Hello all. I come to you again with questions I hope you have experience with. My camper is stored on the side of my house. Neighbor on that side is a slob with the yard. Hence, rats visit under the hood of the camper. No major problems yet. I set some traps and pulled out some dead rats. They learn, now the trap is sprung, bait gone, no vermin caught. Any good solutions?
F-350 Rats under the hood
- Thread starter Paul B.
- Start date
rruff
Explorer
While camping in the desert in the middle of nowhere, some of the little buggers took a liking to my engine bay and spark plug wires. Barely made it out on 2-1/2 cylinders firing. I used mothballs and didn't have the problem again. Doesn't mean it actually worked though, since I didn't have the problem before either.
Jacked from the web:
"There are a lot of chemical smells that rats hate. Car owners have had success with peppermint oil (also works for bees and wasps), powdered fox urine, used cat litter, cat hair, dog hair, Pine-Sol, Irish Spring soap, red pepper and laundry dryer sheets. Rataway, a product for just such an occasion, is meant to be sprayed on all the wires under your hood."
Jacked from the web:
"There are a lot of chemical smells that rats hate. Car owners have had success with peppermint oil (also works for bees and wasps), powdered fox urine, used cat litter, cat hair, dog hair, Pine-Sol, Irish Spring soap, red pepper and laundry dryer sheets. Rataway, a product for just such an occasion, is meant to be sprayed on all the wires under your hood."
Regcabguy
Oil eater.
Get a couple of feral cats from a rescue organization that neuters them. Feed them real well and they'll do the rest.
BajaSurfRig
Well-known member
Peppermint essential oil works wonders to deter mice and rats. I use it in a spray bottle mixed with some water and spritz throughout the motor and around the bottom of my camper/truck.
Overdrive
Adventurer
I just started using the peppermint oil linked below; so far so good. I think it's a better thing to be spraying under your hood than chemicals or urine. There is only a faint peppermint smell, or none at all, when you go for a drive depending on how many days ago you applied it. They recommend every 3 days but that seems excessive to me but a good way to sell more product. I've been spraying the firewall insulation and hood blanket insulation and keeping two 60W LED bulbs on under the hood at night--supposedly they hate light.
I dulute it 15 to 17 to 1, and try to spray every week to 10 days.
Amazon.com : Mighty Mint 8 oz Peppermint Rodent Repellent Concentrate - Makes 1 Gallon - Natural Spray for Rats, Mice, and More - Non Toxic : Garden & Outdoor
Amazon.com : Mighty Mint 8 oz Peppermint Rodent Repellent Concentrate - Makes 1 Gallon - Natural Spray for Rats, Mice, and More - Non Toxic : Garden & Outdoor
www.amazon.com
I dulute it 15 to 17 to 1, and try to spray every week to 10 days.
Mickey Bitsko
Adventurer
Fly bait and peanut butter 100% effective.
Man
Member
If the bait is gone but the trap isn't set, it could be mice eating the bait. They are delecate ************. Use a trail cam to verify the villan then use the appropriate trap. Poison blocks hanging on a wire will do the job too. I do this for my engine bay. But I also set mechanical traps around the wheels for two layers of defense.
When the vermin get used to snapping traps keep baiting them, but leave them unset for a few days, then begin to set the traps again.
Poison is good too, but make water available to them outside and away from the rig. The vermin will get thirsty. Second the mice possibility, so set up some smaller traps too.
Poison is good too, but make water available to them outside and away from the rig. The vermin will get thirsty. Second the mice possibility, so set up some smaller traps too.
Thanks to all. I sent away for Rataway. Will apply that. Also dryer sheets were mentioned here. We had those. They worked well for the 2 nights since. Bought a box, threw it in the camper tool box.
Seems given my situation of storage, this will be regular due diligence. I will let you all know the outcome.
Seems given my situation of storage, this will be regular due diligence. I will let you all know the outcome.
calicamper
Expedition Leader
Keep trapping!! Peanut butter works best. Our entire street had issues starting in September three of us set traps out. We have caught 20 between the three of us and the last month or so activity is zero and traps have stayed empty.
Whenever we pull into a new place we’ll take notice if other campers have their hoods popped, if so, will usually do the same.
We tend to not like to put out poison bait as this tends to have detrimental effects going up the food chain with birds of prey and other predators that feed on them.
I’ve also put one of those red LED multi flashing road flairs under the hood, seems to do the trick. At some point I’m going to wire in an under hood light for a more permanent solution.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We tend to not like to put out poison bait as this tends to have detrimental effects going up the food chain with birds of prey and other predators that feed on them.
I’ve also put one of those red LED multi flashing road flairs under the hood, seems to do the trick. At some point I’m going to wire in an under hood light for a more permanent solution.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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A note about poison. My mechanic tells a story about a rat got into the heater core area and died. They couldn't get it all out. Stunk so bad truck was close to unusable.
Poison kills them, they crawl somewhere and die. Stinks like hell. Learned that doing apartment maintenance years ago. Repel them or trap them. I like knowing their freshly dead bodies are in the trash can.
Poison kills them, they crawl somewhere and die. Stinks like hell. Learned that doing apartment maintenance years ago. Repel them or trap them. I like knowing their freshly dead bodies are in the trash can.