Mouse Proofing

[lkeniley]

I am looking for any suggestions regarding mouseproofing. We live in the country and this winter it is especially bad. I've looked for any openings but they are still getting in. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks,

Lou in New Mexico

[TinTin]

You could check for small openings in wheel wells and belly pan. Apply the mouse-proofing foam that comes in spray cans to any openings you find. Ensure there is zero food in the trailer. A few traps inside as backup might be a good idea as well.

I used this stuff in the fall:

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/in...Expanding+Foam

[Chatooga11]

I have been lucky with dryer sheets stuffed into any access point. I guess mice hate the smell of clean laundry. Back up traps are always a good idea.

[DaveFL]

Use the second search bar in the drop down above, google does a much better job of searching this forum. Once they are in traps with bait are ok but before advice above stated no food in the camper, that includes bait.
If you can push a pencil in the hole that is all the head room they need, I found one pushed by my electric cord openings, I now wrap the cord with steel wool. My guess is that all electric and plumbing lines penetrating shell are made by a hole specialist worker at AS that doesn't know what the hole is for so just make it big and the guy using the hole if it is off center will make another Carpet guy was responsible to fix, sort of like in housing where it is all left up to the painter.

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by lkeniley

I am looking for any suggestions regarding mouseproofing. We live in the country and this winter it is especially bad. I've looked for any openings but they are still getting in. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks,

Lou in New Mexico

I don't believe that there is really a way to make anything mouse proof. But poisoned bait OUTSIDE is a good way of keeping them out. I know everyone says, "but what if a small child gets into it?" Well IMHO, it's easier to CHILD proof something than it is to mouse proof it. Buy a cheap lockbox and drill a couple of 5/8" holes in it, lock it with a big hunk of poisoned peanut butter inside. Write - "mouse poison" on it in red paint, and chain it to the trailer tongue, hiding it discreetly behind a stabilizer jack. Renew the poison about every 10 days. You won't see too many carcasses, they go back to their dens to die.

Traps with peanut butter under the Airstream work, but you might get a dog or a coyote or two.

Paula

[1965 mustang]

If you park inside, put glue traps all the way around the wheels and tongue jack. I found some that are about 3"x9". You need four for each wheel. Peppermint oil on the inside seems to help or at least makes things smell good.


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[idroba]

You can try to keep them out of the bellypan area, but that is very very difficult. Too many entrances from the tongue to the rear storage compartment.

My experience is that Airstream has always put much bigger holes through the plywood subfloor than the pipes that go through them need. So, there is a great mouse highway along the drain and vent pipes. Also if you have heat from the furnace going into the tank area, the holes for the heat pipes are too big. So, find all the places that holes go through the sub floor, and seal them with brass wool, expanding foam, metal plates or whatever it takes and you will probably make your rig mouse resistant.

[64airstream]

Lou,

Another product you may want to consider is Fresh Cab. They are pouches of botanical rodent repellant that don't smell bad to humans. Typically farmers use them to keep mice out of their tractor cabs. We've been using them for a few years and they seem to be working well. We even use them in the convertibles while they're stored during the winter. We use 3 or 4 in the A/S and 2 in each car. Fresh Cab is not cheap (for a little bag of potpourri) but it's probably available at your local farm store or a big hardware store. Also available online, although I haven't tried that.

Good luck,

Roy and Marie

[1965 mustang]

I also heard stuffing steel wool in the frame openings by the ball hitch helps. It is apparently a path to the underbelly. And keep things SQUEAKY clean inside. Haha 😀


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[paiceman]

Dryer sheets work for us, SO FAR. I also grease the tongue where it comes out of the A frame and we put dryer sheets in a number of places inside the AS. Used to put traps inside but I actually think that drew them into the trailer. We park in a storage yard on Asphalt and my guess is the little buggers don't like to cross the open area day or night for fear of hawks in day time and owls at night. Several people are backed up to the fence which abuts woods and they have lots of mice issues.

[LiLNomad]

Im still using cottonballs with peppermint oil in cabinets, drawers, closets etc and havent had a problem, trailer always smells good. I park on a dirt lot and was concerned bout this same issue. The peppermint messes with their sense of smell.
LilNomad

[thehandyman]

You will find things like this. Shower drain opening just off a little. Problem is it is hard to find these unless you pull the belly pan.

[foxybabies]

I use the electric rodent it puts of sound waves I love it an it works my neighbors are cows I'm way in the boonies but love it

[badkat]

I have used the peppermint cotton balls..worked most of the time. Found a product recommended on someone's blog that is excellent. FreshCab..put it in outside compartments and I would not be a full-timer without it.

[handn]

We had mice in our trailer this year for the first time. We think they were coming in the front door as the trailer had been broken into and the door pried open. We had that professionally repaired and weather stripped. The other place we sealed up was under the street side small cabinet where electric and utility lines run. The mice lived in the small cave there. There was a small hole where the trailer umbilical cord ran and we sealed that up with spray foam.
We got rid of the existing mice with sticky traps and have had no more since.
I think it is possible to get ride of mice if you carefully inspect your trailer and seal up every possibility.

[SteveH]

We used to have trouble with mice getting into the trailer, but since I put a couple of ultra sonic rodent repellant things from Tractor Supply in there, no more mice. However, to work the trailer needs to be plugged in to power.

[featherbedder]

Since I threw dcon bait bars in barn & machine shed where AS parked in winter I have not had rodent problems, but I find lots of them dead on floors in bldgs. Small pack of dcon in AS have not seen any traces or droppings etc.

[mmagalis]

I live in an area with lot's of mice and have found methods to keep them out of the house even though people around here say it's impossible to keep them out. Catch the mice in live traps, let them go and watch, they almost always go back to their access point. Seal it with steel wool or metal tape and set the traps back up. Eventually the mice will show you all the holes. I have had two Airstreams, an 04 and an 08. Both got mice and this method worked until one of the mice ate a hole in the water tank! I would like to know how a high end camper like Airstream can build campers that leave the factory with mouse holes. CEO, can you hear me? Why would you not replace your plant manager and find one who can do his job right?