Those little devils! I live in bear country. Colorado campers worry about black bears dumping over their coolers or poking their noses in tents not mice! Seriously, “A Feed Bear is a Dead Bear” is posted on national forest trash cans in my northwestern area. A mouse proof camper is not a big concern with 9 months of winter.
In many National Camp grounds you have what is called a bear box. Let me explain in this quick video.
I am more afraid of mice than bears!
I called my husband from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and said, “Isn’t it ironic that I spent all morning putting steel wool in all the cracks I can find in the camper and I don’t worry at all about bears?” He laughed at me.
Bears don’t come and live with you mice do!
Keeping Your Camper free of mice!
Plus the fact that mice carry other parasites, fleas and lice, uuuck! Talk about taking home a camping experience. The plague is now curable if caught early, say all the warning signs posted in the New Mexico camp grounds. Staying away from dead animals and rodents in these areas seems like common sense.
My fear of mice over took me so I did research on the best ways to Mouse Proof Your Camper. Here are the top seven things I came up with:
7 Tips to Mouse Proof Your Camper
Fix the Holes
- Mice only need 1/8 inch to enter so stuff the holes with steel wool. Anywhere you see daylight push some steel wool into it. A pack of steel wool is $1.89. Buy several and overdo the stuffing. It is the one thing the little buggers can’t chew threw!
Put Away Food
- Put away food! Common sense, I know, but truly how many of us seal up everything and wipe it down with no trace of any crumbs. A pest control guy once told me that one cheerio in a whole mini-van can draw them into the vehicle. (I had toddlers at the time, Cheerios were everywhere, causing mice to whoop it up in the Honda, sigh.)
Contain Food in Frig or Closed Plastic Tub
- If you can put all food in a refrigerator or cooler, it throws the critters off the scent.
Cook Stinky Stuff
- Cook and eat smelly stuff. Onions, garlic, heavy spices with lots of fragrance do not draw mice to your camper, it actually repels them.
Essential Oils
- Soak cotton balls in peppermint or purify blend. Stuff them in drawers, corners and possible points of entry. Even if you are well stuffed with steel wool, mice have time on their side. They will look all day and night for a way into the camper. Smells that repel make searching your camper
undesirable.
Moth Balls
- Like steel wool a cheap and easy fix that will cause the mice to bypass your camper for something less offensive. If you are going to be out of the camper for a while moth balls are great in the storage areas. Living with the smell is not ideal, but neither is the smell of dead mice.
Traps
- I am much more a fan of traps than bait. Bait smells good and draws mice into your camper. Then they crawl off and die in hidden places. With a trap you know where they are and can dispose of them. Inhumane? I don’t ask to live in their mouse hole, so as long as you stay out of my camper you can live. Come in my camper and take your chances!
Ahhhh!
Talking with a forest ranger in Texas I explained all that we do in Colorado to keep bears out of our camp sites. She replied, “Honey, just do the same thing down here for mice and you’ll will be OK.”
Got more ways to Mouse Proof Your Camper? We would love to share your suggestions in the comments below.
Leave a Reply