Dealing with "critters"

[howardgr]

Hello Everyone,

Has anyone dealt with "critters" after long term storage? Those pesky creatures still find a way to enter your rig. We regularly treat for the six and eight legged kind, but were appalled to be violated by four-legged rodents. In addition to spraying for bugs prior to each return to storage, we intend to use De-Con under kitchen & bath cabinets behind the drawers. Also planning to use the foam used in the home around outlets for draft reduction to plug the thru holes for plumbing and electrical cabling.

Closing on our 2009 3400RE BigHorn today. Pulled our trailer home from storage to empty and clean it prior to taking it to the dealer this afternoon for the "exchange". Noticed an odor reminiscient of my farm days. We had not used our Fleetwood Lynx 30-footer during the summer and there was evidence of either a large mouse or small rat (chewed items in drawers, nest, droppings/urine). Needless to say, I was quite shocked!

Spent most of yesterday doing a thorough cleaning and fumigating. Undercarriage inspection did not reveal any obvious entry points, but location confined to under kitchen and bath sink areas with access to drawers. Just hope the dealer does not comment on the overly fragrant odor reduction tactic until after the deal is complete.

Looking forward to our new rig from Heartland and becoming BigHorn owners,

George/Helen Howard
Orange Park, FL
2009 3400RE BH
2008 F250 longbed PowerStroke Diesel

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

We havent had any rodent issues but that may be because we live in our 3400. I have used moth ball in the nooks and crannies of my motorcycle to deter rodents and it has worked very well. We have also used dryer sheets, packed any potential openings with steel wool (mice don't eat it) and have been able to keep them out of previous rv's. Good luck with your new Bighorn and welcome to the Family and Forum.

 

[Delaine and Lindy]

I use a chemical from Lowe's and its a hand held sprayer. Spray all around the 5er, all jacks and any thing going into the 5er were things can use to crawl in. We don't use any chemical inside the 5er due to the smell, DW is allergic to almost all, such as frabric softner sheets, and we only use dye and perfume free, detergent things. Good Luck. GBY......

 

[regan]

We also have had rodent problems in the past. I do not recomend you use d-con, as when rodent dies in coach you will not enjoy the odor. We use an "electric" mouse trap that can be bought at lowes of home depot. We keep that inside the coach, it has worked well in that you dont have to worry about "tripping" the trap. they also are very clean, you just dump the little critter in the trash, and its ready to go again. When not in use we use the old fashioned mouse traps baited with peanut butter in . We keep these in the holding areas, but I take them out when going on a trip, but always leave the electronic mouse trap. With this setup we have never had a problem.

 

[azbound]

I second the no Decon for the same reason. We have had good luck with cotton balls and mint oil. Put a couple drops of mint oil on cotton balls and place them every where a rodent could possibly get in to you trailer. This has worked very well for us for over 20 years. We started using them on our House Boat and trust me mice are a problem on house boats, after we started using the mint oil we never had a mouse problem again. We have never had a mouse on any of our RVs and we have always used mint from day one on them. DW buys the mint oil at the Health food store.

Hope this helps.

 

[goldenbetty]

???

The mint oil chases them away?

 

[Bob&Patty]

Good ideas, have to try the mint oil. Boy you old timers have great ideas. But we also use this. Works everytime. Pat

 

[howardgr]

critters

Thanks for the information. What is the name of the chemical you purchased from Lowes. It sounds interesting and certainly a lot more effective than DeCon, although the DeCon traps outside the rig is appealing also.

We love the BigHorn already. Aside from the retractable TV mechanism needing to be replaced and the service tech not being able to locate the low point drains, all of it meets our expectations. It tows nicely behind my 2008 F250 SD PSD with a Curt Q5 20K hitch. This is much more enjoyable to couple/uncouple than the pull behind trailer. I splurged and installed some stabilizer bars not unlike the Strong Arms. They work great! I look forward to getting it back from the dealer and getting it set up at camp within the next two weeks.

Looking forward to hearing again from you.

George/Helen Howard
Orange Park, FL
2009 BH 3400 RE
2008 F-250 SD PSD

 

[howardgr]

electric vs. d-con

Thanks for that information. I always thought that the d-Con causes thirst for the rodent and that forced them out of the coach to get to the water and that dying inside the rig was less a probability. Will look for the electric trap. And yes, the mouse trap with peanut butter has been used before, but a long time ago in an apartment I had as a young man.

Now the question is, will that electric trap work in storage with the battery disconnected? The solution should be workable in the storage situation for sure and I have a disconnect switch installed for my batteries. When living in the coach, it is less likely there would be rodents around, although I find that Heartland has done an excellent job with sealing any and all passthroughs for piping/wiring from the outside.

Thanks again,


George/Helen Howard
Orange Park, FL
2009 BH 3400 RE
2008 F-250 SD PSD

 

[howardgr]

mint oil/cotton balls

Now that was a creative idea! Thanks for sharing your sucessful approaches for rodent elimination.

Helen will be so pleased to know we have several options available to think of. We appreciate all input and thank those who offered up solutions to our problem.

One item of note. When we returned the BH to the dealer to get some warranty items cleared, the salesman we bought it from said he had a customer for our pull behind and they commented on how well it had been maintained. Looks like the attempts to suppress the urine odor are working.

thanks again y'all.

We look forward to talking with you again.


George/Helen Howard
Orange Park, FL
2009 BH 3400 RE
2008 F-250 SD PSD

 

[ziggy]

We've used Bounce fabric softner sheets in our boat and trailer with excellent results. No rodents in either one in years.

Kristy

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Wait a minute! It just came to me. Night Vision Goggles and a 410!

 

[ziggy]

Cool! New toys!!!! Too bad the resulting holes would take so long to patch up.

Kristy