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Quote: Originally posted by cambridgecockne on 16/10/2011

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had to put my caravan in storage whilst i had my drive done.bought 2 boxes of fully fledged mothballs, even put down tray of mouse bait.i went to van today to find evidence of mickeys.thats it bought van home before they damaged my new cushions.as i took bits out of van to clean the little sods had stored the grain from bait tray inside the awning made couple of tiny holes in awning,picked up caravan mover type that replaces jockey wheel grain fell out the tube.been eating grain on seat cushions.in pots and pans,behind gas fire. chewed polystyrene jacket on water heater.gonna have to empty all drawers cupbords and sterilise.so just to let you all know mothballs is an old wives tale.

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Sorry to hear that you've had problems.  We keep our van in storeage and have never had any vermin (other than thieves!!  )  Hope I'm not going to regret writing this!!  It appears that vans do suffer from this - our storeage site has a notice up, reminding folk not to leave food etc.  In particular I always make sure that drain/water inlet covers are securely fitted.

Any ideas how they got in?  It might be useful for other folk to know so that they can check for similar points of access.  Hope they haven't done too much damage - so sorry to hear of the problem.

Ooo David - we always have them. And you're only 2 rows from us, remember! I'll pass them down your way, so you don't feel left out....

We do have odd bits of food in, all mouse proof in plastic boxes. First mouse hunt of the year (yesterday) brought us 1 corpse (always have bait boxes in, all year round) and a chewed roll of bin bags. Have removed all bedding, etc. They have never chewed the cushions, thank God. Next mouse hunt Tues/Weds.  I'll have a good clean at half term while away, and hopefully we'll shake the buggers out on to the M40 in transit!!

Philippa

Quote: Originally posted by chilephilly on 16/10/2011

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Ooo David - we always have them. And you're only 2 rows from us, remember! I'll pass them down your way, so you don't feel left out....

We do have odd bits of food in, all mouse proof in plastic boxes. First mouse hunt of the year (yesterday) brought us 1 corpse (always have bait boxes in, all year round) and a chewed roll of bin bags. Have removed all bedding, etc. They have never chewed the cushions, thank God. Next mouse hunt Tues/Weds.  I'll have a good clean at half term while away, and hopefully we'll shake the buggers out on to the M40 in transit!!

Philippa

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Philippa - all is well up at storeage.  Van still there, and no mice.  Further new security measures coming into force soon - had a word with the man himself this morning.

Oh Dear

Mice want 3 things - food, shelter and water - and they're not so bothered about water because they get a lot of it from their food. Whats more they can get in through a hole the size of a ball point pen! So its pretty obvious how they get into a caravan!  Critical thing is to stop them getting in, in the first place. Proof the van when putting into storage, particularly if you know there is a generalised infestation. Personally i wouldn't use poison in the van - the bodies stink and the smell lingers. Use snap traps, baited with peanut butter and placed at right angles to the run with the snap facing in!

But prevention is better than cure.

And you're right to expend effort disinfecting everything -mice carry as many pathogens as Rats, Not nice.