Can rodents be a problem while travelling?

[TheHubbardBus]

We're lucky enough not to have any issues with rats chewing up wiring & what-not where I live. Thank you, garage kitties!

But we want to spend as much time boondocking as possible once up & running, in the most critter-infested areas possible.

Is kicking it for 1 or 2 weeks in the same spot enough time for rodents to start making meals of your electrical system? Does living out of it keep them away?

[Birdhouse]

Dude. They can destroy stuff at a moments notice.
Once when we were camping an entire bowl of dog food disappeared the first night. Re appeared on the intake manifold of the truck a few months later.

I've been in the bus in the edges of the woods of Northern Michigan for a hair shy of 2 years now.
A long time I had no door installed. I now have a homemade dog door consisting of a chunk of carpet from the stairs on a 747. The mice love me.

I used to regularly hear banging around. Sometimes sounded big.

They crawl around and cr@p all over a shelf above my kitchen space. I find acorns in all sorts of random places. In boxes. In the air cleaner. Dead mice and dogfood,
I've trapped probably 30 of them inside in the last 9 months

Living in it definitely doesn't keep them away
Now, not too likely to pick up a pack rat on the inside if you're in it.... or the mice in the furnace that caused me to have an incredibly cold first 2 nights after I was forced to move in ahead of plan (20 degrees and zero heat) lololz

They haven't been too destructive.
An extension cord hanging below got mangled but it may have been the neighbors dog.

Watch out for chipmunks.
They will dice wiring. Got after a trailer in my dad's yard. My old truck is probably going to need a rewire when I get back to her too.

[flattracker]

My house is located in the woods. We have problems with pack rats. They like wire (a lot) and vacuum hoses too. I keep the hood up on several vehicles so they don't move in the engine compartment. I will be installing ultrasonic rodent repellers in both Crowns. They take very little power. Any others try those yet?

[Marceps]

Originally Posted by Birdhouse

I've been in the bus in the edges of the woods of Northern Michigan for a hair shy of 2 years now.

You move for the winter, right? Don't do that to yourself, man...

Sticky traps work for small mice and aren't toxic, so you can place them near your sleeping area.

Originally Posted by Birdhouse

I find acorns in all sorts of random places.

Walnuts here. The critters love stuffin' 'em into hose bouquets about the chassis... until I moved, that is.

Hit the road and don't look back.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by flattracker

I will be installing ultrasonic rodent repellers in both Crowns. They take very little power. Any others try those yet?

I'd like to hear from you or others who've had experience with any electric/electronic solutions. Now that I see the potential for problems it would be ideal to be able to pull up to our 2-week home, and engage our anti-rodent defense network with the flip of a switch

[Booyah45828]

Originally Posted by flattracker

My house is located in the woods. We have problems with pack rats. They like wire (a lot) and vacuum hoses too. I keep the hood up on several vehicles so they don't move in the engine compartment. I will be installing ultrasonic rodent repellers in both Crowns. They take very little power. Any others try those yet?

Those repellers didn't do a thing for me.

Our house butts up to a field(corn/wheat/soybeans). Every year at harvest time we get mice in the house, and more so the shed. One year I tried those ultrasonic repellers in both places, and I chit you not, I think those repellers attracted them. We caught a dozen mice in both places that year using traps and peanut butter, where as this year we haven't caught any. The only difference is this year I threw out the repellers and set 3 tomcat bait stations out around the exterior of the house.

I know rodenticide is bad for the predators, but with a wife who will not enter a house if she thinks a mouse is present, I need results not question marks.

The bus is stored at the shop. My wife believes she found droppings in it last year cleaning it out. I've found nothing dead or alive, nothing in the traps in it, and no evidence of any destruction, so I have a hard time believing there are "residents" in it.

If you're getting 30 inside in 9 months, I'd say you need to look into putting those bucket type traps outside around the place. I think My wife would burn the place down if we caught that many

[TheHubbardBus]

How about lights? Would a string or three of really-low-draw LEDs in the engine compartment and undercarriage work?

