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Subject Topic: Attaching groundsheet to awning
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24/7/2023 at 2:11pm
 Location: Cambs
 Outfit: Tin tent diddy tent BIG tent
View birder99's Profile View Profile   Reply to birder99 Reply   Quote birder99 Quote  
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A rat would go through awning or groundsheet material in about 30 seconds or less. Yes, I agree a lot of sites have rodent problems which are mainly caused be fellow campers providing them with an ample supply of food when they are trying to feed birds or are careless when cooking outside and drop food on the ground.   

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24/7/2023 at 2:25pm
 Location: London
 Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Never been aware of rats near pitches on any of the camp sites I've used (and been camping for well over 50 years now!), and with caravan/awning some of those have been on farm CL's which almost certainly have rats around nearby barns etc. I've pitched in friends fields near their stables and not had an issue, never known anyone with horses who didn't have rats around the stables!

I've used a camping fridge in the awning and NEVER seen (smelt!) any sign of rodents going near it. I've had dining table and chairs set up in awning, and inevitably food scraps have been left overnight without issues.

I've camped it tents plenty too, yes you hear all sorts of creatures scuttling around outside, but typically harmless things like voles, rabbits and hedgehogs (noisy little blighters they are!), and at dawn birds looking for 'breakfast' bugs. I've stored all sorts of food stuffs in fabric camping larders and Tupperware boxes, in unsealed porch section of tent and the worst I've ever seen was a few bugs coming in!

Think you are on a lost cause trying to 'seal' an awning, just not compatible with the way awnings are made/used (doors/sides usually zip to the ground to enable opening!), and rats climb, rats chew, if they want to get in they will! A tent is a poor comparison, it's got fully sewn in sides, an awning will always have the gap against the caravan wall and under the van!

As mentioned, many sites ban non-breathable groundsheets on awnings, or ask they are lifted for several hours daily to protect their grass.

Putting things like washing up liquid on what are intended to be waterproof fabrics will DESTROY their waterproof properties!!!!!! Dread to think of what the contents (probably vinegar - an acid!) of chilli sauce would do to awning fabric!!!!!

I'm all too familiar with rats at home, neighbours seem to encourage them with all sorts of practices they shouldn't, so well aware of signs and smells of them, and do get them in garden and sheds, just NEVER seen them camping!

Can only suggest using rat traps to kill the blighters, but INSIDE the awning, otherwise serious risk of harming innocent wildlife if accessible outside the awning.



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via mobile 24/7/2023 at 2:44pm
 Location: Shropshire
 Outfit: Bailey Phoenix GT 75
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We have never had an issue with rats either. You can get rat traps as suggested in the previous post.

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DS-There's more to life than football!!!


via mobile 24/7/2023 at 4:07pm
 Location: Ayrshire
 Outfit: Auto-Sleeper MHs
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I used a rat trap outside my back door at home during Covid when the local takeaway was closed (rats came for the bird food), very efficient & instant. I’m surprised sites with rat problems don’t use the lockable enclosed box with poison bait placed in the usual rat runs.
But we never had rats in our tent awning (which had no sewn in groundsheet), but hedgehogs were regular visitors, stealing dog food.

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2024 = 20 sites / 41 nights. 2023 = 9/23. 2022 = 13/35. 2021 = 11/29. 2020 = 4/20. 2019 = 13/35. 2018 = 20/33. 2017 = 10/22. 2016 = 19/33. 2015 = 15 sites / 27 nights. Didn't count 1976 to 2014.


25/7/2023 at 9:10am
 Location: Worcestershire
 Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser
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Quite amusing reading that people have never seen rats while camping. I could almost guarantee that they were within 5 metres of some rodent, foxes or badgers even on an enclosed patrolled site with lights. Not called the countryside for nothing. LOL!


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29/7/2023 at 1:25pm
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Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 25/7/2023
Quite amusing reading that people have never seen rats while camping. I could almost guarantee that they were within 5 metres of some rodent, foxes or badgers even on an enclosed patrolled site with lights. Not called the countryside for nothing. LOL!



