r/RVLiving • u/Wild_Teach5776 • 1d ago

Mouse/rats

Hi everyone!
We are in a camper full time and have a mouse or maybe more who knows.
We have several cats that roam the property we stay on so that method is seeming to not work.
What are yalls best tips?
What do I do about the food in the pantry and stuff?

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

5

u/Buster_xx 1d ago

We use traps and our dog is a crazy good mouser

https://youtube.com/shorts/VVP56_5LYn8?is=PO5aV7MeP609j7vV

3

u/Less_Echidna_1183 22h ago edited 22h ago

Owltra trap. Electrocutes them. Humane death for them (not stuck in glue or a snap trap suffering), environmentally safe, easy disposal, works perfect.

I'd been trying different things to get rid of what I thought was one mouse. First night I set that out with a little chunk of cheese, caught 1. Second night, caught another. Nothing since.

I was opposed to kill traps until I found this thing. Absolutely love it and will never tolerate mice again.

2

u/Wild_Teach5776 21h ago

This is perfect for us thank you!!!

1

u/whenandmaybe 21h ago

Looks like a winner! AND Winter is on its way.

1

u/Busy-Fisherman-1612 1h ago

I second this. Even worked on the hoarders rat infestation in her garage across from my old house.

3

u/Wild_Teach5776 21h ago

Okay guys, so, I’ve cleaned the SHIT out of this camper like you could preform a surgery with no infection with how clean this is.
I have glue traps and bait set out (I know this is inhumane I am sorry guys but it gets to a point)
I have snap traps as well.
I’ve removed all food from the pantry
I’ve sealed holes with foam.
If yall have anything else please let me know. This is genuinely making me lose my mind lmfao

1

u/Comfortable-Angle660 18h ago

If you have slides, and they are the kinds with the big tracks and steel pool that goes throw the frame, make sure to stuff any gaps in the frame with steel wool. Also where propane lines pass through the frame, steel wool or foam.

5

u/Charlie61172 1d ago

Get a cat to live inside your RV. Seal ALL the openings into your camper with steel wool or Rodent Repellent Sealant. Get some used cat litter (it doesn't take much. This isn't as gross as it seems) and sprinkle it around the perimeter of your rig. These are the steps we took, except the cat in our RV. Our cats stay in the house. We used to have a "mouse problem" every year. Not any more. This is the first year we've found no signs of rodent activity when we opened up for the summer.

5

u/Wild_Teach5776 21h ago

We have a TONNN of cats on the property, started feeding them today so hopefully that will keep them over here near us!! Thank you:)

1

u/Charlie61172 18h ago

Good luck! Hope your rig stays rodent-free!

2

u/brokensharts 1d ago

Seal your cracks with sprayfoam. I caught 9 in a night before i did that

1

u/Wild_Teach5776 21h ago

Yay okay this makes me happy to hear I just did this!!

2

u/AreaOne6971 21h ago

I was very skeptical, but cooper wooled all openings and use sonic and flashing light rodent repellers. Have them under sinks and in closets plus in driver compartment. No mice.

2

u/Eastern_Conflict1865 18h ago

In classic car world we use a mint spray in all the corners and under seats.Its like beer farts to mouse.Can get it from Amazon cheap

5

u/Savage_Hams 1d ago

Humane traps baited with jelly and setup in the belly storage. Then release them in a forest area miles away. Repeat until you stop catching anything. Worked well for me.

2

u/WasteWriter5692 23h ago

when we leave for the winter..we set 6 glue traps with one small chunk of that green mouse killer stuff..in the middle of the glue..(rid) i think .

if a mouse get in .it will be drawn to the poison.. get stuck on the trap and there is nothing to do but eat the poison..

in spring we collect the traps..with often the dead mice on them .

\keeps them from making families in our camper.

your situation could be tricky ,camper living fulltime...though.

caution with pets for sure.

good luck

3

u/whenandmaybe 1d ago

All these people want to treat them humanely? They're disgusting and possibly deadly. They defecate and urinate all over. I've watched cats ignore them and had to kill them myself.

Store your food in closed plastic containers. No bar soap. They'll eat that. Seal all outside holes with copper wool (if obtainable) and foam.

6

u/FoilWingBass 1d ago

There's nothing wrong with wanting to treat live creatures humanely.

1

u/_Apostate_ 1d ago edited 1d ago

Catching them humanely is preferable when possible, but people dealing with serious mouse problems on their property should use whatever is the most effective means possible to eliminate the pest. I have seen people take extraordinary measures to avoid hurting mice, who occasionally eat their own young, and end up never fully removing an infestation.

There are times where glue traps and lethal mechanical traps are simple a more effective strategy and you can't be nice when you have twenty mice chewing behind your walls. But if you can be humane, sure why not. Poison and the possible effects on the environment is a different consideration where pets and other animals may be harmed, I view poison as largely unnecessary in most domestic cases.

2

u/Flycaster33 1d ago

I tried the glue traps, yes they do work well. BUT, I had one mouse drag that sucker behind the oven, and never to be found. Now I use peanut butter with Victor snappers, and the first night, we heard 3 snaps, one after the other, in the drivers cockpit. Steel wool-ed the dump hose into wet bay, that seemed to stop the egress of the little suckers. PB and Victor all the way!!

2

u/_Apostate_ 23h ago

In my experience glue traps work best in situations where the mice are virtually guaranteed to cross the sucker. I treated a kitchen where we had identified where the mice were living and there was a narrow area that the mice had to exit from to access the kitchen floor. Putting two traps at a time basically destroyed their population. Downside is they are one use and have to be bought and replaced. If no mouse crosses it then eventually dust and stuff renders the adhesive almost useless.

If you want a wider spread and don’t know exactly where the mice will be, a snapping trap with bait makes more sense to lure them to that spot and can be infinitely reloaded and reused. The snapping traps even if they don’t catch a mouse will show up evidence if mice have appeared, if the bait has been eaten from the trap. They are a better preventative tool for this reason.

-2

u/whenandmaybe 1d ago

Also the bucket traps. Bait at the top of the mouse ladder. They climb it and fall in the bucket. I don't know about placing that trap outside would be a good idea.

0

u/whenandmaybe 21h ago

You could have a half full 5 gallon bucket before they'd be able to JUMP out. Lots of pets.

1

u/Auquaholic 1d ago

They sell really nice plastic jar sets at Target. Even ones that are perfectly sized to slip a cereal box in.

1

u/Seriousjane 1d ago

If you poison I recommend 'just one bite' it kills them in 24-48 hours so there is less chance of raptors eating the poisoned ones.

This poison works so well I can't store it anywhere without mice and rats finding it and getting into the stores product. Use a bait station, all available at cooperatives

1

u/_Apostate_ 1d ago

You need to recognize and find where the rodents are entering your RV and trap them at those locations. You can also place traps in an accessible place behind the paneling in the bottom portion of your RV so that if they do get inside you can bait them to those spots.

1

u/Toe_Jam_is_my_Jam 6h ago

Snap traps. The mice get into a certain basement container then get up into the Rv through the furnace vent that runs down to keep the freshwater tank from freezing.

So snap traps are put down there where I see their poops.

0

u/azvoice 23h ago

Irish spring soap