Mice, Tires, and other RV things

MICE:
We have been very lucky in our RV travels, to not have been plagued by invasions of mice. But Tuesday we seemed to have picked up a hitch-hiker. I know the large drawer where I keep pots and pans was mouse-free on Monday when I put the dishes away, but when I opened it on Tuesday evening to get a pan, I saw lots of little mouse droppings.  UGG!

Except for the fact that I will have to wash and sanitize everything in there, plus two adjacent drawers, I was not really disturbed. It comes with RVing and parking on grassy fields. 

I found our VICTOR Electronic Rat zappers, armed them with new batteries and put one in the drawer and one on the floor. This morning, the little gray critter was a stiff in the drawer trap. The one on the floor was empty, but then there had been no droppings on the floor.

After emptying the zapper, I put it back in the drawer with the pans and left everything undisturbed for a second night. The amount of droppings suggested that there might be more than one mouse! We were planning on going out for dinner that night anyway. 

Over the years I have read about many mice remedies. Some claim peppermint oil, Irish Spring soap, or dryer sheets are wonderful repellents. Some mice ignore the oil, eat the soap, and use the dryer sheets as nesting material. Some try to plug every possible entry, but I have heard of gnawed or pushed-aside steel wool. If they want to get in, they will!

Putting out poison may work, but the mouse is likely to crawl into some hidden place and smell bad.

Some might ask if using a rat trap is overkill for just a little mouse. I have the rat traps because we have run into some wood rats, and heard of pack rats getting into RVs. I don't know if there is a smaller electronic trap for mice.  

While on the subject, TOM CAT snap traps are pretty good too. The only problem I have had with them is sometimes the mouse is only caught by a leg and is still alive in the trap when checked. Not good. 

I used them a lot when we lived in a house surrounded by forest and meadows. At $4-5 each, they were inexpensive enough to replace if they got yucky or the spring stopped working. No batteries needed!

TIRES:
If you are thinking about buying an RV, you should be sure you also think about the expense of maintenance and repair. Our Alfa is getting older, but we continue to try to keep her in tip-top shape. We replaced the front tires in 2012, and the back in 2014. We figured we were good for a few years yet, but when we had the windows worked on last month, the glass guy pointed out that the tires didn't look good.  Because we were on our way to Alaska, we decided to have them looked at, and ended up replacing the front tires. The tire guy said he thought we might get a rebate from the warranty, but it would take some time.  Not what we wanted to spend our money on  this month! We got a second opinion on the rear tires, and decided not to replace them at this time. 

Because we are FMCA members, we were able to buy Michelins at almost half price. The $50 membership fee is more than made up for by the Advantage discount. Read about it under Benefits on the FMCA page. But half price or not, it took a bite out of this months budget!

FULL RV PARKS:
As we have traveled up the West Coast, we have been surprised 
by how full many of the RV parks are. It is still "off season", but on several occasions we have been told the park is full when calling a day or two ahead.  I admit, I usually start by calling the lower-priced places, but have also found at least one high end resort without a vacancy. 

When we look around, we see that there are many older rigs in the parks that have not moved for months at a time. More and more people are living in them, including younger working folks. As the cost of rent goes up in the cities, the RV life style is not just for vacationing or retired older folks traveling around the country for a few years. When we were at the library in La Pine, Oregon, I saw a notice addressed to "families living in cars or RV parks" about their children's eligibility to enroll in public school. 

Now that we live full-time in a motorhome, I find I have a different view than when I was among the housebound.

We are not poor, we are not rich, we are probably not middle class. Having sold the house, we have money enough to not be strapped by bills, and if we wanted we could afford a small home in most places other than California.  

But for now we will continue to travel and live among the:

In other words, I no longer judge anyone for where or how they live. 

After a month of travel plagued by rain and cold nights, it seems we are finally in the right place weather-wise.

Yup, Washington is sunny and temps are in the 70°s. We will be here for another week before crossing into Canada.

Life is Good!

Craig calls me his favorite mouser

For my non-RVing friends: mice and rats love RVs.  In addition to being dirty and disgusting, they can do a great deal of damage by chewing through wires or nesting in walls, ceilings, or possessions in the bays. They can get in when the RV is parked, or come aboard at a park or resort. 

