Mice

[Snedwid]

If this is posted in the wrong area, please move it for me.
Our 2010 has only sat still for a month, but I've found mouse droppings in the cabinet below the sink, and also, some toilet paper was shredded up and placed on the cabinet shelf under the bathroom sink.
Questions: How can a mouse get in, what with the enclosed bottom and all?
How do I make sure its gone and won't come back?
What is the best way to mouse proof?
Tnx for any and all suggestions and help.

[sandlapper]

Dang mice, they can get thru the tinest of places, & there are plenty of those places in & around the trailer. We had one, took me 6 months to trap him. Used a good old fashion trap that whacks 'em in the head. I put it down in the cabinet in the area he was frequenting. Finally he got careless,& greedy, & paid for it with his life. Be careful if you use the poison, he may run off and die somewhere you cannot reach, but can surely smell. It is hard to keep them out , especially if the trailer is stored/parked near woods or open fields where they hang out. Good luck. John, mouse slayer.

[idroba]

It is nice to see that Airstream has not improved their mice proofing. It has been a problem for years and each and every of the about 20 AS products I have owned has had the issue. I would recommend you look carefully around the holes in the main wood floor where the drain and vent lines run. AS generally drilled about 3" holes to run 2" pipes through and never has made any effort to seal the space remaining. It becomes a mouse highway once they get into the belly pan area. The belly pan is almost impossible to totally seal against mice, in my experience. So, seal the floor.

Best of luck and get a hungry Kitty Cat who travels with you.

[Mr & Mrs S]

I fought the same thing with a boat for years! Dang mice were destoying my boat, eating wires, carpet, pooping in it everywhere. I was at the end of my rope! I was in the Dollar Store buying traps and was talking to a friend about my situation and a lady over heard me talking about it. She said buy Downy Dryer Sheets and put them in all the compartments of your boat and the mice will not get in there. So I tried it. It WORKED! I have had no more mice in my boat and it smells great every time I take it out.
We now do the same thing in our Airstream.
We also make sure we dont leave any food items that might help attract the varmints while its not in use.
Hope this helps.

[rock60]

Originally Posted by jsmith84

I fought the same thing with a boat for years! Dang mice were destoying my boat, eating wires, carpet, pooping in it everywhere. I was at the end of my rope! I was in the Dollar Store buying traps and was talking to a friend about my situation and a lady over heard me talking about it. She said buy Downy Dryer Sheets and put them in all the compartments of your boat and the mice will not get in there. So I tried it. It WORKED! I have had no more mice in my boat and it smells great every time I take it out.
We now do the same thing in our Airstream.
We also make sure we dont leave any food items that might help attract the varmints while its not in use.
Hope this helps.

we use the dryer sheets too they work, in our campers and tv and cars.

[batman]

Hey Snedwid,

I think Sandlapper is correct. If you have them the best way to take care of rodent problems is with traps. Place them right next to the side wall or cabinet. Bait them and check them regularly. Get rid of there food supply, only store canned goods...

Our trailers are not "sealed" or at least mine is not. Just has a covered bottom panel to help with air flow. The bottom has holes for gas lines and water drains and wiring not to mention the wheel wells and pull out step.

Meeses love Airstream trailers as much as we do.

You may try to put some steel wool or aluminum wool in all of the holes you can find.

You might get creative and set loose some snakes inside and closer up for a week or so

[Splitrock]

I've noticed that I typically don't get mice in vehicles when they are parked on pavement. I did get a mouse under the hood of my pickup stored in my garage for the summer one year. If I park on grass I get mice.

I don't keep any food in the Airstream. I kept two snap traps set all year. Last winter when the snow got up to the bumper, I got one mouse in a trap. None since. It was parked on a crushed rock parking area.

[sandlapper]

Now I know what all those dryer sheets were for in my son's Excella. They were stuffed everywhere. Thought they were there to make things smell good. And now that you mention it, we ain't seen a mouse yet!
BTW, my wife parks her Honda Accord on pavement but a mouse climbed up under the hood & chewed a wiring harness up in a spot that required half the engine be taken off to replace the harness. Honda even puts a mouse shield loom over that particular harness but it doesn't cover the last 1/2" at the plug. The mouse had a $300 dinner.
As cold weather approaches they will be looking for a warm home for the winter. We keep a trap set all the time, just in case.