Just because its the 'countryside' it doesnt guarantee anything in the vicinity. I've also never seen a rat on a campsite. If theres no food source, why would they they hang around? We were in the New Forest last week, and saw one dead deer at the roadside all week. No foxes, no badgers, no hedgehogs, and certainly no rats - dead or alive! On the flip side, here in rural Northants, i can guarantee i will not drive more that a few miles - 2/3 without seeing a deer or badger at the roadside.


30/7/2023 at 8:50am
 Location: Liverpool
 Outfit: Swift Challenger 560
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I’m not sure if I have ever seen a rat on a campsite. Certainly until last month I had never seen anything even resembling a rat but then last month we were on a very rural site and I saw a small furry creature. Initially I thought it might be a rat but my knowledge of rodents is limited. Whatever I saw was a chestnut brown colour and bounded over the grass (this is hard to describe but it moved in a sort of ripple as if it was jumping both front feet forward then both back feet at the same time and then both front feet again) whereas any time I have seen a rat on TV it has scuttled rather than bounded. I am not convinced it was a rat but even if it was, it’s the first one I have seen in 20 years of camping and caravanning.

I know they say that you are never far from a rat and as we live in a city we see them occasionally in the back garden. Last week there was a dead one on our back path, no doubt left there by one of the many neighbourhood cats who seem to treat our back garden as their own personal space. At least the half dozen or so cats seem to keep the rats at bay and my husbands installation of a motion activated water squirter has stopped the cats using the rhubarb patch as a toilet so I can’t really complain!

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Pixie


30/7/2023 at 1:29pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Pixie_Hez on 30/7/2023
I’m not sure if I have ever seen a rat on a campsite. Certainly until last month I had never seen anything even resembling a rat but then last month we were on a very rural site and I saw a small furry creature. Initially I thought it might be a rat but my knowledge of rodents is limited. Whatever I saw was a chestnut brown colour and bounded over the grass (this is hard to describe but it moved in a sort of ripple as if it was jumping both front feet forward then both back feet at the same time and then both front feet again) whereas any time I have seen a rat on TV it has scuttled rather than bounded. I am not convinced it was a rat but even if it was, it’s the first one I have seen in 20 years of camping and caravanning.

I know they say that you are never far from a rat and as we live in a city we see them occasionally in the back garden. Last week there was a dead one on our back path, no doubt left there by one of the many neighbourhood cats who seem to treat our back garden as their own personal space. At least the half dozen or so cats seem to keep the rats at bay and my husbands installation of a motion activated water squirter has stopped the cats using the rhubarb patch as a toilet so I can’t really complain!



Very likely a stoat or weasel depending on size. We now have a squashed hedgehog up the road - very sad. Its quite a big one, so dont know how someone would miss it and run over it. If i saw something house-brick size in the road, the default reaction is to avoid it for your tyres/alloy wheels sake. This is the first one i've seen all summer. Barely 6 years ago when we relocated here, hedgehogs in the road were reasonably common. Just shows how they are diminishing, and fast.


