# Keeping mice out of a trailer



## bluegill addict (Aug 13, 2005)

Does anybody know how to keep mice out of a trailer that stays at the lease year round? Our old trailer is uninhabitable due to a rat dying somewhere inside the wall, you could smell the trailer from 50 yards down wind. 

So far we have tried glue traps, poison, peppermint oil, and dryer sheets with no noticeable progress. No food or corn is stored inside the trailer either. The only thing we've managed to do is make the trailer smell like dead mice.

We have a new (to us) trailer arriving in a couple of weeks and would like to stop mice from entering the camper to begin with. The current plan is to clear all vegetation within 20 yards of the trailer and use spray foam/steel wool to plug all the holes underneath. I've heard mothballs repel them but have not tried them yet. Another idea of mine is to put metal skirting around the trailer to stop them from getting close to it, anybody tried this? The trailer is used fairly often during deer season but visits after that can be several months apart.


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## AvianQuest (Feb 7, 2006)

bluegill addict said:


> uninhabitable due to a rat dying somewhere inside the wall, you could smell the trailer from 50 yards down wind.


Sure it wasn't a beaver?

They shouldn't be able to go through course steel wool, but it's larger areas try packing it with steel wool and then cover it with hardware cloth.

They should be able to chew thru spray foam faster than you can keep up with it.


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## bluegill addict (Aug 13, 2005)

I'm going plug the holes with spray foam then embed the steel wool into the foam for a better seal, that way a pack rat cant pull the steel wool out.


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## Main Frame 8 (Mar 16, 2007)

Steel mesh for larger areas. Might need to use gorilla glue if screws are not practical.










Steel wool everywhere else.

And don't wait until you get to the lease to do it. I'd knock this out at the house where I have easier access to it and a hardware store down the road where needed.

If you have electricity at the camp, I'd grab a set of the electronic mouse/rat devices that put out the high frequency sounds to discourage them from setting up camp.


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## slabnabbin (May 25, 2010)

We have had the same problem for years in south Texas and the best thing is to get a wild cat and leave him there. I took one down to the lease last year and fed him for a couple days and he has been good to go ever since. No one was there for about 2 months and when another lease member went last week the cat was eating a quail in the driveway.


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## bluegill addict (Aug 13, 2005)

I've thought about using the electronic devices but the electricity is shut off whenever we leave.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I have used hardware cloth.


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## tec (Jul 20, 2007)

I keep a couple of trays of Decon in my trailer in the woods. It kinda works.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

HARDWARE CLOTH WITH VERY SMALL HOLES ACROSS THE ENTIRE BOTTOM. Seems the only sure way to do it. My buddies have done it and was successful.

Actually they used very light sheetmetal.


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## Bill C (May 23, 2004)

Moth balls have really cut down or eliminated them from my storage unit. I was surprised but it sure made a difference.


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## trout250 (Aug 24, 2005)

if you put steel wool in a hole unwrap it make it into more of a sandwich. I usually use a 2ought grade coarse enough to really get into the little boggers teeth.


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## grayson (Oct 21, 2011)

slabnabbin said:


> We have had the same problem for years in south Texas and the best thing is to get a wild cat and leave him there. I took one down to the lease last year and fed him for a couple days and he has been good to go ever since. No one was there for about 2 months and when another lease member went last week the cat was eating a quail in the driveway.


This - we tried everything too and a cat solved the problem


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## barbless (Jul 27, 2004)

I always have a couple boxes of decon open and they hit it pretty hard. Been working great for 4 years now. I guess they eat the decon and go somewhere else to die cause I always see mouse **** around the decon but never see/smell dead ones.


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## FLAT FISHY (Jun 22, 2006)

*these*

these work well for me but we leave the power on to the cabin,,6 years not one mouse and we are near an old rat infested barn


bluegill addict said:


> I've thought about using the electronic devices but the electricity is shut off whenever we leave.


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## JWS.HOOKEM (Jun 24, 2008)

*Mice*

I ran distribution centers for Frito-Lay for years. Lots of opportunities for mice with open doors, inbound shippments, etc.Here's my thoughts: Mice are dadgum hard to keep out! A mouse can get through a 1/4" openning, about the size of the eraser on a #2 pencil. Fact. A rat 1/2". Keep the doors closed, eliminate any food and WATER source, apply poison baits liberally both inside and outside, peanut butter baited glue boards work great, close all opennings with steelwool, but remember steelwool will rust and fall apart if exposed to rain/humidity. Moth balls work good too in closets and cabnets if you can stand the smell. We use them under the hoods of our jeeps and Rangers. Camp cats help too!


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## Bottomsup (Jul 12, 2006)

Cats are best and will keep snakes away also.