[richinny]

you've got mice?
we've got posts!
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f458...-rv-69270.html

[Cantrell]

Hadn't heard of the dryer sheets--easy enough!!
I always put out a couple of the large sticky traps with a little bird seed in the center and just leave it there during storage. Have caught one field mouse in the past and some bugs. The sticky pads are a bit on the cruel side (as compared with the snaptraps) but when I weigh the amount of damage a mouse can do to wiring and such, I'll 'stick' with cruel.

[dkottum]

They like winter shelter especially well if it has food, or smells like food. Remove all food from the trailer, clean the kitchen extra well for storage, and remove any bar soap (food to mice). Baited traps in the trailer may attract more mice than they catch. A cat or two in the neighborhood is a terrific deterrent.

doug k

[DaveFL]

Originally Posted by dkottum

They like winter shelter especially well if it has food, or smells like food. doug k

Major problem is we don't cook on the motor and they love the insulation covering the wires that use soybean product in their manufacture.
Dryer sheets is the next step for me, tried the traps, mothballs and sealing.
By the way AS didn't just make a holes oversize they also misjudged location and increased hole size without attempting to reduce for a 2 inch pipe drilled hole was 4 inches and the extension cut to where it was needed, made the hole 8 by 4, only covered by carpet under the box
covering the pipe. Leaving space large enough for a cat to enter above the holding tank.

[Chuck]

I've found dryer sheets to be completely and utterly ineffective.

once had to pull out a huge nest that was built right on top of a box of them.

I've also found mouse poops on every sheet that I've left around in cabinets and drawers...as if the mice were intentionally trying to tell me exactly what they think of them.

[B25guy]

...this might sound odd but bait the trap(s) but don't set them for a few days/weeks...once you notice the bait is gone a couple of times, you can then set them.

Mice, and rodents in general, are very suspicious of new things in "their" environ but not so with food. They will often be exceedingly careful when approaching the trap...sometimes not even trigger the trap but eat the bait.

Use peanut butter, a guaranteed attractor and not easily stolen due to its gooey consistency.

Once they learn they have a regular meal for a day or three, they let their guard down and whamo...you win!

Marc

[Schools Out]

No luck with the dryer sheets or the over priced product that smells of a natural predator. It's supposed to put the FEAR into the little rodents. We have had good luck this past summer using mothballs on the ground around the moho. I don't know what will happen when cold weather (snow) gets here. Previously, I tried mothballs in the trunk areas & I couldn't stand the smell...so, I don't want to do that again. Snap traps also worked...not so the plastic throw away type. One smart mouse chewed through the plastic case to get to the peanut butter.

[Splitrock]

[Dan@LED4RV]

Allot of good posts above and I'd like to add one. If you put your unit up for the winter fill the toliet bowl with pink freeze ban. Leave the lid up and this will do two things. The freeze ban will keep the rubber seal moist as it has an oily base to it. Then when your new found friends can't find water they will jump in for a drink and won't be able to get out.

[LawChick]

Batman, I knew someone was going to use the "S" word as I was reading this post in dread! Blah! I've been wondering. Our trailer has been still for almost two months now (a record!) and I've been a teensy bit concerned that meeses have come in and other things - I'm not saying that dreadful word - might have come in after them. This conversation seals it. I'm locking the cat up in there for several nights before we leave. This being actually my daughter's cat, who brought in a rabbit bigger than himself the other night! Master hunter.

No S words, ya'll! It gives me the creepies. LOL

[HCR]

Thanks for tip re dryer sheets. Had mouse (or chipmunk) chewing battery cable wire on my 2010 TV this summer. Put moth flakes in a sock and secured with a zip tie. Placed sock under hood. No more damage seen. Smell is bad, but beats paying for repairs.

[Mr & Mrs S]

For the do-it-yourselfer. Looks like it would work. Catch them all at once.

Building a Better Mouse Trap!! (ORIGINAL VERSION) - YouTube