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Old 03-09-2011, 01:34 PM   #1
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Angry Mouse entry points

There have been other threads about mice but I am having a real problem and need help. I have never had a issue with mice before this year. I need some assistance on where they are entering. I am obviously missing something. The floor of the trailer has been checked and sealed. I put wire screen covering the fridge and furnace vents. I also put screen on the lower corners of the slide out and closed the slide out on it because I felt they might have been entering that way. Well I went in today and found two more dead ones in traps. Is there anyway they could be entering through the air conditioner unit on the roof? Does anyone have any other entry points that I might be missing? I hate mice!
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Old 03-09-2011, 02:47 PM   #2
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you would have to seal it up like a space shuttle in orbit.....they can squeeeeeeeeze in. chain up a cat on the inside?
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Old 03-09-2011, 03:00 PM   #3
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I realize that, but why would they come in now and not at all in the last 5 years? I am willing to do whatever it takes so I don't have to worry about this every winter from here on out.
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Old 03-09-2011, 03:03 PM   #4
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'cuz they can....

mice have a very limited OS: roam, eat, crap, have babies, repeat

assuming no food in the place perhasp they see it as warm and dry compared to the mouse nest they live in
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Old 03-09-2011, 06:08 PM   #5
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Did your neighbors cat die? Seriously, buy a cat. A mouse can slink throug a hole if they can get the head through.

I do several things, now that one little hairy friend had eaten the wiring on the generator on my motorhome.

1 - I place D-Con bait traps outside the camper.
2 - I sealed every hole I could see from the drain lines for water lines to openings around holding tank lines.
3 - I only leave the shore power line connected when absolutely needed to top off batteries or take the battery out and charge inside somewhere.
4 - Make friends with the neighbor cat.

These steps did several things. Gave the rats easy food access even if it did hopefully kill them. Made the nesting place in the camper less desireable places to nest. And lastly it removed a source of heat they would like in the Winter. I also think rats are like bugs in that they will follow electric curent when nesting. can't prove that but I do see it with ants and other insects so no current is a good thing for them if not for the rats. Lastly I hope preditors will keep the population down.

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Old 03-09-2011, 08:08 PM   #6
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D-Con creates a powerful thirst in the little buggers. If there are no water sources in the TT, they will exit and die outside.

I keep D-Con baits in the shoreline compartment, and on the floor in the kitchen cabinets behind the bottom drawers plus a few other places that neither the dog nor the grandkids can get to. Since I started doing this shortly after we got the trailer in 1999, we've not seen any evidence of mice.
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Old 03-09-2011, 08:41 PM   #7
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I've always used moth balls, d-con, and traps and never found anything year after year. Then one day we noticed that a rug was eaten and there were droppings everywhere. I've killed 5 or 6 so far and I can't figure it out. My wife says the cat thing is out so ill have to come up with another plan. I've been using the block poison over the D con because they wont run away with it and stockpile it. Are there any openings in the roof where the a/c is? I also thought of putting the poison around it outside but I worry about my kids and also attracting more mice. And we don't leave it connected to power over the winter.
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Old 03-10-2011, 03:44 PM   #8
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If you use D-Con you can place it where kids can't get at it. With it on the outside and it does draw more rodents, so what? It is a poison and is going to kill them, so what?

I use my neighbors cats. A can of tuna and a dish of water insures they make the rounds through my yard. Hopefully they will haul some dead rats home to their owners.

The fridge vent on the roof should have a screen over it and the A/C opening is not a direct opening to the outside. Not much access from the roof. Best/Easiest access for them in under the unit.

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Old 03-10-2011, 08:02 PM   #9
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Ill have to recheck the fridge vent screen to make sure there's no holes. My shorepower has no compartment so that one I don't have to worry about. I threw some peppermint oil pouches in there after finding the mice. We'll see what those do. Also ordered some victor kill and seal mousetraps.
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Old 03-11-2011, 07:18 AM   #10
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Just wondering why you feel the roof would be the entry point? How do they get to the roof?