Because we park our Alfa under trees in a forested area, I have to be extra vigilant about rodent control.  I have traps in every bay and several in the coach.  No rodent has lasted very long.  I check the traps almost every other day and from time to time catch a mouse.

I have also caught one rat.

My favorite trap has been the Victor Electronic Rat Trap that I bought at Home Depot last fall when I was after one very difficult little guy.  He had escaped from a sticky trap and on several consecutive nights licked all of my snap traps clean. The Electronic Trap got him. 

I wanted to get a couple more, but at $40 plus tax they are a bit pricey. Last week I was browsing the Web and found that the Victor company site sold them directly at three for $99, with free shipping and no tax.  I ordered some.

They came today.  After installing four C batteries each,  I baited them with Skippy.

I put one in the large pass-thru bay. I put it on a sheet of white paper so I can see if anyone visits without actually entering the trap. I know that if a mouse or rat goes in, he WILL be zapped!

I also put one in the bay with the Weber grill, and one each in the power bay and sewer bay. I figure they have holes for cords and hoses that might be likely entry points.

So far, rodents have not really been a big problem.  I just want to keep it that way!

Oh, we bought a replacement pocket camera for my little Canon that died on our Crater Lake trip.  Craig took these pictures with it.  I will review it next week after we've taken it out for a real test at the Big Basin State Park (our local redwoods).

It is a Sony RX100.

Good News, Bad News, Good News

Good news:  There was no mouse activity lat night.  Traps undisturbed.  Bait untouched.  No black bits anywhere.


Bad News: We had our first good rain Monday night.  We had the slides closed.  Since it was going to rain again last night, Craig wanted to sleep up in the Alfa.  When we went up and put out the slides we discovered the rug was wet behind the pilot seat and about three feet along the edge of the slide.  There were no wet spots on the ceiling.  There is a little wet on one of the walls were the water seems to be wicking up from the floor wall joint.  


It rained very heavy last night.  The wet area did not get bigger or wetter, so we think it only leaked when the slide was closed. 


Good News:  I've gotten one good answer from BearII on the RV Dreamers forum as to how we can fix it.  Seems his Alfa fiver had the same problem.


Good News: The furnace works in the Alfa.


Good News:  The County says it will trim the trees on Hutchinson Road.  When?  Maybe next week!  I'll keep my fingers crossed on both the trees and the leak.


Sleeping in the Alfa during a rainstorm was quite interesting to say the least.  There was very little wind, no thunder, but we got over an inch of downpour.


I told Craig a tree might fall on us in the night, and then our daughter or son would have to update my blog with "Merikay dies in Alfa and she never got out of the driveway!"  

War News

Several friends have sent me the URL to Howards trial of a product called Mouse Free that he is testing . It is sprayed onto the underside of the RV.  It should be interesting to read about his evaluation after a month of having the fiver parked on a ranch lot while he and Linda are gone.


It did not look very easy to apply. He  also mentioned that he had sealed any entry cracks and holes he could find with steel wool. So if he has no mice when they come back he really won't know if it was his steel wool work or the Mouse Free. (if he had wanted to do a real test he would not have put the steel wool in, but his main concern is to discourage the mice from getting in any way he can!)


 I wonder how long it would be effective and how often you would need to reapply it. 


So I've done some reading on The Mouse Free web site and found their warranty.  "The product is guaranteed only if applied by an authorized dealer"  (estimated cost is $10 per foot which would come to $360 for our rig.)  And it must be reapplied by a dealer within 12 months to keep the warranty in effect. 


There are a number of exclusions in the warranty and can be read here.  Including not applicable if you park within 48" of an overhanging tree or leave a door open.  (for how long?)


You can apply it yourself, for what looks like about $130 plus shipping. That's for one gallon and a sprayer.  They also have a free shipping and free sprayer deal with two gallons for $199.  




For now I'm going to stay on a very vigorous bait and trap program.


At this point the RV is very clean.  
No food is in it, and there is no water. 


I am not dealing with  a BIG infestation.  Only a few droppings were spotted, and one mouse was quickly caught. 


Yesterday I added six traps in the RV and bays, and bait under it.  


 I also put three blocks of bait, each on a white paper in two of the largest bays. 


