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Old 07-15-2016, 04:29 PM   #1
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Model: ACE 29.3 (2016)
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THOR #4032
Mice! Yuk

We boondocked recently, no cords or water hookups. We were about 30 feet from a dumpster. The last morning we were there, I opened a dresser drawer and found four mice in my sock drawer! OMG! How did they get in there? I saw no signs of them having been in the coach before. I think (hope) I have gotten rid of them. I put "Fresh Cab Rodent Repellent" behind cabinets, and set a trap. So far I have killed one mouse. I don't know if the others left... yet. I will continue to monitor the situation. How do they get in? The bottom of the coach is not all that close to the ground....all advice and experiences are appreciated.

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Old 07-15-2016, 05:05 PM   #2
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Usually they hop up onto the wheels and then jump from there. I've seen chipmunks do it to our RV's (so far they haven't got inside since I've been watching them and scare them away).

They can also use the power, water, and waste connections to climb up.

Once they are underneath they find a hole somewhere and get inside...
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Old 07-15-2016, 05:15 PM   #3
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I had mice and killed several in traps. More just kept coming in.

I got under the MH with a can of spray foam and sealed every hole I could find. If you have some big holes, some steel wool in the hole first might help.

After I sealed everything, I still had the occasional mouse. I noticed a space between the power cord and the entry hole. I made a metal shield to block this space.

I haven't had any mice since, now several years.
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Old 07-15-2016, 05:32 PM   #4
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I was once parked at a traffic light on a four lane road. I saw a mouse climb down the tire on a vehicle ahead of me in the adjacent lane. He then ran and climbed up a tire on the vehicle in front of the one he just left. ( I forgot at the time to check the vehicles involved, but I assume it was an upgrade). When the traffic started to move I saw no sign of squished mouse on the road. I assume he made a successful transfer. It taught me that you are not safe from mice, rats, and other vermin, no matter where you are. Set traps and be careful not to catch yourself in them. Whatever you do don't poison them. if you do, you will be tearing the walls out on your RV to trace the rotting rodent smell.
Ken
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Old 07-15-2016, 05:33 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Ag&Au View Post
I was once parked at a traffic light on a four lane road. I saw a mouse climb down the tire on a vehicle ahead of me in the adjacent lane. He then ran and climbed up a tire on the vehicle in front of the one he just left. When the traffic started to move I saw no sign of squished mouse on the road. I assume he made a successful transfer. It taught me that you are not safe from mice, rats, and other vermin, no matter where you are. Set traps and be careful not to catch yourself in them. Whatever you do don't poison them. if you do, you will be tearing the walls out on your RV to trace the rotting rodent smell.

Ken
OMG!
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Old 07-15-2016, 06:07 PM   #6
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Cats are good. Mice can be incredibly destructive if allowed to build a nest around your RV. A good friend spent multiple thousand dollars replacing his computer and whole engine electrical system after mice chewed up his engine wiring system..
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Old 07-15-2016, 06:20 PM   #7
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The mice I had in my rig built a nest using fiberglass they took from the insulation around the oven. It took me a while to figure out where they had gotten the fiberglass from. When I realized where it was from, I removed the oven and replaced the fiberglass insulation on the oven.

The oven works fine now.
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Old 07-15-2016, 06:28 PM   #8
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Always travel armed with a feline.

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Cats are good. Mice can be incredibly destructive if allowed to build a nest around your RV. A good friend spent multiple thousand dollars replacing his computer and whole engine electrical system after mice chewed up his engine wiring system..
When RVing we have always traveled with at least 1 cat along. Currently we take three. They adapt quickly and actually seem to enjoy it. This tradition started with our very first trip in our very first RV (a 1993 casita trailer). We left home sans cats. However, we stopped to use the bathroom in our trailer in a pulloff in the middle of nowhere, Nevada on US 50. There was not a building in sight for miles.

When I came out of the trailer, Susan said, "I hear a kitty meowing."

I called, "kitty, kitty", and this little tiny tuxedo black and white kitten came toward me from under a sagebrush bush. She walked up and started rubbing on my leg. We gave her some water and stopped in the next town and got kitten food and a litter box. She was about 10 weeks old. She travelled with us for 14 years until she passed away. In the mean time she acquired a travelling companion, Daisy. She is our Avatar. Daisy is still travelling with us along with her two boy friends, Tiger and Kimba.

The point of this rambling is that we have never seen a mouse or rat or any sign of them anywhere near our RV's. Not even in storage. We attribute that to the fact that we always have a couple of cat beds and blankets in the RV even when stored.

I'm not sure if dogs would work also.

Ken
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Old 07-15-2016, 06:36 PM   #9
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Exclamation

Last year we stayed in a very nice rural setting, right on the river, and next to someone's mountain of firewood, which they had covered with several tarps. Several days into our stay we heard that possible hail was forecast for several hours later. I decided to cover the roof of the rv with those several tarps from the firewood and hopeful keep any hail damage to a minimum. When we moved the tarps we saw several mouse scurry in different directions - there must have been a family of them living in the tarps.
Thinking nothing too much of it, we got thru the slight hail with no issues, removed the tarps later, and covered the firewood back up.