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Old 03-11-2011, 10:06 AM   #11
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Mice can squeeze through some incredibly small openings. I would take a closer look at the space at the bottom of the entry door, too.

Up in and around the wheelwells there are several places that can have openings.

Anywhere a wire or pipe enters up into the trailer from underneath is suspect.

So is the large removable fridge vent. Remove it, cover inside with screen, replace.
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Old 03-11-2011, 10:51 AM   #12
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The fridge and furnace vents are covered with screen. I did that in the fall. The underside of the trailer is also sealed. I found some droppings on the roof so I know they've been up there. I'm guessing they climbed up the inside of the cover. I'm considering everything at this point--A/C, waste tank vents, drainage hoses, doors not sealing perfect, slide out seal, etc. I thought the slide was the culprit last time, but I tried to take care of that. Maybe it needs more work. The problem is trying to get a good seal either closed or opened. I also have a large door that opens to the lower bunk. I know that door doesn't seal perfectly as sometimes when I wash the trailer a little water gets in at the top of the door. But I really don't think a mouse could get in there.
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Old 03-11-2011, 07:07 PM   #13
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Since the mouse is getting to the roof it could go through the screen at the fridge vent. That screen has fairly large holes. Perhaps a screen with smaller holes if it doesn't block air too much. If your going to continue using the cover then I'd place D-Con bait trays on the roof when installing the cover and that would be a place that no other living thing would get at the poison. Since D-Con dehydrates the pests there is no dead body smell but if you don't remove dead bodies from other traps there is odor.

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Old 03-12-2011, 07:15 AM   #14
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We have quite a mouse population at our house (very wooded around us) and at one time or another we've had them in our cars, garage, basement, shed, etc, etc (although not our sunline yet). This winter I got really fed up and decided I needed to deal with the situation before an infestation occurs at the next spot they manage to get into. I think I have found a permanent on-going solution. Well, at least, is been working great over the last few months. I found these great little rodents boxes (bait stations) that will hold a mouse trap, mouse poison, or both, and keep it safe from our dog, cat, the neighbors animals, and kids to some degree.

I bought:
Bucket of Poison Blocks (better than decon)
12 bait station boxes
6 of these traps (love these traps)

I use bait in every bait station and traps in just a few stations where I know there is a higher amount of mouse activity. I'm not getting as many mice in the traps anymore, so I will soon be pulling the traps out and just leaving the poison. I have these 12 bait stations places all around the house, shed and in the driveway near where we park our cars. They are very persistent little buggers and hopfully this will continue to work for us.
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Old 03-12-2011, 07:33 AM   #15
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I have some of those poison blocks but from a different company. They work ok, but D-Con pellets seem to attract them more. I stopped using the pellets however, because they were just carrying them from one point to another making a bigger mess. I just bought some of these:

Victor® Kill & Seal Mouse Trap, Model M265

Once they get here I can get them installed. The last mouse I killed with a conventional trap left a bloody mess behind. We're supposed to hit 50 degrees today so I might pull the cover off for the spring and get a look at the fridge roof vent. I'll post some pictures later. I also got a hold of some peppermint oil pouches made to repel mice. I put those in a few days ago. I went inside yesterday and the trailer smells like a big candy cane.
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Old 03-12-2011, 01:00 PM   #16
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Here's a couple of photos I took today. The doors are sealing tight and the wheel wells look okay, but I did notice a small space between the fender skirt and the trailer itself. I'm not sure if that goes anywhere. I've never had the fender skirts off but I will fill that with expandable foam anyway.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg trailer 001.jpg (49.3 KB, 3 views)
File Type: jpg trailer 002.jpg (51.1 KB, 5 views)
File Type: jpg trailer 004.jpg (44.3 KB, 3 views)
File Type: jpg trailer 006.jpg (53.3 KB, 3 views)
File Type: jpg trailer 007.jpg (48.7 KB, 4 views)
File Type: jpg trailer 008.jpg (41.2 KB, 3 views)
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Old 03-12-2011, 01:07 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jpspaz View Post
I have some of those poison blocks but from a different company. They work ok, but D-Con pellets seem to attract them more. I stopped using the pellets however, because they were just carrying them from one point to another making a bigger mess.
We all need to find what works best in our area & application. Boy I certainly agree on the pellets - I stopped using them about 5 years ago and I still find spots where they stored those things!
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Old 03-12-2011, 01:09 PM   #18
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This is what I did in the lower corner of the slide out. I didn't feel like it was sealing tight enough. I wrapped the screen around the corner and closed it.
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Old 03-14-2011, 07:21 PM   #19
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Hi Jpspaz

