Anyone who has owned an RV for long knows that there are a couple of Public Enemies Number One — water intrusion and rodent intrusion (or should we say invasion). Let’s talk about the latter.
Rodents love RVs: They’re nice, warm, cozy places, perfect for their nests and where they can raise their little baby mouses. Mice and squirrels are the most common invaders, but rats can make an appearance, too.
Mice or other rodents can create more than just a mess. While some actually carry the fatal disease hantavirus, others can cause trouble by chewing on water lines or electrical wiring. Imagine the damage a rodent could cause if it chewed through a pressurized water line. Or worse, if it gnawed through a live wire that could cause a fire (it does happen!).
So how do we keep the critters away? Some RVers say to just put Bounce dryer sheets in cabinets and storage compartments. “Mice hate ’em,” some RVers will advise. And then you’ll read later from another RVer who says, “I found mice nesting in Bounce sheets.” Huh?
Others say, “Just put a few bars of Irish Spring soap around. Mice hate it.” And someone will reply, “The mice in my RV ate all the Irish Spring.”
Yet other RVers say the answer is to use an “ultrasonic pest repeller” to send the critters scurrying before they even get inside. Many college and university researchers respond: “Save your money: Ultrasonic repellers don’t work.”
Some RVer believe if they line their campsite with a string of LED lights, the mice will stay away, at least at night.
We’ve sold a lot of Fresh Cab rodent repellent through our Amazon affiliate program. Does it work? We haven’t received any angry letters from buyers saying it didn’t work. We tried it once in a barn. No mice (but then maybe there were none there to begin with).
Of course, the tried-and-true method to keep rodents away is to block their entry. Look carefully for spaces where critters can enter. Tiny spaces where water, sewer or gas lines pass through walls and floors may provide a mouse easy access. Stuff any such crack (it doesn’t need to be big for a mouse to get through) with steel wool, then cover with sealant.
What do you think? Please leave a comment; tell us what works for you (or what hasn’t worked).
I’m sorry; I’d like to love Fresh Cab. In fact, I bought it after I knew it didn’t work b/c it made the RV smell good. But, no it didn’t keep mice out.
2 packs fresh cab under hood of tv. Checked after 2 weeks and found my battery blankets had been chewed up & the fresh cab was right next to them
We’ve had good success by using the product MouseFree. It is a citrus based oily spray that is sprayed to all of the undercarriage. We use it annually. Sure, it costs more than other products but we have been able to get 3 years worth of spraying from each bottle so per annum, it works out to about $30. To us, it’s worth it. Bounce and Irish Spring didn’t work worth a darn for us…except to make the trailer smell nice. 🙂
Cab Fresh is the only thing that has worked for me. I live in the country and have had trouble in the past with mice overwintering in the camper. No more once I started using Cab Fresh.
We use peppermint oil and or eucalyptus oil sprayed in the basement or on cotton balls in open plastic bags. Has worked well for us. Moth balls in a pinch will work but the smell is not as nice as the oils. Oils can be bought in bulk on line for saved $$$.
SEAL ALL HOLES!!!!! No repellant works if you leave a hole open for them!!! This means looking underneath carefully and inside in every corner deep inside cabinets, behind drawers. You will have to get out a screwdriver and look behind places they cover up. Pest foam any gaps. Also look where your hoses or power enter the rig. My C had a large hole for sewer and fresh water. I cut pieces of rubberized floor mat to seal around the hoses.
Ditto to “SEAL ALL HOLES!!!!!!”. Our New Horizons 34″ 5er was very well built with sealed compartments underneath, but I went one step further. I spent several hours under the rv checking for even the tiniest cracks or openings. I sealed every one with caulk or expanding foam. For the last 9 years of fulltiming thru every state & Alaska, we have no problem with rodents & don’t even get any ants in the rv. I don’t use any repellents. If we spend an extended period in one place with a lot of ant colonies around, I will get some Amdro from Walmart & treat the ant hills nearby.
An old (1733) church that I recently worked at had a serious mice infiltration. I can vouch for the fact that most methods did not repel them (pictorial evidence) – they pooped in and chewed Irish spring, pooped on peppermint oil, and nested in bounce sheets.
