Mice

Fia
Fia Forum Participant Posts: 4
edited December 2015 in Storage #1

Hello,

Does anyone have any good advice how to prevent mice getting into your caravan/motorhome when in storage?

 

Comments

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited December 2015 #2

    Keep a cat in it. Wink

  • rogher
    rogher Forum Participant Posts: 609
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    edited December 2015 #3

    You can get electronic devices that are said to keep them away. I don’t expect they work, but one might put your mind at rest, Fia. I think you’re worrying unnecessarily.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,299 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited December 2015 #4

    How are the mice getting in. All our vent holes have quite substantial mesh on them.

    we have kept our van at a storage pound for over ten years and never had a problem. Admittedly the longest it's been left between trips is about two months

  • Graydjames
    Graydjames Forum Participant Posts: 440 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2015 #5

    There's been more than one thread on this issue only very recently. The prevailing view on the biggest thread was that you need to set several traps in and around your van especially around the points that they are getting in but not inside the van itself. 

    This is not my ideal solution as I am ridiculously squeamish and I cannot deal with the carrion!

    I had mice in my van last winter, but this was the only time in many years of using a storage site. Eventually I got rid by blocking up every conceivable entrance point with rags, cloths etc. This took some time and effort but seemed to work. I've had none this year.

    My mechanic told me that spraying WD40 around entrance points works but I never had to resort to this so I cannot say if it is effective or not. I must say it sounds unlikely but he swore by it.

    Provided you leave no trace of food, you may well be worrying needlessly in any event.    

  • rogher
    rogher Forum Participant Posts: 609
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    edited December 2015 #6

     

    Provided you leave no trace of food, you may well be worrying needlessly in any event.    

    Agree

  • ADP1963
    ADP1963 Forum Participant Posts: 1,280
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    edited December 2015 #7

    There's been more than one thread on this issue only very recently. The prevailing view on the biggest thread was that you need to set several traps in and around your van especially around the points that they are getting in but not inside the van itself. 

    This is not my ideal solution as I am ridiculously squeamish and I cannot deal with the carrion!

    I had mice in my van last winter, but this was the only time in many years of using a storage site. Eventually I got rid by blocking up every conceivable entrance point with rags, cloths etc. This took some time and effort but seemed to work. I've had none
    this year.

    My mechanic told me that spraying WD40 around entrance points works but I never had to resort to this so I cannot say if it is effective or not. I must say it sounds unlikely but he swore by it.

    Provided you leave no trace of food, you may well be worrying needlessly in any event.    

    Write your comments here... They are slippery customers to deal with at the best of times,wouldn't WD40 make them even more slippery!.

  • ADP1963
    ADP1963 Forum Participant Posts: 1,280
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    edited December 2015 #8

    CY a cat trapped in a caravan.........the damage it could and would do ,would be catastrophic.   Embarassed

  • rogher
    rogher Forum Participant Posts: 609
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    edited December 2015 #9

    CY a cat trapped in a caravan.........the damage it could and would do ,would be catastrophic.   Embarassed

    especially if there are no mice to feed on. Smile

  • Mucket
    Mucket Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited December 2015 #10

    WE've been lucky with our caravan but on a chartered yacht in Greece in September we had a stowaway. Traps did not work but an electonic rodent repellor was installed and the mouse  jumped ship. Whatever you do do not put poison down. The thought of adead
    mouse or even worse a rat deecaying somewhere doen't bear thinking about

  • Hillangel2
    Hillangel2 Forum Participant Posts: 20
    edited January 2016 #11

    We also have a problem with mice in our caravan, this being the first time we have had to keep it in storage as opposed to in the garden. Have looked for every conceivable entrance point but cannot work out where they are getting in. Does anyone have any
    clues? No food left in van at all. We have so far caught three mice in one trap checked and re set over period of a week, but this is not a long term solution. 

    Thank you

  • surburban2000
    surburban2000 Forum Participant Posts: 84
    edited January 2016 #12

    Try freshcab it is ano kill stuff it uses potanicols to drive them out it comes in teabag like poutch depending how big your van is I put three or four in difernt locers in the van it worcks a treat look on line or your RV suplyshop or cmpinworld.com justthink
    no dedmice to cleanup or wors little zombemice in your vanHappyCoolKissJ&I

  • rayjsj
    rayjsj Forum Participant Posts: 930
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    edited January 2016 #13

    You can get electronic devices that are said to keep them away. I don’t expect they work, but one might put your mind at rest, Fia. I think you’re worrying unnecessarily.

    Write your comments here...They DO work, but mine are powered by the mains, 5 years and no mice, and we live in a rural area, plenty of mice about.There is a 9v battery powered one, but no experience of that. 