I have been following your post as a mouse issue is an issue and I'm always up for learning how to try and prevent an event like this from happening to our unit. Your TT and mine have a similar build. From your post it appears you have done the normal things looking for an entry point but yet I do not recall you yet finding it.

Here are some thoughts that may help spring an idea. And please post back if you find something

I remember back when you went in for an inspection after the heavy snow and stated this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jpspaz View Post
I forgot to mention that two of the roof vent lids were broken. I'm pretty sure I did then when cleaning off the snow. I'm assuming any standard replacement will do?
And you stated there where droppings up on the roof. The vent cover that was cracked did you look really good from the inside in that area for them getting in and eating thru a ripped screen or the plastic shroud?

Here is another place no one yet mentioned. Go to your shower, there should be an access cover to get to the shower drain trap. Open it up and look at the hole where the trap goes down into. See here on mine. The only thing between the inside of your camper and the outside world is the Darco vapor barrier. Sunline on mine put mini slits like from a sheet rock knife maybe 1/4" long. Seeing this pocket for the trap I believe they made it like this so if you had a trap leak the water will drain out verses rot the floor up. After seeing the trouble you are going thru and thinking about this, a screen over this area is on my today list soon.



You mentioned that maybe they came up from the fenders in that curved area you can see from underneath. Well, h'mm don't know but here is what mine has. They would have to chew thru the wall to get inside. I see yours has plastic fender wells I have sheet metal.

The non slide side looks like this.








And the slide side with the siding off









The fridge vent was mentioned. Well on your vintage camper that screen is pretty tight unless they chewed thru the plastic. See here, the cover off


A close up of the mesh pattern that I had to cut open and reseal when I put the fridge chimney fan in.




Just re-asking, did you climb under the camper and look at every penetration (gas pipe, wires, water pipes etc) thru the Darco vapor membrane for any hole? And even look in the open areas for a torn piece somewhere. Some how mine was torn about 8 inches by the slide area. How??? Clueless, but I sealed it up when I found it doing some slide floor repairs.

The roof top AC unit is pretty sealed up in sheet metal. But, pull the inside intake plastic cover off that has the mesh foam filter. If they are in that area there should be left overs on top of the foam filter from the mouse.

I'm assuming there is no chew marks in the outside shower door? If they some how got in there some of these, like mine, have a big hole in the cavity for the sprayer hose to retract in. Once thru that cover they are directly into the camper.

With having a cover on the camper and you had droppings on the roof, then they could of crawled just about anywhere all over the unit. Something I never thought about with a cover until this post.

H'mm what else? I'm thinking but coming up dry. I'll keep thinking and post if I dream up another small opening they could sneak thru from the way my camper is made.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 03-15-2011, 05:04 AM   #20
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Thanks for the great pictures and ideas. I've never had the shower trap door off so I'll have to take a look in there. I had no idea it was such easy access to the ground. Behind my toilet there is also an access way where the water line comes in. It doesn't head to the outside world, but I'm sure they are using it as a passage way. I'm going to seal that off as well. I'll also check the A/C and fridge vent that you mentioned and report back. I probably won't be able to get to it until this weekend.
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