Mice!!!!!! - By the time you notice, you have an infestation!

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RvNaut

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It is that time of year when the Mouse population starts looking for a cozy place to nest up and winter over. In my case I have been too stationary for a few weeks and heard some skittering... set out Peanut Butter snap traps ( quick and over - no glue traps or poisons) but these clever little shits just licked the PB off the traps.. all 5 of them... so, not to be outwitted I re-baited the traps with cheese and packed it into the appropriate area..... and 'Lo .... two nights ago three volunteers were snapped and last night there was peace.... BUT, I will leave traps out.... this was round two... a couple of weeks ago I got a couple and thought that was it...

So... do those lights under the rig really work?

:eek:
 
^My main worry is the wires up front in the engine bay and so far I haven't had any chewed wires using this light setup:

https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/beat-mice-with-a-brick.40742/
BTW: I spent several days at that BLM location near Salida that you mentioned and did get two mice inside my van. It's still a mystery as to how they get in. I've put in a new floor and having been checking everywhere for entrance points. I may give those light strings for underneath a try eventually.
 
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The mice will go for easy food.. they only chew wires when they have no other good food to seek out.... and then as it turns colder they gather nesting material etc etc.... so to some degree, it is best to leave easy bait around, so they go after that instead of your wires.... of course not having mice to begin with is much better...

Do the lights work??
 
Snap trap tip: Don't use peanut butter, instead wedge an almond sliver into the curled metal part of the bait trigger. The mouse has to tug on it to get it out. Works every time.

Also there is a YouTube channel about catching mice by the name of Shawn Woods. Everything you ever wanted to know about catching mice.
 
^My main worry is the wires up front in the engine bay and so far I haven't had any chewed wires using this light setup:

https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/beat-mice-with-a-brick.40742/
BTW: I spent several days at that BLM location near Salida that you mentioned and did get two mice inside my van. It's still a mystery as to how they get in. I've put in a new floor and having been checking everywhere for entrance points. I may give those light strings for underneath a try eventually.
I always put 4-5 mothballs on top of the vehicle. I never had any mice issues when I did that.
 
I always put 4-5 mothballs on top of the vehicle. I never had any mice issues when I did that.
I use them also but put them in a small Tupperware container with several 1/4" holes drilled in the lid. The lid can be swapped with a good one when I hit the road. The wires in the engine bay get sprayed periodically with Tomcat repellent. Inside the van I use several Fresh Cab pouches that are also kept in small sealed containers during the day so they last longer. Since I have had mice inside, I don't think the Fresh Cab is all that effective.
 
Snap trap tip: Don't use peanut butter, instead wedge an almond sliver into the curled metal part of the bait trigger. The mouse has to tug on it to get it out. Works every time.

Also there is a YouTube channel about catching mice by the name of Shawn Woods. Everything you ever wanted to know about catching mice.
I did this with cheese... smashed it in there... these country mice are more clever than the ones back home.. :D
 
^My main worry is the wires up front in the engine bay and so far I haven't had any chewed wires using this light setup:

https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/beat-mice-with-a-brick.40742/
BTW: I spent several days at that BLM location near Salida that you mentioned and did get two mice inside my van. It's still a mystery as to how they get in. I've put in a new floor and having been checking everywhere for entrance points. I may give those light strings for underneath a try eventually.
They can climb up the tire, into the engine compartment, and then into the body of the vehicle...
Under the dash there is a maze of conduits that lead to the engine compartment and it's not 100%
sealed.
 
Maybe a resident Dwarf Pygmy Cat to fit in those odd spaces? Works for Fancy Feast and Kitty Litter.

;)
 
I did this with cheese... smashed it in there... these country mice are more clever than the ones back home.. :D
Hey RvNaut - Meet the CoCoNauts ! They played a great rendition of Pupu A ʻO ʻEwa (Pearly Shells).



Cheers!
 
Hey RvNaut - Meet the CoCoNauts ! They played a great rendition of Pupu A ʻO ʻEwa (Pearly Shells).

Cheers!
...Back at yah... one of my songs caught by the guitar plays wife on an iphone... :)

 
Warning.. graphic photo of a trapped, deceased, rat below.


Caught with a tiny smear of peanut butter underneath the bait area. They have to stick their nose under to try to lick it out which triggers the spring. You do need to figure out by looking at the size of the poop droppings if it is a rat or mouse and use the appropriate trap.

Recently this creature caused me a lot of inconvenience by chewing into the wire for my automatic transmission solenoid. Fortunately the repair was covered by my insurance as "animal damage". I do not have soy wiring. It built it's nest right on top of the wire and must have thought it was one of the sticks it drug up into the engine compartment. The nest building was happening during the day, I would clean out the nest and it went right back at it within minutes, I suspect it was a pregnant female closing in on delivery time, the only way to get rid of it was to trap it. The really heavy rains likely flooded out the burrows in the area. Rats and mice do not care if there is or is not a light in the engine area, they are not nocturnal animals. They are active at night and in the day too.
 

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Lights work fine in helping them locate a good access into your vehicle. Haha. Skeeters use the same technique.
I’ve always heard dryer sheets work well. But this spring I found a nest in my dryer sheet box! Mouse or rat poison work, but pets can get into them with bad results. Traps as cruel as it seems are by far the most humane way to take care of the situation. A good trap will kill them quickly. People swear by the lights... moth balls, p u! Mice multiply very quickly. It doesn’t take long for them to get outta hand. They typically are eaten by a vast number of different animals. So a trap at worst isn’t any more in humane then a sometimes slower death. Up where I live they are really multiplying... it’s all out war right now. Thankfully I have a dog with a good nose who finds nests often for me. They are also a carrier of lymes... somehow with the increase in mice is an indicator of lymes severity any given time.
One more thing... if you use traps you need to keep track of them and inspect regularly. A dead mouse can stink about as bad as a dead cow in a confined space! A rat? I’ll bet they’d really smell!
 