I’ve never had any luck with the various repellents. The only thing that has worked in our TT is to seal all possible entry points. I like using copper mesh as it’s flexible and easy to jam into small holes, especially around pipe and electrical runs. The little critters can’t chew through it. Steel wool also works but can rust/disintegrate over time.
I’ve not yet tried repellants, but a mouse trap loaded with peanut butter is darn hard to resist.
In RVTravel’s Gizmos and Gadgets from May 11 2018 you published an article about the BoxKat Rodent Barrier. The readers seemed to need you to test it and get back to them with results. I’ve hoped the either Gary Bunzer or you Chuck would give it the test and the seal of approval.
All I can say is it has worked for over a year in my garage that previously was a mouse convention in my sports car. I have a few customers that have had great success even outdoors in their driveways and in up to 40mph winds with simple DIY anchoring ideas.
If you truly want to keep them out in an area they can access like most garages, shops and barns, this is it. They can’t get over, under or thru BoxKat.
After $3,000 worth of damage to the wiring (openly accessible in the undercarriage)
, we are at wit’s end…Fresh Cab was used as bedding, IrishSpring as snacks…we’ve sprayed peppermint oil, coyote urine (yes, it is awful)…we have solar spotlights pointing at the tires, we have traps with peanut butter set at each tire, we have bait traps set up at front and back of RV port….just got another $500 bill for another chewed wire! If someone can think of anything else that might help I would try it!
Move to a different location, get rid of the rodents inside, and move again.
I Highly recommend The product Mouse Free I have used it and I believe it does work but don’t scrimp on it use a good coating on all the underneath of the RV.
When we turned on the A/C two summers ago while at a remote CG, it looked like it was snowing — hundreds of little Styrofoam pellets! Searching forums, we realized quickly that mice had gotten in the ductwork. We then noticed a few chewed kitchen linens. Of course, all cabinetry was emptied and cleaned. Found a small hole underneath to seal; found a great exterminating company who found a couple of small bodies in ducts. Ugh – fortunately they must have not been there long! Workers thoroughly vacuumed/cleaned the ducts, and sanitized them.
Since, we have been using CabFresh inside and in outside compartments, and a light underneath, and have had no indication of more visitors.
Certain manufactures use soybean oil based insulation on their wiring (Toyota, Honda, to name some). Vermin love he taste and vector towards the smell. You can buy a tape (Honda sells)–look on line) that is infused with capcium which is not only an unpleasant taste for the Fermin, they can also smell it nad it is irrating to them. Of course to use it you have to be able to get to the wires, but it works!
buy a cat
We travel with our dog. The only time we had a mouse problem is when we were without a dog for about 6 months.
We use STOP THE RODENT spray on the outside, all wiring, entry points. It is heavy peppers based. Last word was that the govt red tape got them and they are going through approval. It stopped wood rats from building nests and eating wires on my cars for several years. We also try to block all entry points with steel or brass wool and foam spray.
We have been putting moth balls in a cotton sack then placing them in the wheel wells of the RV. So far no rats/mice or any other rodent.
We like to use steel wool to stop the critters, they don’t like to chew on it because it bothers the fillings in their teeth.
😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I believe it starts with closing off any openings that you can find but but then you won’t find them all . I too have used Mouse Free and have so far found it to work quite well. My daughter has an older camper that had some of the under belly removed and only covered with Tyvec house wrap and I sprayed the underneath with Mouse Free and for 2 years there has been no rodents inside.
Any chance we can get a visual of where the ‘small’ holes are often found. Those that need to be covered with copper mesh, etc. There are obvious places but there may be many ‘common’ locations that we might be overlooking. This would be a good article with lots of pictures. Thanks everyone.
One night I heard rodents chewing on plastic under the hood. I fired up the engine and they took off and did not come back. However in the morning when I warmed up the engine I smelled fuel. I checked under the hood and they had chewed three fuel lines, chewing all the way through one of them. The engine bay was soaked with diesel fuel. Electrical tape and paper towels saved the day.
So I have my anti-rodent kit that has been effective so far. I put moth balls in small plastic ketchup/salad dressing plastic containers. I place three in the engine bay and one in each wheel. I also have a solar rechargeable “EverBrite” LED with a motion detector (Walmart) that I also place under the hood.
A Sprinter mechanic in Phoenix told me he had set up a couple of Sprinters so that the owners could plug in an electrical fence and run that around the vehicle.
