Mice can wreak havoc on your RV and nobody likes to have little pests living in their walls or cabinets. They can also chew through your electrical wiring and leave droppings all over the vehicle.
Imagine relaxing in your RV for a good night’s rest after a long day of outdoor adventures and hearing a bump somewhere in the RV, a scratching against a wall, or a tiny squeak. You don’t know where it came from or what it is, so you check it out. You get out of bed, turn on your flashlight and you see it: a pair of beady, little rodent eyes reflecting back at you. You scream, and it scurries away.
There are other ways to tell if mice are in your RV and some ways are more obvious than others. However, as we all know, mice are elusive and very shy rodents. Many of them manage to go unseen and so we are often left to depend on other ways to detect their presence. The best way to detect them without physically seeing them is to look for proof of mouse activity and there are several ways to do that.
Mouse droppings go wherever mice go. So, if you have mice in your RV, you will also have mouse droppings. While mice do a pretty good job of hiding themselves from us, they aren’t as careful with their poop. Their droppings are typically about a quarter-inch in length. You can tell if they are fresh by the color: newer droppings are darker and shinier while older droppings look dusty and dry. Mice also tend to leave their droppings in larger concentrations in areas closer to their nest.
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If you have mice, you probably have a mouse nest, too. Mice build their nests with whatever small, lightweight materials that they can get their little hands on. They typically shred and gnaw on paper, fabrics, insulation, electric wires, small plastics, other household materials, and really just about anything that a mouse can use to make their nest. Look around the inside of your RV for evidence of shredded or gnawed on materials. Also, be sure to check your pantry, cabinets, closets, and drawers for any proof.
In case you’re wondering, mice like to multiply once they find a nice place to stay and they do it pretty fast. One day, you’ll have just one mouse, and the next week, you’ll have a dozen.
Don’t let this be your reality. Here is some important information to know about keeping the mice out of your adventures.
Mice can be kept out of an RV by using preventative measures such as sealing any holes under your RV, in your door/window frame, and keeping a clean space. Other methods help with mice removals, such as spring-trap mousetraps, mouse bait block, box traps, mint essential oil, and glue traps.
What attracts mice to your RV
Most often, mice are drawn to warm places because the outdoors is cold and damp. That warm air drifting out of the RV is a big invitation to the mice to come and join the party. That is the last thing that I want!
These mice are not the cute, friendly ones you see in the cartoons; they will invade, multiply, and destroy your space.
Mice also are attracted by food whether that means crumbs, leftover scents, or even things that smell like food but are inedible. Think of the mouse in 2007 computer-animated comedy film, Ratatouille; he lifted his nose up into the air to sniff out the scent, smelled some food that was a block away, and then chased it down.
They might not have the same culinary skills as the mouse in the movie, but mice do have the same senses. They will smell that food you left out the night before, the crumbs left on the table, or the food that hasn’t been stored away properly. And they will come for it if they’re desperate enough and chances are they are always desperate enough.
Any small hole in an RV can be a possible entrance for mice. Common entry point areas are the underbelly, the shore power cord compartment, sewer hose, and openings above the wheels. Keep in mind that mice don’t require much room to wiggle through. A quarter-inch diameter hole is large enough for them to squeeze through.
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Once the mice have snuck their way through an opening to the inside of your RV or a heated basement storage area, the one thing that offers them a nice stay is any form of loose materials laying around. As soon as they have their nest and have found good sources of food and warmth in your RV, they’re all set and ready to stay.
Inspect your RV for any entryways for mice
One of the greatest skills of an average mouse is being able to fit through tight spaces. They might not be able to fit through every tiny crack you might have in your RV but they will chew through most anything they can’t fit their bodies into.
The reason why this is so important to know is that those holes and cracks in your RV let out streams of warmth or scents of food. This is all a mouse needs to be interested enough in the space to check it out.
Don’t think you have any cracks or holes in your RV? Have you checked underneath your RV? The easiest ways for mice to get into your RV are typically through any sort of gaps around the sewage, electrical, and water lines at the entry points of your RV. Take a very close look at the underside of the RV, and make sure you don’t have any of these gaps.
If you do have a few gaps, have no fear, spray foam is here! You can use the foam that will harden itself to fill the gaps and keep the pesky mice out. You can also use steel wool to stuff inside other holes because it tends to be too difficult for the mice to chew through.
Now that you have inspected the RV from the outside for any cracks and holes that could be serving as secret entryways for mice, you need to inspect the inside as well.
