When preparing for a recent trip, I had the pleasure of confronting a non-poisionous 5 foot snake who decided it would be warm and toasty inside of my rig. It has since gone to snake heaven. At the first campground, I found that five small mice had set up their own camp in our pots and pan drawer. They too have gone to their respective heaven. Since I live in Texas where toting a firearm is in the American spirit, I could sit outside the rig and work on improving my shot to kill ratio, but I'd prefer something less labor intensive. Does anyone have any FULL PROOF suggestions on how to keep mice and snakes and like critters out of a rig when it's parked for awhile?
As you know we live in Texas also, but fortunately we have never had anything worse than wasps take up residence in the motor home. We do park the RV on a concrete pad and it is at our house so there is activity around--both of which I think discourages "boarders." After that I have heard that putting mothballs in underneath bins and inside cabinets and on the ground around the outside will stop critters. Some people say dryer sheets will do the same (inside) and not smell as bad. Vaseline on shore lines is also supposed to stop critters, but I think that is more for ants. Since we have never needed to use any of these methods I can't say if they really work. But good luck with whatever you try. PS If you hadn't killed the snake it would have taken care of the mice for you. You gotta think about these things! :lol:
RLM: How about this??? "It takes a Maine Winter!" Two years ago, we stopped for several days at a nice state park in northern South Carolina. We awakened one morning to find all our interior walls COVERED with ants! Millions of them! We slapped and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed...and prayed and prayed and prayed. To no avail. We arrived home in late June, closed up the trailer, hoping for the best. We headed out for Nova Scotia again in late August. The ants were still there in full force! We sprayed and prayed and sprayed and prayed, etc., etc. I thought we'd have to torch the RV to get rid of them....but, low-and-behold, the Maine winter did them in!! Not an ant in sight the next April when we headed out again for Southern climes...nor have any been seen since. Thank you Tor the Snow God! So....how about this???? Visit northern New England in late September and leave your RV here for the winter. I assure you, no mice, pythons, rattlers, black widows, or other undesirables you might transport will be waiting for you when you return in May. And just F.Y.I., temps here tonight are expected to be -5 to -10....with wind chills tomorrow in the range of -30 below. Lots of snow and terrific skiing! Just a thought (and just joking). MaineDon p.s. We are headed to NM and AZ in April/May...passing through northern Texas on the way. Any suggestions of good places to stay? Just an overnight or two........
When you mean.... "parked for awhile," are you living in it, or is it in storage? If it's in storage, you must remove all the food. Someone told me this tip. When I get home from a trip, I remove ALL food. On the other hand, if you are living in it, don't know what to tell you. I once had the pleasure of seeing a snake wrapped around my sewer hose........ This was in June in South Central Washington (which is a desert area....). JJ
Former RV was parked by the house in rural southern california...and biggest problem = rats. :blink: Were surrounded by vineyards/citrus groves, and the favorite home of SoCal rats: palm trees. Of course these guys provided a veritable feast for hawks, snakes and coyotes. The trick was to keep them (all) out of your home/RV/truck without resorting to scorched earth tactics. Don't recommend mouse bait/poisons as they'll just curl up and die in your house or RV... the smell is grim. Mothballs worked...but gave us halucinogentic headaches the first couple days of a trip. Neighbor swore by heavy duty sticky pads. He'd attach them on top of each tire. Said he overcame squemishness of killing whatever was caught after paying $$$ to overcome heavy destruction in the engine bay. Ultimately the neighbors loose dogs were my best friends. Just too much activity around the RV and house for optimum rodent residence.
Oh MaineDon...I forgot about the ants! These bad boys (Moab, Utah) treked right across the 'boundries of borax (around the leveler pads and tires) that was supposed to be a repellant. Had to stoop to a 'Raid-type' spray ring around everything touching the ground...AND...a foot band up the tree trunks at our site. In an RV park: its every man for themselves. Don't have to kill the varmits...just make your rig less appealing! :lol:
QUOTE(FosterImposters @ Feb 29 2008, 12:58 AM) [snapback]10460[/snapback] Neighbor swore by heavy duty sticky pads. He'd attach them on top of each tire. The sticky pads work very well and are easy to dispose of. I know from experience professional critter getters will usually lay a trap cage or two out first to see what kind of varmint is invading. If it is a rodent out comes the traditional snap trap. They will use the sticky pads to make a long trail. I was told the sticky pads are also good for snagging snakes. When you are on the road, its kind of hard to fortify against an overnight ant invasion. I would have thought a couple of well place fumigation cannisters would have done them in.
