Your RV is your home on the road! It gives you unmatched freedom, endless fun, priceless vacations and sometimes the need for rodent control. Wait. Rodent control? That’s not how it’s supposed to go, is it? Unfortunately, for even the most experienced RV-ers, that RV could also become home for some rather undesirable guests.

When the temperatures drop, rodents will do just about anything they can to find shelter and warmth. If that shelter happens to be inside your RV, then you need to deal with it at the earliest opportunity. Rats and mice are notoriously fast breeders, can chew through unthinkable materials and cause endless damage. Whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter, here are some tips to keep rodents out of your RV.

Block Potential Entry Points

The first line of defense is prevention. Rats and mice are incredibly able and intelligent creatures. They’re also physically very capable and can squeeze through seemingly-impossibly small spaces. If you’re aware of any holes, cracks, and gaps around your RV, deal with them immediately. They only worsen over time, and the longer you leave that opportunity open, the sooner rodents will take advantage of it.

Do A Little Housework

Your RV is your home on the road, right? So treat it like your home! Keep it as clean and tidy as you can. And that means really clean. At times, you’ll be sleeping under the stars, in the wild, surrounded by all kinds of wildlife. And, if any animal is able to smell food inside your RV while you’re parked up, it’ll be rodents.

Rats have an incredibly strong sense of smell. They can smell food inside homes when they’re outside them, and can even detect changes in the weather based on chemical balances in the air. Combine their hunger with a need to find shelter and warmth, and you’ll have a rodent determined to join you inside.

Store Your RV Correctly

When your RV isn’t getting used, it suddenly becomes a very attractive potential nest site for rodents. A stationery, stored, permanent roof over their head? They’ll do anything they can to get inside. Make sure you store your RV correctly and don’t leave any access points open. Check it regularly and when you store it, make sure that it could not be any cleaner.

If you’re parking up for the night, then try to do so on hard, solid ground like concrete or tar. Avoid muddy, grassy pitches. The same goes for any trailers you have attached to your RV. Fail to store your trailer or the equipment within it correctly and you’ll find it destroyed before you know it.

Use Rodent Traps and Repellents

Rodent traps are notoriously ineffective inside your home. Rats are suspicious of unfamiliar surroundings and unlike the cartoons, they won’t even be slightly interested in a block of cheese. While traps may be slightly more useful inside your RV, they’re still a far-from-perfect solution.

Other RV users will swear by homemade rodent treatments. Solutions soaked in peppermint oil are known to deter rodents and stop them from entering your RV. Other RV-ers insist that strong-smelling herbs, garlic cloves, and even specific soaps placed at entry points to your RV will make rodents think twice about entering.

As well as keeping you awake at night and making you uncomfortable, rodents carry all kinds of disease and infection. They’ll contaminate your food supplies, chew through electric and can even create fire hazards.

It’s important that you do everything you can to prevent rodents from gaining access to your RV. Hopefully, these tips will help you keep your RV and your next trip trouble-free. If you’re already experiencing problems with rodents, call the rodent control experts at Truly Nolen.