[Birdhouse]

The led lights lol
I had a set of solar powered led strings, both got chewed to pieces the night after i put them up. Draped in a mesquite tree in AZ. Little pieces.

Yeah I'm certain ultrasonic -anything- repellers are a joke.

Strobe lights might do something.
There's a blinking strobe type pack rat light for under hood. They seem to work

The water bucket and a stick... I've been meaning to try that. Saw it on YouTube. Guy caught probably 50 in a week. I ought to deploy a dozen of em

I'm displeased at living with guests but I guess I'm less than mortified. Lol I kept them as pets when I was a kid. Granted I knew they were clean.

They got out of the cage once... it wasnt great..
Surely it would help if I at least had a proper dog door with a rubber flap and magnetic closure.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by Birdhouse

The led lights lol
I had a set of solar powered led strings, both got chewed to pieces the night after i put them up. Draped in a mesquite tree in AZ. Little pieces.

Yeah I'm certain ultrasonic -anything- repellers are a joke.

Strobe lights might do something.
There's a blinking strobe type pack rat light for under hood. They seem to work

The water bucket and a stick... I've been meaning to try that. Saw it on YouTube. Guy caught probably 50 in a week. I ought to deploy a dozen of em

I'm displeased at living with guests but I guess I'm less than mortified. Lol I kept them as pets when I was a kid. Granted I knew they were clean.

They got out of the cage once... it wasnt great..
Surely it would help if I at least had a proper dog door with a rubber flap and magnetic closure.

You're really harshing my buzz

I don't mind them being around one bit. As long as they're not chewing up our ride I'm happy to co-exist. Unfortunately I don't speak mouse.

We had mice too. Friend asked us to keep his snake while on deployment and one of its 'meals' ended up becoming our pet... the snake wouldn't eat the mouse, and the mouse would sleep curled up to the snake (we miss you, Rescue!)

[Birdhouse]

Aw you're a softie
That's good.
Coexist yall!

Mouse sleeping with a snake!
Incredible
Do you have a photo?

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by Birdhouse

Aw you're a softie
That's good.
Coexist yall!

Mouse sleeping with a snake!
Incredible
Do you have a photo?

Not just sleeping with him. The snake kept trying to get away! (which, he couldn't, because it was a small terrarium). Unfortunately, that was a loooooong time ago, and while I'm certain we have pictures, they're hardcopies in a box somewhere.

After my friend took his snake home (good riddance), we figured Rescue needed a friend. So we got 'Buttercup'. Meanest damn mouse on the planet. We went from no mice to two - each with their own separate living quarters - because she would have killed him otherwise

If Buttercup was alive today, she'd be the solution to the problem I'm attempting to address

[Tejon7]

We lived and worked around St. George, Utah in our first bus around 2008. We were boondocking, but since we had jobs in town we had three or four favorite spots that we'd cycle though, 14 days at a time. Absolutely no mouse problems for months, until we had some friends come to visit. They slept in a tent outside, and we left the door barely cracked so that they could come inside for whatever reason. The next day we had several resident mice. Finally got rid of them, then more friends tent camped with us and we left the door cracked again (like idiots). I think we made this foolish mistake 3, maybe 4 times before we finally wised up

Anyway, the point is that we spent long periods of time in the same spots and had zero mouse problems... Until we invited them inside. After we moved out of that bus, a friend lived in it for two years in the woods, right next to a garage that was absolutely infested with the varmints, yet she had no issues. Maybe some buses are inherently vulnerable to rodents, but it's definitely not the case for all buses. Seal everything as best you can and keep your fingers crossed. You might be fine

[TheHubbardBus]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Fortunately we have critters that I wouldn't let roam on their own, so leaving the door open for extended periods of time isn't happening.


I'm not really concerned with them getting inside (or at least, not at present).

My main worry is them chewing up wires or air-lines in the undercarriage/engine/transmission of the bus.

[Tejon7]

Ah, gotcha. Despite living in mouse country, we didn't have any chewing problems on that old bus. We had hydraulic brakes and there weren't many electronical doodads on that mid-80's vehicle though.

