This winter, we picked up an unwelcomed guest. A very unwelcome guest. He or she (perhaps they) moved in without an invitation. They moved in quietly, and I had no clue they were living with us until I sent my husband outside to our Motorhome’s storage bay to collect a roll of paper towels one cool March morning. I thought it was strange he returned with two rolls of towels until I saw the collateral damage. My beautiful, white rolls were tattered and shredded. At this point, I thought I would deal with them in about a month when the weather warms up.
We moved our Motorhome from Lafayette, Indiana, to Tunica, MS, at the end of March. At this point, we had not yet given our unwanted guest an eviction notice. However, after moving to Tunica, I finally bought a box of glue traps, and with a strong verbal command shouted to the wind, “Move or be glued! Your choice!” And with that, I chucked a glue trap into our overflow household product storage bay.
I checked the trap daily for a couple of weeks, and I guess my friends took me seriously because I never managed to glue any tiny feet. These stealthy tenants seemed to have moved out as quietly as they moved in.
Last week, we decided to clean out and organize all of our under-coach storage bays. We diligently and systematically emptied out our coach bays with the finesse and grace of a drunken sailor, giving our lawn area the appearance of a chaotic mess! Bay after bay, yielded turd after turd, and the abundance of mouse poop we acquired could have fertilized an entire farm all season long! With the number of turds we discovered, we thought about renaming our Motorhome ’Mouse-Poop Landing.’ It would have been a fitting name!
Not only did our friends move in uninvited, but they threw a massive housewarming party for themselves. They brought the food, and their friends brought the fun! Night after night, they quietly worked preparing for the party of all parties. They stayed hidden, only entering the main domicile when we were all tucked away, snoring soundly in our beds. Then, they would steal enormous amounts of gourmet dog food, carefully creating mounds and mounds of delicious treats.
As we worked on the bays, eventually, we uncovered their modest home. It was a small country home nestled in a mound of Downey fresh beach towels. However, after creating their beautifully unique domicile, they began to trash the place, leaving my beautiful stack of beach towels in a stinky, tattered, soiled mess.
We cleaned and organized, throwing away dirty tablecloths and towels and sanitizing everything else. While cleaning, we saw no evidence of any current occupants. However, I did leave the glue traps, and I hope our little friends read my warnings through them- “Absolutely, No Trespassing Allowed!” “Stay Out!” ____________________________________________________________________________________________
This was our first Winter living full-time in our motorhome. What are some effective ways to keep these pesky little critters out of our home? Please comment, your ideas are welcome. We do not wish to rename my motorhome, Mouse-Poop Landing! Thanks, bunches. -Laurie
330 SQFT 