via mobile 31/7/2023 at 5:09pm
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All these people saying they have never seen a rat on a campsite!!!! Well you won’t during the day!!! They come out at night looking for food. Every single time we’ve gone camping rats have been in our awning. The smell is unbearable, and they are rats as we’ve seen them. I usually sleep in the bedroom compartment in the awning and I hardly sleep cause I can hear them scuttling around.,we can’t leave anything on the ground. Everything has to be lifted up, and everytime we’ve been away we have to disinfect the breathable ground sheet and the plastic mud skirt of the awning. The worst campsite we have ever been to for rats is a park dean campsite called skipsea sands. They are running around the bins. Open the bins there were about 6 sat on top of the rubbish, they had chewed thro the bin lid!!! We had 4 come in our awning!!! They were running around the streets at night and going under caravans. Where the bins were, in certain locations around the site, you would see around 20 on top in the bins on the ground. Yes bait boxes were present but they were only checked once a month, which isn’t enough when there is an infestation. During the day, you don’t see any!! And you would never know the site had a problem!! The rats had urinated on everything that was stored on the floor in the awning, at skipsea sands, So everything had to be thrown away. We discovered that they don’t like the scent of hot pepper sauce, mixed with washing up liquid and water and cayenne pepper and squirted on the plastic mud skirt of the awning, inside the awning, if you do it outside the rain washes it off. We laid traps down too, inside our awning, they managed to take the bait but they didn’t get caught. We complained at reception but they couldn’t care less, other people were complaining too. We made a complaint once we got home and we got a refund. It was really bad there.
We are going to get a newer caravan which will be bigger, my hubby snores like a road drill that’s why I sleep in the awning. But until we do I’m making him sleep in the awning. I’ve had enough of rats in my garden coming thro from my next door neighbours as she has 5 bird feeders. I can’t enjoy my garden. She refuses to take them down. !!! I’m getting paranoid about rats they are driving me insane!!!
Everybody has rats in their garden. If you don’t believe you have rats, I challenge you to be in your garden when it’s dark sit quietly and you will see them scurrying around. Or put some poison in a bait box about £10 off Amazon and if you check the bait box after several days you will see the poison has gone indicating rodents are around. Load the bait box with disposable gloves, as rats can smell humans . I challenge anyone who says they have never seen rats !!!


via mobile 31/7/2023 at 5:17pm
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Hi, I don’t spray hot pepper sauce and washing up liquid all over the awning. Only put it on the plastic mud skirt and inside the parimiter of the awning. Doing that does not destroy the awning. My awning is way over 12 years old and is in great condition. My awning zips off in 5 sections so easy to clean and put up and take down and fold away.


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via mobile 31/7/2023 at 5:22pm
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Very amusing, never seen rodents on a campsite. We’ve been camping with a tent for years and never had a problem with rats,, ever!!!
But we get a caravan with awning and we’ve had no end of issues with rats!!!


via mobile 31/7/2023 at 5:36pm
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Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 24/7/2023
I used a rat trap outside my back door at home during Covid when the local takeaway was closed (rats came for the bird food), very efficient & instant. I’m surprised sites with rat problems don’t use the lockable enclosed box with poison bait placed in the usual rat runs.
But we never had rats in our tent awning (which had no sewn in groundsheet), but hedgehogs were regular visitors, stealing dog food.




Campsites do use bait boxes, but they aren’t monitored enough, skipsea sands, park dean campsite only check and restock the bait boxes once a month and they have hundreds of rats. And that’s no exaggeration !!!!!
I’ve got rats in my garden, thanks to my thoughtful neighbour who has several bird feeders, and refuses point blank to take them down. I’ve gone thro hundreds of ££££ of poison, traps, bait boxes, gloves and all the rat paraphernalia to try and eradicate them but as long as the bird feeder is there they keep coming. I have to restock the bait box every couple of days and I know I ain’t got hundreds of rats but they do breed quickly, so need to take action until they have been eradicated. A campsite we go to jansons in Elton they check their bait boxes twice a week. Every campsite is different , the big chain campsites are the worst for keeping on top of the problem. Family run campsites take it seriously and do all they can to keep their campsite rat free. This is the second year we’ve had rats in our garden, and I feel I cannot enjoy being in my garden. And that is one of the reasons we are selling up!!!!


31/7/2023 at 10:21pm
 Location: Cambs
 Outfit: Tin tent diddy tent BIG tent
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Some bait boxes have electronic remote monitoring built into them, and therefore you will not see anyone checking them unless they are triggered. If you can't get control of a rat infestation within 30 days, you are either doing something wrong or missing the root cause of the infestation. Permanent baiting with rodenticide is bad practice and leads to non target species such as field mice, voles, slugs etc eating the rodenticide and then being consumed by predators further up the food chain. Over 80% of barn owls tested have detectable levels of anticoagulant rodenticide in their livers. Out of interest, sewage treatment plants do not remove anticoagulant rodenticides in the water so in some cases such as water drawn from major rivers for drinking will be contaminated with anticoagulant rodenticides.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'



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