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## bluegill addict (Aug 13, 2005)

Getting a cat is the last resort since we enjoy having a couple of coveys of quail hanging around camp. I'm going to build a couple of the 5 gallon bucket traps that drown the mice and leave them down there to do their thing.


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## Raven (Jan 22, 2009)

Invite Johnny Quest down for a few days.


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## grayson (Oct 21, 2011)

barbless said:


> I always have a couple boxes of decon open and they hit it pretty hard. Been working great for 4 years now. I guess they eat the decon and go somewhere else to die cause I always see mouse **** around the decon but never see/smell dead ones.


I put the decon type poison bait out and they store it in my boots and my drawers -


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## Folsetth (Jan 18, 2007)

If you can leave the power on, the electronic devices work good.
Do not leave food out, for example an open bag of chips or bread.
Before you leave for the weekend, clean up very good, sweep, mop, wipe counter tops and table down with a good cleaner, clean the kitchen sink really good. Mice and rats can smell the smallest of crumbs.
Place moth balls under the trailer and around camp, this will help with snakes and scorpions too.
Doing all of the above have worked very well for me in the past.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mywifeshusband (Nov 19, 2006)

I have been told that fox urine keeps them away Beau


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## Spec-Rig.006 (Nov 2, 2007)

bluegill addict said:


> Does anybody know how to keep mice out of a trailer that stays at the lease year round?


Fill it with snakes.


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## hunter98 (May 26, 2008)

Nuclear bomb!!!


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## Holiday (Jul 31, 2006)

A little Golden Marlin does a good job, so i hear.


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## Superman70 (Aug 13, 2014)

No go on the golden marlin. I put it the horse barn a whole can at a time. Kills flies but not mice. I put the bait sticks out and use the electronic devices. And a good barn cat is worth having.


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## Screeminreel (Jun 2, 2004)

We fixed up an old farm house when i was young and it was heavily infested with critters. I would plug up holes one weekend and come back the next to find it all chewed out. We tried everything from wire mesh to steel wool and nothing even slowed them down.

Finally we used the D-Com powder mixed in with the caulking, along with those green log type baits chunked up under the house. After about a month nothing noted of any sort of rats or mice. For the caulking mixture I just pulled the plug out of the rear of the tube using a pair of needle nosed pliers, dug all I could out of the tube using a thin spatula, then mixed in one box per tube and put it all back in and went to town caulking up holes. We put screen wire across the big ones then slathered the mixed up goop across it.

Still have some in place to this day and that was back in the late 70's when we installed it. What is covered up by the dried outside is protected for future use when they come back and try again. Least thats what it appears. We see some new sign every once in a while be never have anything chewed up or find any sign in the house.


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## Miles2Fish (Dec 2, 2008)

Don't leave ANY food.....


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## MissingSTexas (Oct 3, 2007)

Superman70 said:


> No go on the golden marlin. I put it the horse barn a whole can at a time. Kills flies but not mice. I put the bait sticks out and use the electronic devices. And a good barn cat is worth having.


I bet if it were mixed with peanut butter or something similar it might be more successful on mice/rats...


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## Bearkat69 (Dec 10, 2014)

try golden malrin


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## mrau (Mar 17, 2010)

http://www.nixalite.com/FreshCabRepellent.aspx

A deer lease buddy loaned me a few bags of it. We've both had zero mouse problems in our deer lease trailers but I can't guarantee this product is why.


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

Years ago I bought a trailer and my dad wasn't doing anything so came along with me to get it to the lease. I ran into town for something and came back and looked like it snowed under my trailer, you could barely see dirt through the moth balls he'd spread out under there. I never had anything unwanted in that trailer and it was old beat up and full of holes.


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## crocket (Feb 12, 2007)

All that stuff don't work that great, the ultimate protection is for u to get some cat poop and snake poop, yes snake poop. Put that stuff in every corner and outside next to ur tires and Jacks, u can get snake poop at a pet store
Think about it, it only makes common sense


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## redduck (Jul 26, 2006)

make sure you seal the holes from the toilet and holding tanks. This is the easiest way for them to get in.


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## MLK (Oct 5, 2009)

Get you some Top Gun from FarmTek, rats and mice only take one bite or one lethal dose and die a day or two later. keeps them from eating all the poison. your poison then last longer and kills more of the pest.


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## Dukman (Sep 21, 2007)

Ask any feed store why they have cats. 

I bet the cat and snake poop suggestion would be delightful. :headknock


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## grayson (Oct 21, 2011)

Dukman said:


> Ask any feed store why they have cats.
> 
> I bet the cat and snake poop suggestion would be delightful. :headknock


Yep - have tried all the above - moth balls, fox pee, traps, and on and on. We got two cats and all solved. Think I would give up the quail in camp in trade for no mice


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