Maybe you could set some mouse booby traps? Like dummy wiring hooked up to a capacitor for a little zap or a separate air system charge with glitter to surprise whoever chewed through first

[TheHubbardBus]

glitter bombs for mice... lol... I like that

[Oldyeller]

I have an old collector car I bought a few years ago. I bought a portable garage to keep it in over the winter. The first winter I pulled it in, closed it up and, within a week, found nesting material on the top of the intake manifold. I took a two fold approach to control. I jacked the car up. took off the wheels and put it on jackstands with inverted plastic storage containers on the top of the jackstands. After that I never saw evidence of mouse invasion in the car.

The second part of the control effort took the form of traps and baits. I have no idea how many mice I caught but it was in the dozens. When you provide a nice relatively weather tight structure for the little critters they love it.

Last spring I found evidence, in my bus, that critters had been in the wall insulation. There's only one way they can get into my bus, climbing the tires. Since you ain't gonna put a full size bus on jackstands I'm thinking the best approach would be to put traps on the tops of the tires. I didn't do it this winter but if I'm able to go out in it that's what I'll do when I'm parked.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by Oldyeller

I have an old collector car I bought a few years ago. I bought a portable garage to keep it in over the winter. The first winter I pulled it in, closed it up and, within a week, found nesting material on the top of the intake manifold. I took a two fold approach to control. I jacked the car up. took off the wheels and put it on jackstands with inverted plastic storage containers on the top of the jackstands. After that I never saw evidence of mouse invasion in the car.

The second part of the control effort took the form of traps and baits. I have no idea how many mice I caught but it was in the dozens. When you provide a nice relatively weather tight structure for the little critters they love it.

Last spring I found evidence, in my bus, that critters had been in the wall insulation. There's only one way they can get into my bus, climbing the tires. Since you ain't gonna put a full size bus on jackstands I'm thinking the best approach would be to put traps on the tops of the tires. I didn't do it this winter but if I'm able to go out in it that's what I'll do when I'm parked.

That's a great idea. Basically just give them a better home than your bus would make... my gears are starting to spin...

[peteg59]

Originally Posted by Oldyeller

Since you ain't gonna put a full size bus on jackstands I'm thinking the best approach would be to put traps on the tops of the tires. I didn't do it this winter but if I'm able to go out in it that's what I'll do when I'm parked.

Don't know how traps on top of tires would work? but placing snap or sticky glue traps on the ground to the inside of each tire might catch them before they have a chance to climb up?

Sticky glue traps seem to work the best, as they'll catch multiple critters vs just one at a time in a snap trap.

Of course nothing beats the old 5 gallon bucket trick for catching a motherlode of mice or rats.
As seen here:
https://youtu.be/eVTI_0K9Dqg

[Oldyeller]

Originally Posted by peteg59

Don't know how traps on top of tires would work? but placing snap or sticky glue traps on the ground to the inside of each tire might catch them before they have a chance to climb up?

Sticky glue traps seem to work the best, as they'll catch multiple critters vs just one at a time in a snap trap.

Of course nothing beats the old 5 gallon bucket trick for catching a motherlode of mice or rats.
As seen here:
https://youtu.be/eVTI_0K9Dqg

On top of the tire, on the easiest path across the suspension for them, whichever catches them. Point is, on a bus that's as high off the ground as a medium duty chassis there are limited paths for them to follow.

[BFlinn181]

Originally Posted by flattracker

My house is located in the woods. We have problems with pack rats. They like wire (a lot) and vacuum hoses too. I keep the hood up on several vehicles so they don't move in the engine compartment. I will be installing ultrasonic rodent repellers in both Crowns. They take very little power. Any others try those yet?

I've seen a number of ultrasonic repellers in Youtube videos. Except for the videos posted by the seller of these devices, they generally result in failure to repell rodents. I suggest you watch some of Shawn Woods videos on mouse and other varment traps. He's tested hundreds of traps, including the electronic repellers, He honestly shows what works what fails.