This morning I checked them,  and the three blocks in the bays were GONE!  The traps were undisturbed.  I got down and checked the blocks I had put on plastic lids and slid under the rig. From what I could see, none of them looked disturbed.


I replaced the three in the bays and anchored them with string.   We shall see if they are disturbed tonight. Sometimes it takes a second feeding.


The good thing is it  rained last night,  for the first time in months, and the information on the bait package said that after eating it, the rodents will seek water. 


 The only water is outside.  I hope that is where they will go to die!


We shall see.  


So thanks for the advice. 


 For my followers who are not into RVs this may all seem a bit disgusting.  Mice are not talked about in "polite" society, but they are a fact of life in the RV world.  

Close to nature and all of that.

Bait

The mouse war goes on: 


No more mice have been caught and no other droppings have been sighted.


I am reluctant to put mouse bait inside the coach because I didn't want a mouse to die in some hidden place and smell. I bought some baits that were called All Weather blocks,  put them onto plastic container lids and slid them under the RV.  I also put three into the bays.  Since the bays are empty, I put a sheet of white poster board down under the bait.  That way I will be able to see if anyone visits the bait without having to pull it out and examine it.  It is much easier to see any droppings on the white than on the dark gray flooring. 


When it comes to traps, I favor the black TOMCAT snap traps.  There are a couple of cheeper versions that I have bought that have fallen apart.  Unfortunately, today was not my day, because both Home Depot and the Rural Supply were out of them. 


 I really don't like the Victor wood traps.  I have never caught anything with one, and they are hard to set. I also do not like the traps where the mouse is supposed to crawl in and not be able to get out again.  


The only problem I've had with TOMCATS is that sometimes the rodent will only get a leg caught and either be still alive when I check the trap, or drag the whole thing away.  I finally have gotten smart about that and tie the trap to something with a string!


Because I didn't want to come home without any traps, I bought six sticky traps.  I have never tried them before, but I figure they will tell me if there is any action. However, since they are one use traps, they are less cost effective than the TomCats. 


I put five of them into the bays and one behind the toilet.


I have a TOMCAT baited with peanut butter up front where I caught the one mouse.


I've had a couple of people tell me about Fresh Cab, and about a spray repellent that is advertised.  We shall see.  My objective is to trap or kill them before they have time to destroy anything or start a family. The Rural Supply said they would have more TOMCATS in, in a few days.


I'd love to get a cat, but it really would do no good.  The RV is quite far from the house and a cat that I was keeping as a pet would probably be an indoor cat, eating gourmet food and sleeping on my bed at night!


So thats were I am today.  From what I hear from other RVers it is a never ending war.  (Caught two in the garage this morning. - mice, not RVers!)


Update:  I just ordered a half dozen TOMCATS and some of the FRESH CAB from AMAZON.  

First Mouse

Yup, it on took three weeks for the mice to find the Alfa.


I put Irish Spring soap in the cupboards, moth balls in punctured plastic boxes under her in eight places, and the most expensive electronic rodent chaser I could buy at Home Depot on the slab under her and still a mouse found it's way in.

Yesterday I put Bounce fabric sheets in all of the bays.  Craig doesn't like the smell, so I didn't do it before, but maybe it will help. 

Two days ago I found a couple of very tiny droppings on the dash board.  I wasn't really sure they were, so I searched the area for any more and didn't see anything.


Yesterday there was one on the dashboard and one on the passenger seat.


I set a trap, and sure enough I caught the first mouse.


I thought parking the Alfa up on that place was a bad idea from the beginning.  Although it was torn down over a year ago, the shed that was there was crawling with rodents.  So now they have a new place.


I'm so depressed.

I have no idea how it came in.   There's no way Craig will do anything about blocking potential holes.  I will continue to trap, but there is no way I can protect the engine wires. My brother told me about a problem he had with squirrels eating the wires in his RV.  The trees around the Alfa are a squirrel highway.


Craig just paid over $400 to have a rodent nest removed from the fan in the Prius.  It is driven every day and parked in the garage.


I feel like buying that RV was the biggest mistake we have ever made.


Oh well. it's only money.  We can't take it with us, and we can't drive it out.  It might as well be a rodent retreat.