Mice and storing SMB

[photographix]

I used balsam scented sachets and they seemed to work as long as the scent remained.

What I did to mouse-proof my house was copper mesh and it got rid of the mouse problem very well. You can cut it with scissors, it doesn't rust, and a 30 foot roll goes a long way.

https://smile.amazon.com/Stuf-fit-Co...4260701&sr=8-6

[rionapo]

Nothing unusual to add to the comments but I'll emphasize a couple of items I've found helpful after many mouse/rat/rabbit invasions. First, drive the vehicle. Someone mentioned once every couple of weeks; in my experience it's once every few days. Even just moving it to a different spot if you have space is helpful. Critters don't like things that move.

Second, keep the van impeccably clean. That may not keep them out but it might persuade them not to stay. I'd probably add stashing tissue paper and paper towels as they make great nesting material.

Third, something stinky can help. I've used mothballs, Febreze towels and peppermint oil. I like peppermint best but all seem to work. They may not deter but they might help cover scent tracks. (When we travel, we leave the 4Runner in the closed garage that is pretty mouse resistant, leave the hood up and cover the engine with Febreze and fill the interior with ample Febreze towels, too. It's worked for years (vs. the year we came home to a rat housing project), lasts longer than peppermint oil, and may not be as toxic as mothballs though I hate the smell. (Not sure how Madison Avenue convinced people that's what clean clothes smell like.)

Fourth, trap them immediately. (They're baby factories.) If you're home, empty the van completely, set traps in multiple locations and trap them for multiple nights. Then clean the van thoroughly to eliminate scent tracks. Don't use old traps as the spring mechanism wears out. Put your bait (I prefer peanut butter) under the release lever so they can't suck it off without triggering the trap. And, use mechanical traps. They're inexpensive and somewhat more humane than other methods.

[Easy Rider]

So. . . having moved to New Mexico where this rodent problem has caused me to watch "Braveheart" for the 13th time, I've spent more hours than I'll admit in researching a solution. We have used death traps in the garage where we needed a new brush guard on the door (now, rectified) and we do use a pest service with outside glue traps. D-Con is not an option, because it's an ugly death compared to say, the guillotine, and the poison is consumed by other animals which can kill them.


Vehicles: I've tried everything and to some small degree I think they may work - "may", because we did catch some mice activity early and I did see one of them running across an engine when I had both a strobe light device and the strobe lights/ultrasonic sound device in the engine compartment. As I'm not enamored with leaving the engine hood open 24/7 (ultraviolet light, wind, dust is just counter intuitive) and wonder if open hoods at night work anyway, I ultimately devised the following scheme. After about four months, it seems to be working.


We did build an "RV Port" off of the garage under which I now park the 24' SMB, the Tacoma pick up and 1/2 of the Subaru Forester. I've placed 30' of LED strip coiled on top of the engine in each vehicle. For my configuration, I use a Link2Home Cord Reel for the SMB and the Tacoma plus a regular extension cord and switch connected to the outside outlet on the SMB, for the Subaru. The idea is that every night I can go out and simply flick two switches to turn them on. Obviously, to drive a vehicle I have to remove the LED, but only from that one vehicle.


So, why 30'? Probably, a mistake. My original idea was to have enough to loop around both front tires and then get the remainder up into the engine compartment. I can do that, but I'm having difficulty getting the strips to uniformly point in the direction I want it to - like "down" in the engine compartment, as the strips have a mind of their own when they're bent as I coil them. Also, not having ever bought LED strips before, I got the brightest because, well, "And she was blinded by the light
Oh, cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night". Turns out that even though the "Port" has a front garage door (with some windows), they are really bright to where they shine out excessively for both our distant neighbors vis a vis my better half's sensibilities and our bedroom. Now, I loop the 30' only in the engine compartment with the hoods down and hood covers on the Tacoma and Subaru. I'm still thinking about ways to tack the strips to lattice or something else, in order to get them all to shine down and to be able to just pick up and replace the strips from the engine compartment in one motion. But, it's not that big a deal to just gently maneuver them length by coiled length. Maybe, I'll eventually cut them shorter, but that's less light and are the 3 Blind Mice, really blind?


Churchill: Success is "the ability to move from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm".

[lbp]

Thanks to everyone who has posted a reply to my original query about mice! It's started quite a conversation, and while everyone has different experiences and potential solutions, at this point, for me, the best thing is how responsive and thoughtful this community is. Glad that I joined, and once we have our SMB, I look forward to getting suggestions on places to go and places to stay! Be well everyone.

[Roamoverland]

We live in the country and struggle with mice. Our mechanic told us to brush our dogs and tuck the hair all over in the engine compartment. It worked, but We had to put our old guys out down last winter so we no longer have hair.

[Glidedon]

Snakes! work well for mice eradication.

[Marcel Huijser]

Snakes... mmmmhh... That could cause a new rattle in the engine! ��

[parisdakar]

I live in a rural area, and have had success with a product available at ACE Hardware or from Amazon called Fresh Cab. I think its mostly balsam fir sawdust, with aromatics and some essential oils. Sounds alternative, but it has kept our Ford E350, Tacoma, and LR4 mouse free for some years now.



It smells like you're at an alpine campground, which is a good thing. People who are sensitive to essential oils might find it irritating (skin, nose, etc.). You should replace them every few months. In my Tacoma, I shook up the bag of sawdust and oils, quasi-reactivating it, and got a few more months out of it. In the van, I replace the bags (sort of like a large tea bag).

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by parisdakar

I live in a rural area, and have had success with a product available at ACE Hardware or from Amazon called Fresh Cab. I think its mostly balsam fir sawdust, with aromatics and some essential oils. Sounds alternative, but it has kept our Ford E350, Tacoma, and LR4 mouse free for some years now.



It smells like you're at an alpine campground, which is a good thing. People who are sensitive to essential oils might find it irritating (skin, nose, etc.). You should replace them every few months. In my Tacoma, I shook up the bag of sawdust and oils, quasi-reactivating it, and got a few more months out of it. In the van, I replace the bags (sort of like a large tea bag).

I've also been using Fresh Cab for years. Does it work, I'm not sure, but I haven't had issues so maybe it does. Regardless, it does smell nice, and even my son said it "smells like camping".


Herb

[Marcel Huijser]

Our forum community could actually test the potential effectiveness of some of the measures suggested, especially high frequency sound emitters and scent treatments.



This is how it could be done:
1. We have people (and their vans) that want to participate.
2. We randomly assign treatments (including doing nothing), and then test for differences in mice problems, e.g. at the end of a season (potentially weighted for the number of nights camped). The detection of mice problems may be standardized too to some degree... e.g. by having the same type of traps with same bait, and also checking for other signs (e.g. droppings, audio or visual observations of mice) after each night in a standardized manner.
3. We could even go further by taking differences between vehicles, camp sites, and observers into account and making sure that that these variables do not affect the results. For example, on night 1 at a particular site, van A with person X randomly activates or deactivates high frequency sound emitter. On night 2, Van A with person X does the opposite treatment at the same location. Scent trials like this are more difficult because their potential effect likely lingers, so we may have to have a certain minimum time pass before having a valid observation for a "no scent night" after a "scent night".


Of course all this takes substantial effort and coordination, but it occurred to me that we can actually test the effectiveness of these treatments in our community... we have the potential for a good sample size!