I’ve used electronic pest repellents and Bounce sheets and have had good luck with both. But now I use cotton balls soaked with peppermint oil and these seem to work even better. Whenever I hear rodents in the quiet of the night, I throw the peppermint balls around the area and the noises disappear the next night.
Seems like all these ‘remedies’ are for discouraging the cute little fellas from coming in. To me, these are nasty little disease carrying, asset demolishing, day ruining swine. It’s all out war! I carry lots of old fashioned mouse traps, and not the kinder gentler kind either. They are the SNAP – DEAD kind. If we’re in a mousey area (and where we boondock mostly, mice aren’t a problem) I put the traps by every bit of our trailer that touches the ground, baited with tasty morsels.
Tried moth balls, peppermint oil, dryer sheets, Irish spring, rodent spray (can’t recall name), and always catch mice in my peanut butter baited traps. They keep coming and I keep catching. Nothing deters them!!
We haven’t had mice in a few years now, even though we’re near some grass fields and a seasonal creek in our small rural town. That’s because our neighbor got into cats. Lots and lots of cats. Thirty-five+ at one time. She’s toned it down to maybe a half dozen, but still no resident rodents. Guess they swept the area clean…for now. Did discover a free pet though when we got our trailer back from the repair shop last week. Opened an overhead cabinet to see a beady eyed field mouse pop up from a shredded pile of paper napkins. Set out our go-to solution of many years, a few sticky traps with a dab of peanut butter in the middle. Had the high climbing critter in ten minutes.
After having mice in our cars, I was concerned about our motor home parked on the next lot. We heard that tea bags would repel the critters, so I tried them in our cars and in the basement of our home successfully. So I put teabags liberally throughout the Coach—in drawers, cabinets, all closets, and even in the bins underneath with the wiring, pipes, etc. Two years have passed with no mice and we live on the edge of the forest! Try it!
We had mice one year and startedto ask others how they handled rodent issues while their rig was in storage. We heard several and decided to try peppermint oil on cotton balls. We place it throughout our TT and also our park model. Since doing so we have not had any more incidents and the smell isn’t too bad when you open up for the season.
Many years ago I bought an rv for great price. While inspecting it I noticed a few mouse traps. I thought that it was good was just good prevention. After taking it home I discovered the traps were for a losing battle and the reason for the great price. So, I waged war for several days and thought I was winning as I exterminated three or four mice. Long story short… I crawled under the camper and found the large hole they were entering and repaired it. I then used silicone and sealed every possible hole, seam, etc. That camper is now 24 years old and we don’t even get an occasional bug or spider inside while in storage. I have had two other campers that I sealed this way as soon as I got them home with the same good results.
I have been using Fresh Cab and cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil! No signs of mice and my rig smells awesome when we wake her up in the spring. I make sure to put a packet of Fresh Cab in the engine compartment also.
Hi. I use steal wool for the mice and it works but I did run in to a couple once and they had a couple of snakes that came up one day by where the dash air would come up. This happened durning the night. Yuck. How do you prevent snakes to stay out ?. I’ve never heard it since but never forgot about it !!!!!
I work at a fire dept. We built a new station, had to park the rigs outside in tents for a while. Had good luck with Fresh Cab. Some of the guys didn’t like the smell of the Fresh Cab. I asked them which they would rather smell, Pine(actually balsam oil) from FC, or mouse pee.
As for our coach, had a mouse or two last fall, I think they crawled up the shore power cable. Also found an opening next to the windshield, behind the trim, Wires going thru there, open to below. I sealed around the opening by windshield with silicone, and where the shore cable goes thru with steel wool, placed traps in all compartments, and a few pouches of Fresh Cab around, have not caught any mice or seen any turds since.
With my new time off, I’ll get under the coach and look for any more openings.
I have found “Mouse Free” (available at Amazon) to be an excellent product for rodent control. I have been using it the past 3 years on a 5th wheel and a 35 ft tow trailer I bought for my daughter and her family. They did have mice in their camper before but using Mouse Free as directed once a year neither of us had any issues since. 1 Gallon will do bought RV’s 2 coatings as I only coat the edges and wheel wells and openings for pipes and wires and any openings. I coat it in the fall and in the spring even after hauling the 5th wheel 2000 miles to Florida the areas sprayed are still coated and doing their job. A product well worth using.