Rats in the walls

[Dingfelder]

Gnawing in the roof of my trailer.  I thought maybe heard it in the wall.  Second night back here after six months of being a live-in caretaker, so I was basically never here.  Trailer looks intact, but something got in.  Now I'm here to know about it, and it's supposed to be my place to live.  I'm part peeved, more terrified.  What if a mouse or rat destroys this biggest investment and security I've got?  And right as rainy season is starting, so any structural compromise could be doom in short order.

Suggestions?  A rat down below would be bad enough, but up top, in the PNW, as the rain starts to come in?  I sure don't want to listen to this thing destroying my future one gnaw at a time all night.  I'm thinking bug bomb, and (VERY) luckily I could go to my mom's house to sleep if I have to for a day or two.

I also have an ozone generator, but already used it once, and it is a nightmare for rubber seals, and that could mean bad news for all kinds of things here.  

Suggestions including calm down, elephant, you will not be taken down by a mouse, would be appreciated.

 

[maki2]

drive to the closest store and buy some sticky glue traps. then check them everyday. They work better and faster than regular mouse traps. What you don't want is for it to die inside of the walls because then you will have to tear out the walls (or ceiling). Do not use poison as that might cause it to die within the walls. Having experienced the smell of a rat that died within a wall you need to trust what I am saying you should do and follow my advice very carefully. Get lots of the sticky traps, they sell them by the half dozen or so at places like hardware stores and Home Depot. Yes you will have to deal with a live rodent stuck to the trap but that is much less of a problem than having a dead one within the walls. More likely to be a mouse than a rat. Fall is the time they look to nest inside for the winter.

 

[Dingfelder]

Okay thanks for the advice -- I know you are right about the smell of a dead rat within the walls.  It can be overpowering, as I've experienced with sticks'n'bricks housing. Still, I don't know how to get access to my inner walls and roof.  It's all sealed off, as it should be.  I looked in my roof-top air-conditioner, pulling out a screening panel, and see no easy entry through there.  The rest of the walls are sealed as far as I know.  How do I get at the little bugger?

 

[WanderingRose]

My first thought is bait, combined with the sticky traps mentioned.

Could be a chipmunk or other small critter less nefarious than a rat, just looking for a place to winter over.

Or, it could be a rat.

No, you will not be taken down by a rodent, but I would certainly take aggressive steps to get rid of it as every waking moment it is destroying your inner workings to make itself a nest.

Contact a pest control agent if your own efforts fail.

Good luck!

 

[maki2]

Dont worry about getting in at it just yet. It has to come out to get food abd water. But do try to find its possible points of entey so you can set traps. by the entrane point. You will know its gone if you can't hear it anymore. but don't risk sealing it up too quicjly as you do  want it to get outside instead of dying unside. Best hope. Is to catch it or it might be a them more than one. Using bait has a downside, it can attracct more rodents than the one you are trying to trap. So try to find the entey annd deploy the sticky glue traps in the pathway. Of course keep your eye out for evidence of feces or shreds of insulation it has torn into for nesting materials. And put traps near that area if you find such things. You have to be an actual hunter, tracker and trapper to solve this quickly. A good strong flashlight and an inspection mirror might be needed for looking underneath the RV to find oossible poits of entry. But also look up to see if it has a way to climb in someplace higher..

 

[bullfrog]

Check the underside of the trailer as unless you are parked close to trees, bushes or structures that will be most likely how it got in. The water heater area or water tank drains would be an area to look at as the lines must have holes to run water lines to the inside. Our Grey Wolf model water heater was by no means installed well enough to keep mice out so lots of sticky traps there. Wheels and tires make for easy access along with sewer drain pipes even power cords and water supply hoses can mean easy access. Do all doors seal tightly especially at the bottom? I also would put some sticky traps on any exterior structure that could serve as a path on the exterior. I wouldn’t use any bait at this point as it will attract more animals. In fact I would spray all around the trailer to get rid of any scent tracks that are already there.

 

[Gypsyjoe#1]

Places where water lines etc. come in you can seal around the pipe cord whatever with steel wool they won't eat through that.

 

[highdesertranger]

I like to take tin and make like a protector around any pipe or wire that goes in from the bottom. highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

When I lived in Eastern Kentucky in a new house with a basement, the street department dug up an old sewer line that had hundreds of Norwegian Rats one of which managed to chew a perfect 2” hole through one of my new heavy weight concrete blocks. My kids learned to shoot with night vision over the next few months waiting for the next one to come out of the hole. Anything you can pull out with your hand they can remove.

 

[vanbrat]

We have one of those high frequency things that is plugged into the electric outlet it seems to be somewhat working. They get in but don't stick around. I don't know if it would work for you but it might be worth a try.

 

[vanbrat]

Opps the other part is a small bag or 2 of mothballs. But only if you are not in the space, as it is toxic.

 

[cyndi]

My van is stationary, ATM. I've wrapped the bottom of my van with fruit tree netting, held in place by strong, ceramic magnets. I catch a lot of mice, chipmunks, squirrels, a few rats and an occasional bird. Their feet get tangled in it. they can try to chew it but the more they move the more entangled they get. No more gross dead animals in my van.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FTPF7P5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Dingfelder]

Check the underside of the trailer as unless you are parked close to trees, bushes or structures that will be most likely how it got in. The water heater area or water tank drains would be an area to look at as the lines must have holes to run water lines to the inside. Our Grey Wolf model water heater was by no means installed well enough to keep mice out so lots of sticky traps there. Wheels and tires make for easy access along with sewer drain pipes even power cords and water supply hoses can mean easy access. Do all doors seal tightly especially at the bottom? I also would put some sticky traps on any exterior structure that could serve as a path on the exterior. I wouldn’t use any bait at this point as it will attract more animals. In fact I would spray all around the trailer to get rid of any scent tracks that are already there.