As we live in the Northeast, we have to make our motorhome storage ready for the winter months within a locked building at a local county fairgrounds. To deter varmints was told years ago about "dried blood", a fertilizer that is produced from just that, dried blood. We place it in small jar lids and place them throughout the motorhome in cabinets, drawers, in corners, closets, etc in the interior. The exterior compartments are treated the same. As we remove all food stuffs there is nothing for them to eat. Just a note about the dried blood, under no circumstances allow the dried blood to get wet, the odor you will not forget. The dried odor is not noticeable by humans, but that is what chases the rodents out, they will not stay. In the past we purchased a used 5th wheel that was in Florida, unoccupied for two years and someone had placed great numbers of bounce dryer sheets in the rv as a deterrent and we could not rid the rv of that odor, after three years of use it was still noticeable. As for ants we use a product named "Terro". It is a thick liquid that you place a small amount on a piece of box board, they are attracked to it, eat it and in turn take an amount back to the nest to feed the young. This kills the young in the nest along with the adults in about two to three days. You may have to re-fill their feeding area every twelve hours but worth the effort. These two actions work for us........
We have a once-a-year pest control service at our home in Florida (home of all critters, big and small) where they come out and spray everything, paint the cabinets and walls with a chemical, take off the switchplates and spray in there, and generally put a one-year-long chemical on everything. Each year, when we have our house done, we also have the entire motorhome done. Thus far, we've had had no problems whatsever with critters. If we see a bug or ant, it is dead. Works great but you have to vacate the motorhome for a week or two because of the chemicals.
Butch: Where do you get "Terro?" I have never heard of it. Agway? Wal-Mart? Home Depot? We are headed to ant country come April and don't want to go through another invasion.
don, i just googled terro. they have a web site that you can order from. i use a granule ant killer. i circle the trailer with it and spray hoses and electric lines. seems to keep ants out. bounce seems to work for mice, haven't found any in my traps. i was told to put cat hair in a cloth bag to repel mice. haven't tried that. don't know about snakes.
QUOTE(MaineDon @ Feb 29 2008, 05:00 PM) [snapback]10476[/snapback] Butch: Where do you get "Terro?" I have never heard of it. Agway? Wal-Mart? Home Depot? We are headed to ant country come April and don't want to go through another invasion. We have purchased Tero at Lowes. I'm sure Home Depot would have it too. It works well but you do need to keep it away from pets and small children. We have had a trail of ants coming into our house and within a day they were all gone and didn't come back.
QUOTE(dog bone @ Mar 1 2008, 10:52 AM) [snapback]10481[/snapback] i was told to put cat hair in a cloth bag to repel mice. We've got plenty of cat hair!!!! Just let me know how much you need. Unfortunately it is currently attached to the cat, but maybe we can work out a rental agreement. (Just joking. We'd never part with him.) Come to think of it, though, he leaves lots of hair in our motor home so maybe that is why we've never had mice. It might just work.
I am new to this web site and also new to RVing. I just wanted to say that we live in the country in Louisiana with plenty of mice, rats and snakes. I use moth ball to keep them out of my buildings and I have also put them in my 5th wheel, it works for me. I just throw a handful under the rv in several places and I also put them in ziplock bag with holes on one side of the bag in the stroage area of the rv. It has worked for me, you may want to give it a try.
I live in a rural area where critters are the norm. Some good suggestions. DSX> We keep the rig packed and ready to go, but wouldn't leave anything considered food in it. But mice will eat just about anything. They actual got into my deer corn and that stuff is hard as a rock. Maine> The only time I was in ME was in mid 90s when you had the ice storm. I'd like to come back, but I prefer green. It was mid 70s here yesterday. My kind of winter. I'll dig out my trip log today and get back with you on your campground question. Butch> I think I'll pass on the dried blood, but Terro sounds good. I can put it where rain won't wash it away. TexasRVer> The snake eating the mice did actually cross my mind...for a fleeting moment. Tiger> Welcome to the site. Sounds like moth balls is a common suggestion. Will give that a try. Foster> What's a stick pad?
QUOTE(RLM @ Mar 2 2008, 07:35 AM) [snapback]10487[/snapback] Foster> What's a stick pad? G'morning RLM. Sticky pads...usually find them in the 'poisons' section of Lowes, Home Depot, Walmarts. Heavy-duty pad of paper with industrial strength glue on one side. Fell in love with them years ago for catching 6, 8-legged varmets that partied in apartment kitchens at night. Now they make larger varieties for catching mice etc. A rat will just run around with a sticky pad on it's foot...eventually chew it off and make a nest of the thing. Have to place it carefully (on top of the tires) or you'll catch racoons, rabbits, birds...neighbors dog. You get the picture. Cheers!
QUOTE(MaineDon @ Feb 28 2008, 05:04 PM) [snapback]10455[/snapback] p.s. We are headed to NM and AZ in April/May...passing through northern Texas on the way. Any suggestions of good places to stay? Just an overnight or two........ MaineDon> I checked my trip log. You didn't mention your flight path, but if it's along I-20, I can recomend Shallow Creek in Killgore, TX exit 583. (It's an akin to an Outloor Resort). Also Tyler State park near Tyler, TX. Exit 562. In Wolfforth (suburb of Lubbock), I was pleased with Mesa Verde, but that's out of your way if you're dropping down to catch I-10. Fort Bliss in El Paso has a superb C/G but you have to be associated with the military or DoD to use it. Can't help beyond that. NM is on our list for this years road trip.