The YouTube mouse trap guy tested all kinds of things that were said 5o repel mice including dryer sheets, lights, hot pepper, etc., and found them to be ineffective. The one thing that actually did work was peppermint.
Now peppermint is a pleasant “odor”... that would be great!
 
Warning.. graphic photo of a trapped, deceased, rat below.


Caught with a tiny smear of peanut butter underneath the bait area. They have to stick their nose under to try to lick it out which triggers the spring. You do need to figure out by looking at the size of the poop droppings if it is a rat or mouse and use the appropriate trap.

Recently this creature caused me a lot of inconvenience by chewing into the wire for my automatic transmission solenoid. Fortunately the repair was covered by my insurance as "animal damage". I do not have soy wiring. It built it's nest right on top of the wire and must have thought it was one of the sticks it drug up into the engine compartment. The nest building was happening during the day, I would clean out the nest and it went right back at it within minutes, I suspect it was a pregnant female closing in on delivery time, the only way to get rid of it was to trap it. The really heavy rains likely flooded out the burrows in the area. Rats and mice do not care if there is or is not a light in the engine area, they are not nocturnal animals. They are active at night and in the day too.
Isn't part of the chewing problem that rodents need to constantly wear down their teeth since they keep growing for their entire lives? Or am I thinking of cows?
 
The following is an excerpt from my blog describing my close encounter of the mouse kind.
The full post can be found at https://jeepliving.xyz/posts/post002_2022-01-06.html

Then came the siege of the mice.
On October 30th I pulled into Quartzsite, Arizona. I had intended on staying put there for at least a few weeks but quickly got the sense that it was not a great place for my needs. It was somewhat crowded but I knew to expect that as the weeks went on it would become really crowded. So I settled in for the night (sleeping in the car) figuring on driving down toward Yuma, Arizona to check out the Imperial Dam long-term camp area. Just as I was at the point of turning off the light and going to sleep, I caught a quick glimpse of a horrid little face popping up from some clutter I had on the desk on my passenger seat. Just a glimpse, but I jumped out of my door and then set about gingerly clearing everything out of the front of the car. No signs of life and I had just about convinced myself that it had only been a trick of the light and it was probably okay, when I looked in the back and clearly saw a rather large mouse standing over my stuff, bold as you please. It wasn't exactly gloating, but it demonstrated no concern about leaving either.

I commenced to set up the tent in the dark. Since I was planning on heading out in the morning, I hadn't any intention of pitching a tent, especially considering I was always more comfortable sleeping in the cozy Jeep. That night it was the tent for me. I then spent an hour or two at first light removing everything from the car. No sign of the furry rogue during this. Then I sprayed all the nooks and crannies with DeepWoods Off, left one door open and made my breakfast. Then I had to thoroughly inspect everything before I repacked it and just hope the little varmint had scampered off. Once packed, I headed back South down route 95 toward Yuma and registered myself in to the Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area. I located a nice site and started doing a preliminary set-up. I wanted to try the spot for a day or two before doing the whole camp build. I made some dinner, and had a peaceful night's sleep in the Jeep, confident that the mouse was still in Quartzsite sizing up its next victim.

Obviously, the mouse was not in Quartzsite. It was still with me.

The little creep kept a low profile for one night, lulling me into a false sense of accomplishment. At the first glint of dawn, I was off to Yuma to go to Home Depot and pick up some good old-fashioned mouse traps. I'd learned from a lifetime of dealing with the occasional mouse infiltration that none of the fancy new inventions worked nearly as well as the old spring trap baited with peanut butter. My go-to solution. I emptied everything out of the car again and stored most of it in the tent. In the evening, I carefully set two traps, one on the front passenger side floor and the other way in the back. These were two places I had spotted the mouse. I settled in for the night but couldn't fall asleep. First, I was waiting for the sound of the trap snapping shut, and second, I was anticipating feeling four fuzzy little feet crawl across my own feet.

For simplicity's sake, here is a timeline for the entire battle.
  • Saturday 10/30: A mouse is spotted moving about in the car.
  • Sunday 10/31: No sign of the mouse. I think it left.
  • Monday 11/1: Of course it didn't. Buy and set two traps baited with peanut butter
  • Tuesday 11/2 Morning: The trap was unsprung but the peanut butter was completely gon
  • Tuesday 11/2 Night: Got 'em. I switched from peanut butter to cheddar cheese wedged tightly into the bait clamp on the trap. It was caught in the trap in the back of the car. I unsprung the trap up front but left it in place having nowhere else better to put it for the night.
  • Wednesday 11/3 Late night: I woke up to see a second mouse licking the cheese off the trap up front. The concern now is that two mice are very rare. One mouse, maybe. But seeing two mice usually means there are thirty. I crammed another piece of cheese into the trap up front. I also left two very small pieces of saltines nearby just to make it feel secure.
  • Thursday 11/4 Morning: The crackers were gone but the cheese was untouched. Clever bugger.
  • Thursday 11/4 Night: I found a pack of honey roasted peanuts and crammed one into the trap. About ten minutes after turning off the lights, I heard the welcome sound of metal snapping on wood. I didn't yell in triumph or pump the air with my fist. I calmly got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, picked up the laden trap and tossed it aside. Then I went back in the car and fell asleep.
  • Friday 11/5 Morning: Before I went to sleep the night before, I left two more small pieces of cracker on the floor in order to determine whether or not there were more than two critters living in the Jeep. When I awoke, they were both still there. And the next day and the next day and the next.
I've determined to leave two pieces of cracker on the floor from now on to serve as an early warning system in the event of another incursion.
 
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