Thanks; oddly enough I hadn't thought of doing an inspection underneath.  I have no hoses running anywhere, only the power cable.  Doors are fine and nothing is ever open buuut ... I didn't seal my storage door underneath for a few minutes during the day of the same night I heard the gnawing in the ceiling.  Stepped in and out of the trailer for a few minutes without locking the door down.  I was thinking that's the most likely culprit, but I will look for other possibilities too.

I did get two rat sticky traps and four mouse sticky traps, and put the two rat ones in there to start, along with a Tomcat snap trap baited with peanut butter.  The stick traps in the way so they might walk through that first.

 

[Dingfelder]

My van is stationary, ATM. I've wrapped the bottom of my van with fruit tree netting, held in place by strong, ceramic magnets. I catch a lot of mice, chipmunks, squirrels, a few rats and an occasional bird. Their feet get tangled in it. they can try to chew it but the more they move the more entangled they get. No more gross dead animals in my van.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FTPF7P5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the suggestion.  I had never considered that, or that it was necessary, but I might as well.  The price is sure right.

 

[Dingfelder]

When I lived in Eastern Kentucky in a new house with a basement, the street department dug up an old sewer line that had hundreds of Norwegian Rats one of which managed to chew a perfect 2” hole through one of my new heavy weight concrete blocks. My kids learned to shoot with night vision over the next few months waiting for the next one to come out of the hole. Anything you can pull out with your hand they can remove.

 I do have a couple of pellet rifles and I could put my night vision rifle on the .177.  Don't want to use anything heavier around my unit in case of ricochet.  I've never spotted anything around at night yet, but I might try looking.  Thanks for the suggestion.  And I HAVE had the occasional tree rat jump -- HARD -- on my roof from the overhead oak tree in the night, even though they are supposed to not be nocturnal. That worries me a lot too.  It's just a roof, you're not supposed to go bowling on it or whatever.

 

[Dingfelder]

Dont worry about getting in at it just yet. It has to come out to get food abd water. But do try to find its possible points of entey so you can set traps. by the entrane point. You will know its gone if you can't hear it anymore. but don't risk sealing it up too quicjly as you do  want it to get outside instead of dying unside. Best hope. Is to catch it or it might be a them more than one. Using bait has a downside, it can attracct more rodents than the one you are trying to trap. So try to find the entey annd deploy the sticky glue traps in the pathway. Of course keep your eye out for evidence of feces or shreds of insulation it has torn into for nesting materials. And put traps near that area if you find such things. You have to be an actual hunter, tracker and trapper to solve this quickly. A good strong flashlight and an inspection mirror might be needed for looking underneath the RV to find oossible poits of entry. But also look up to see if it has a way to climb in someplace higher..

I took your advice and got two rat stickies and four mouse stickies, and a Tomcat snap trap.  I think I might go a little nuts and get a bunch more, though.  I really want to deal with this ASAP.  The thought of what even a single rodent can do got (gets) me pretty rattled.

 

[66788]

We have one of those high frequency things that is plugged into the electric outlet it seems to be somewhat working. They get in but don't stick around. I don't know if it would work for you but it might be worth a try.

Those are excellent for keeping water buffalo out of your rig...

 

[Dingfelder]

We have one of those high frequency things that is plugged into the electric outlet it seems to be somewhat working. They get in but don't stick around. I don't know if it would work for you but it might be worth a try.

I've read that they can work temporarily, but then that the vermin get used to them. Still, temporarily can be no small thing.

 

[Stargazer]

I had a packrat building a nest under the starter battery box.  Opened the hood, placed a work light. Power washed the engine compartment, spread a smelly granule product from the hardware store in the compartment, all around the ground.  The only thing that worked was to leave, drove 500 miles in the summer heat.  That did it.

Had mice in the underbelly of the fifth wheel, parked in an RV park.  Removed everything that could be used as nesting material, tarps, plastic bags, cardboard boxes, all soft goods, and stored everything in hard plastic bins.    Took down the divider wall, thoroughly cleaned surfaces with bleach water.  Ran a rope light all around the perimeter outside on a day/night timer.  They kept coming back.  Found a product online that was steel wool embedded with tiny shards of stainless steel and stuffed it in every single possible entry point, every crack and crevice, around the slide out mechanism, the bumper rod attachments, battery box and I do mean every single possible point , no matter how small.  That worked.

As for traps, I used a glue trap once and will never do it again.  It doesn't kill, it torchers.  The mouse was still alive eight hours after being caught and it had struggled so hard to escape, its belly was ripped open and guts were hanging out and it was still alive.  I smashed it with a big rock.

Mice learn how to trip standard traps and get the bait.  The only trap I use now that consistently works is this one:

https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/vi..._source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing - 01 - Shopping - Farm %26 Livestock - US&utm_term=4581390076711127&utm_content=Pest Control

The best bait I have found is cat food kibble.  Mice like grains, not peanut butter or cheese or bacon or any of that.  I use the above traps with a piece of kibble as bait.  It consistently catches and kills.  I live in the country, there are plenty of mice and this works.

Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[Dingfelder]

I do appreciate your response. I can vouch, however, for rodents liking peanut butter. I've captured dozens in snap traps at my mom's house with it.

As to glue traps not killing, well ... of course. That's not what they do. I don't know what else to say about that but that I'm not willing to lose my only home, as a person without much money or arguably much of a future or present, to a mouse or a rat or their friends. I wish all things were simple and kind. But pretty much nothing about life is, right? If I have to choose between me and a mouse ... and yeah it's come down to that ... I'm forced into choosing me every time.