A week or so later, we dropped our front bunk, which we used for storage, and was 'delighted' to find signs of mice - chewed paper towels and little 'nests' in several places. After looking around the coach, we also found more signs in other places.
Darn mice! I think I know where they came from!!

My sewer hose entry was exposed to the wetbay. The wetbay has hiding places for mice since you can't get to too much of it due to the wetbay panel and the water tank. There are entrance holes into the coach from the bay from wiring, coax cables, etc.
It's a mice's paradise!

We placed mice traps around the wheels of the coach, in the bays, and under the kitchen cabinets. Caught at least one or two every day for a week. Thought we had caught them all after a while.

Made a 800 mile trip to Indiana to the Service Center for some work. Unfortunately, as we cleaned out the coach and bays of our stuff, we found a few more signs of recent mice activity. We caught FIVE! in that single night of trapping. We hoped that was all, but understood that you really never know until you haven't seen one, or signs of one, for many months. Hope they enjoyed the ride!
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Old 07-15-2016, 06:39 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ag&Au View Post
When RVing we have always traveled with at least 1 cat along. Currently we take three. They adapt quickly and actually seem to enjoy it. This tradition started with our very first trip in our very first RV (a 1993 casita trailer). We left home sans cats. However, we stopped to use the bathroom in our trailer in a pulloff in the middle of nowhere, Nevada on US 50. There was not a building in sight for miles.

When I came out of the trailer, Susan said, "I hear a kitty meowing."

I called, "kitty,kitty", and this little tiny tuxedo black and white kitten came toward me from under a sagebrush bush. She walked up and started rubbing on my leg. We gave her some water and stopped in the next town and got kitten food and a litter box. She was about 10 weeks old. She travelled with us for 14 years until she passed away. In the mean time she acquired a travelling companion, Daisy. She is our Avatar. Daisy is still travelling with us along with her two boy friends, Tiger and Kimba.

The point of this rambling is that we have never seen a mouse or rat or any sign of them anywhere near our RV's. Not even in storage. We attribute that to the fact that we always have a couple of cat beds and blankets in the RV even when stored.

I'm not sure if dogs would work also.

Ken
We had two dogs with us. Nope, they didn't have a clue.
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Old 07-15-2016, 07:04 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by tenbear View Post
The mice I had in my rig built a nest using fiberglass they took from the insulation around the oven. It took me a while to figure out where they had gotten the fiberglass from. When I realized where it was from, I removed the oven and replaced the fiberglass insulation on the oven.

The oven works fine now.
I recently found a small wad of insulation and other trash (which included a shed snake skin) inside my generator, nestled on top of the machine works but inside the housing. I fished it out. basically a small ball, roughly softball sized. I didn't recognize the insulation so hoped it has been there a while.... and I figured it so hot, with temps about 100 degrees and the generator had been running....that I wasn't too concerned about it being a recent thing and certainly no critters were in it....

But now I'm second guessing.... well hoping really.... that the unfamiliar insulation isn't from my oven or something....
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Old 07-15-2016, 07:37 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by blw2 View Post
I recently found a small wad of insulation and other trash (which included a shed snake skin) inside my generator, nestled on top of the machine works but inside the housing. I fished it out. basically a small ball, roughly softball sized. I didn't recognize the insulation so hoped it has been there a while.... and I figured it so hot, with temps about 100 degrees and the generator had been running....that I wasn't too concerned about it being a recent thing and certainly no critters were in it....

But now I'm second guessing.... well hoping really.... that the unfamiliar insulation isn't from my oven or something....
AFAIK, there's only one way to find out. As I recall, removing the oven wasn't a terribly difficult job, but it does involve disconnecting the propane, and of course, reconnecting it and making sure there is no leak.

The insulation the mice got was from the side of the oven and I replaced it with ordinary construction fiberglass. Some research I did indicated it could withstand any temperature the oven would reach.

Good luck.
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Old 07-15-2016, 09:16 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ag&Au View Post
When RVing we have always traveled with at least 1 cat along. Currently we take three. They adapt quickly and actually seem to enjoy it. This tradition started with our very first trip in our very first RV (a 1993 casita trailer). We left home sans cats. However, we stopped to use the bathroom in our trailer in a pulloff in the middle of nowhere, Nevada on US 50. There was not a building in sight for miles.

When I came out of the trailer, Susan said, "I hear a kitty meowing."

I called, "kitty, kitty", and this little tiny tuxedo black and white kitten came toward me from under a sagebrush bush. She walked up and started rubbing on my leg. We gave her some water and stopped in the next town and got kitten food and a litter box. She was about 10 weeks old. She travelled with us for 14 years until she passed away. In the mean time she acquired a travelling companion, Daisy. She is our Avatar. Daisy is still travelling with us along with her two boy friends, Tiger and Kimba.

The point of this rambling is that we have never seen a mouse or rat or any sign of them anywhere near our RV's. Not even in storage. We attribute that to the fact that we always have a couple of cat beds and blankets in the RV even when stored.

I'm not sure if dogs would work also.

Ken
We have a black stray that has been living in our neighbors yard for the last two years. He feeds it all the time. We used to have rats in our coconut trees (they love coconuts) but have not seen one since the cat arrived. Nice kitty.
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