get through really small holes. Our cat brought home a mouse about the size of a C cell battery. I put it in a hamster cage for rehab (I know). So I check on the little guy and he's gone! I find him in the bottom between the cage and pan. He had gone through the wire which is about 3/8 inch openings. So I took the cage outside and got it out into some shrubs and sat the cage down. I went about some business for awhile. Came back to the cage couple hours later and here is the little guy back in the cage.

Long story but the point is it does not have to be a big hole or space. Everything has to be sealed. Around pipes, wires etc. Someone mentioned using steel wool. Watch out if used around wires, believe it or not steel wool can be flammable. Get some 00 and light a match to it. You can't blow it out so make sure you light it in a safe spot.

Expando foam works great but the little critters will dig through it.

[Vanman]

I remember seeing some steel wool stuffed in a couplea places in our new,( to us) 91 Dolphin, But the only one I can remember now is behind the outside cover for the water heater. To the left of the drain is a pipe with steel wool around where it enters the coach.

[Maineah]

Greg is right steel wool will burn and it also will rust and turn to dust however brass wool and SS wool should not be a problem in either case and they won't chew on it.

[86rader]

there is no keeping mice out with physical barriers. they WILL find a way in. you need to make the place unappealing to them. place moth balls all over the place. the little bastards hate the stuff. it will smell the toyhouse up a bit, but in the spring before you are ready to put it to use, remove the mothballs and air it out good.

maneah, yeah, i think shunka is just a little too big for toyhouse mouser duty.

[bufbooth]

Last year I thought I was winning the mouse battle in Indiana, I ended up putting a piece of metal screen in

front of the air filter intake, that did stop them. I tried putting metal screen over the top of the engine

to prevent them from nesting under the intake manifold and on top of the wheel wells, it did work for the wheel

wells but they still got to the intake manifold. I was not able to stop them from getting into the heater motor

and they added a new place, under the rear bathroom sink.

I found the hole/crack they used on the rear bathroom sink and close that up, and still did the metal screen, but

added a new feature this year....I built a wall!!!...The wall was an idea that someone here suggested a few years

ago.

I purchased 50 feet of aluminum sething (sp), the sheets of aluminum used around chimmeys. It cost $17 for 12 inch

high by 50 feet. I then purchased two 16 foot treated 2x6s, and two 8 foot treated 2x6s. The 16 foot boards just

barely fits inside of a 21/22 foot Toyota, just have to feed them into from the truck cab doors.

I made a big U of of the two 2x16 and one of the 2x8s and placed them around the RV with the open end by the

front of the Toyota. I nailed a single 40 feet of the aluminum sheets to the treated 2x6s, but let the metal

hang down about an inch below the 2x6. Then nailed 8 feet of the aluminum sheet to the unattached 8 foot 2x6 and

I used two lag bolts to secure this 2x6 to the open end of the U, which is at the front of the RV. I used lag bolts

since I am not planning on moving the RV until the Spring. If I was going to move it more often, I would of

installed the front 8 foot 2x6 with a door hinge on one side and a pin on the other side, to allow me to slide

open the front board when needed.

My end result is a 12 inch high wall all around the RV wheel base, and from what I am told, mice cannot climb

up the sheet of aluminum and it is too high for them to jump over. One need to make sure there are no gaps

below the boards, if so, yard trim can be pounded into the group making a below surface barrier.

I will let everyone know if this wall works.

Dennis...

[Diesel_Aggie]

On my 1983 18' Sunrader I found all sorts of access points. Pulling up the poor excuse for wood under the dinette cushions showed many gaps. Also looking around the wheelwells and pulling out the bottom drawers and shining a light in should show you some more. Seal all of them really well. Check that the roof vents seal tight and stay locked down. Check the door seal and make sure the door is not bowed. The power cord flap is also a poorly sealed area. Is the weatherstrip around the truck doors still good and tight? If not replace the seals. Side benefit is that the truck will be quieter. You may also have the style of windows with the two oval drain holes at the bottom with white plastic diverters that point down. These are often missing at this point and I have not found a source for them. Even if you have them, this maybe an area where a small mouse gets in. Plug them with whatever you can over the winter. Plug all the vents for furnace, refrigerator, water heater, etc.

Consider putting poison not too close and not too far from the RV. You want to be close enough to get the ones that are headed to the RV, but not so close that you end up attracting them to the RV. Don't want the going in and dying.

[chief]

I stapled mesh wire around the generator exhaust pipe, fuel and cable holes, also maybe try some of that spray foam in any cracks and holes, Mice love the dark hard to get at areas. Recently heard to use "cloths dryer sofftener sheets in all the usual suspect areas, (in and under each drawer, compartments, and even select places under the hood, watch out for possible fire hazzards) Suppossably the rodents don"t care for the smell and this will make your rig smell better. I haven't needed to try the fabric softener sheets yet. Has any one tried this yet? Chief

Edited November 11, 2010 by chief

[Gulfstream Greg]

Consider putting poison not too close and not too far from the RV. You want to be close enough to get the ones that are headed to the RV, but not so close that you end up attracting them to the RV. Don't want the going in and dying.

Poison takes awhile to work, maybe a couple days sometimes. Plenty of time for them to make there way to the RV and die.

[Minnesota Mama]

Hello Everyone,

We live in the wilds of eastern Canada and have spent much of the late summer and fall doing battle with the mice. I go out daily to our 1985 Sunrader to check my "Trap Line" and and have taken out about a dozen from the traps, and lots of droppings. I have crawled all around underneath, looking for a place that they might be getting in but have not seen any openings that they could be getting in. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I should be looking to plug the holes, or if there are any other things I can do to keep them out? Thanks in advance for your help.

James

Years ago a friend told me about putting dryer sheets in every drawer, closet, storage space. I did that for several years with great success. I learned two things along the way: they needed to be a brand name. (why the generic didn't work that one year still baffles me.) And you need to get all spots. One year I missed one storage bin: no droppings anywhere else..just that bin.

Hope that helps.

Minnesota Mama

Edited December 3, 2010 by Minnesota Mama

[bufbooth]

I am two years running on stopping the mice from getting in the air filter, I put some

metal screen in between where the air filter is and where the air comes in.

[bufbooth]

I will be checking this weekend on how successful my mice wall has been.

[RVdaytrader]

Years ago a friend told me about putting dryer sheets in every drawer, closet, storage space. I did that for several years with great success. I learned two things along the way: they needed to be a brand name. (why the generic didn't work that one year still baffles me.) And you need to get all spots. One year I missed one storage bin: no droppings anywhere else..just that bin.

Hope that helps.

Minnesota Mama

Minnesota Mama....I also heard about bounce sheets and put the in my seabreeze 2 weeks ago...so far no mice, I have 2 traps set with peanut butter inside and check them daily in case they decide they dont mind the bounce sheet smell!!!....but so for they seem to be working!

RVdaytrader

[wanderso]

I have a friend who had a mouse problem in his RV. Blocked the holes where he can; the "Bounce" dryer sheets actually did help. Weird, but true.

[5Toyota]

i have lived on farms mice are aproblem had a problem in my double wide bought plastic packs of poison nuts you throu under my house dont open just thro they ate all that no more of them they will tunnel through dirt under metal or what ever but if they eat steel wool they die for fire surivorial hold 2 d flashlight batteries end to end take steel wool on one end scratch on other end burnes red hot i spent 10 years in scouts

[CME]

I heard you can place chlorine pucks by the wheels and that keeps em from climbing up... never tried it though. They can get anywhere if they want to. Quite the gymnasts!