Inspect the RV interior for signs of mice or possible attractions
Are there crumbs lying around on the counter or floor? Is there food sitting out that should have been put away? Are there loose papers randomly scattered throughout? Is there a bunch of dirty socks or dirty laundry lying on the floor instead of being stored somewhere?
Don’t be embarrassed if this is what the inside of your RV looks like. This isn’t a clean-check or cleanliness contest. I’m just asking because these are all things that could be attracting the mice or serve as great nesting materials for the mice.
Believe it or not, a clean RV is boring and unattractive to mice and they’re more likely to leave it alone because there’s nothing left for them to snack on or nest in. Sounds like something a mom would tell a messy little kid to convince them to clean up their room, right? Except, in this case, it’s true!
Preventative measures
If you have any open food on counters or tables you should place the food in storage containers to keep the scents out of your RV and away from those little mousy noses.
You can also ensure that mice won’t be making a nest out of your favorite shirts and socks by using scented detergent and freshening spray. Mice can’t handle strong perfume scents and tend to stay away from them. This also comes in handy because you can use the scented dryer sheets to put into some of the questionable holes inside your RV.
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I’m also not a big fan of using mouse poison or any of those other chemicals.
Like I already said, mice aren’t big fans of fresh scents. Mice have good senses of smell and there are some scents that they tend to avoid. You can try spraying or placing these scents around your RV (especially around entrances). Some deterrents to try include:
- Mint
- Cayenne pepper
- Mothballs
- Peppermint
- Cinnamon
- Vinegar
- Dryer sheets
- Tea bags (peppermint is best)
Soak cotton balls with peppermint oil and leave them in the mice-infested area. Be sure to refresh often. And you could try using a mint-scented cleaner for your RV or just drop a bit of mint essential oil into your cleaner and not only will it keep your RV smelling fresh, but it will help to keep the mice away.
These may have varying degrees of success, especially if they sit for a long time and begin to lose potency.
And then, of course, there are cats, but I don’t think we need to get into that at this time.
Any of these natural solutions may work as mouse repellent and should help to keep the mice away or scare them away if they are already inside your RV.
So you read through my list of natural solutions for evicting or repelling mice, and you’re not a firm believer in the all-natural? It’s okay. I’m not offended. I understand, and I’ll even give you some other ways how to kill off those pesky mice.
There are a wide variety of natural scents and products that are at the very least rumored to get rid of mice (see above). However, once you have a bona fide mouse problem underway, these might not be strong enough to deal with the problem quickly and effectively.
That said, it’s never a bad idea to add some peppermint oil or mothballs to your cabinet to help prevent future visits from more mousey friends. But in the meantime, you may need to amp up your game and turn to actual mousetraps to get the job done. There are a variety of different types of mousetraps available on the market.
Box traps work by luring the mouse in with bait and then trapping the mouse inside the box with no way to exit. Once the mouse goes into the box, it closes and traps the mouse inside. This is probably one of the easier ways to kill off your mice because you don’t have to go searching for them once they die because they cannot escape. In theory, you could collect box traps with still-living mice inside them and release them outdoors (but, why would you?) though most people usually simply dispose of the boxes once they’re full.
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Glue traps are simple but effective: you place these sticky sheets in areas where mice are likely to travel and when the mouse steps on the trap, its feet get stuck and it can’t move. Glue traps are affordable, easy to use, and small enough to fit in areas that may not be usable with larger traps, such as below your windows along the kitchen counter.
Old-fashioned spring traps are the type you remember from Saturday morning cartoons and they work just as advertised. These are probably self-explanatory but basically, you put some sort of bait like cheese or peanut butter on the tip, the mouse creeps up, and…SNAP! Pretty basic, and you need to watch your fingers when setting it, but they get the job done. They can be a really effective way to kill off the mice you have which, combined with targeted cleaning efforts, can lead to a pest-free area.
Finally, you can try using an ultrasonic sound device as part of your efforts into how to mouse-proof an RV. These are small electronic devices that emit an ultrasonic pitch that humans can’t hear. Mice have sensitive ears and will want to avoid anything that is loud or distressing.
The downside of this tactic is that dogs and other pets may be affected by it as well and may become distressed and irritated by the noise. If you don’t have pets though, this can be a good method to try.
So far this winter I’ve bagged three mice with glue traps.
Worth Pondering…
I have a very bad relationship with mice.
—Casey Affleck