  • surburban2000
    surburban2000 Forum Participant Posts: 84
    edited January 2016 #14

    www.earthkind.com try this J&I

  • Fia
    Fia Forum Participant Posts: 4
    edited January 2016 #15

    Thank you everyone.  I have also learnt that to put a bottle of peppermint oil with a rag soaked in the opening of the bottle and then place  it under the caravan/motorhome is supposed to be very effective. We haven't had mice in our motorhome but the caravan
    stored next to ours apparently had quite a few.  We don't kep food in our motorhome when it is stored. 

  • Wildwood
    Wildwood Forum Participant Posts: 3,579
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    edited January 2016 #16

    I think the main thing is do not leave food in it but there seems to be little you can do to prevent a determined mouse getting in if it wants to.

  • brightstar2
    brightstar2 Forum Participant Posts: 128
    100 Comments
    edited January 2016 #17

    We had mice in storage facility 3 yrs ago. I purchased can of expandable foam and squirted drop in every conceivable gap-crevice and cable entry points. This took a while co's the little b*****s can sqeeze in anywhere. I did NOT block up any grill/ mesh
    vents beneath beds / heaters / cooker etc.

    Result. - 3 YRS free of the little peskies.

  • souillac
    souillac Forum Participant Posts: 17
    edited February 2016 #18

    Mice don't like strong smells. We use lavender,peppermint and have managed to get some moth balls. The CC article on mice mentioned using Jeyes Fluid around the outside of the van. 

  • EJB986
    EJB986 Forum Participant Posts: 1,153
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    edited February 2016 #19

    More traps than mice.....it works every time!!

  • Remus
    Remus Forum Participant Posts: 132
    edited February 2016 #20

    Any hole that is big enough to poke a pencil into is accessible to a mouse.  Cover the air vents with mesh, fold the mesh if necessary to make smaller holes, fix it with a staple gun.  Don't block the vents though as they are a safelty feature.  Check flexible
    ducting on the heating system.  Some of it may run under the floor outside the van.  A split can allow access to a mouse.  Remove all food including pet food and even sealed items like sauce sachets.  Leave a tiny bit of food such as a biscuit fragment in
    the middle of the floor, if it gets eaten you know there is still a mouse inside.  This is what I did when we had mice in the van some years ago.  It worked as they have never been back.  Check the vent mesh yearly as it, and the staples, can rust and allow
    access.

  • smock
    smock Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited March 2016 #21

    have come on line to ask if anybody has had the plastic grip on their Alko hitchlock gnawed? Just taken the cover off our "pride and joy" to get ready for our first trip this year and the grip has had a right seeing to! The hitchlock cover has been on all
    the time and secure yet the so and so has still managed to get underneath. Any ideas on how to avoid a re occurence?

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited March 2016 #22

    Not much nutrition in that, I would have thought.

  • ADP1963
    ADP1963 Forum Participant Posts: 1,280
    1000 Comments
    edited March 2016 #23

    My guess is that is a rat not a mouse!. There must of been some attraction to the implement.Vermin do not like human odours although tolerate them,so there must be some other atractive agent on the implement . I am not an authority on this issue....just
    a country boy.

  • DSB
    DSB Club Member Posts: 5,666 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2016 #24

    We have notices warning of mice and not to leave food etc in the van.  We've been lucky and have not experienced a problem.  (Hope I'm not going to regret writing that!!!)  We've always been very caeful not to leave anything edible in the van - including
    paper!

    David 

  • ValDa
    ValDa Forum Participant Posts: 3,004
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    edited March 2016 #25

    Outside knawing is usually down to squirrels!  They seem to particularly like  rubber gas hoses and hitch lock handles and covers, but don't like plastic waste pipes.  We've seen them in action at our caravan near Harrogate.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited March 2016 #26
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • Remus
    Remus Forum Participant Posts: 132
    edited March 2016 #27

    It's not just food that attracts mice.  A caravan makes a lovely place to spend the winter months.  They'll chew up all sorts of stuff to make their nest - sleeping bags, carrier bags and such. The biggest danger is that tney'll chew wiring which could cause
    electrical problems - possibly serious ones - when you come to use appliances on your first spring outing.  If you've had mice in the van all wiring should be carefully checked before use.

     

  • bessieandnell
    bessieandnell Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited March 2016 #28

    Just found a mouse has been in our glove compartment. Entered via a vent from Engine. Fortunately apart from chewing a padded envelope no further damage done. Will now cover vent with wire netting.

  • Woz
    Woz Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited April 2016 #29

    I have just discovered a similar problem after 10 years of being mice free. Over the winter a mouse (or two) has been happily nesting in my caravan and the mess caused was unbelievable! Having cleaned the van from top to bottom during a trip last week, within
    days of my return the mouse has reappeared. I can't for the life of me work out how it is gaining access to the van, but I will set a trap to try to solve the problem.

     

  • Hakinbush
    Hakinbush Forum Participant Posts: 286
    edited April 2016 #30

    Ive just shook a dead one from my shower waste pipe, lucky its all push fit pipework, keep those little traps shut now..