This week is time for the annual critter damage hunt, which serves more than just the purpose of protecting our RV from damage oddly enough.
Finally here in Victoria we will be getting a real cold snap, well at least according to forecasts. Cold snaps always see an increase in rodent intrusions for obvious reasons and RVs are a prime target even if parked in poorly sealed garages and especially long term RVs storage rental facilities. I also find that RV covers are in practice just an advertisement of free rent to pack rats and other critters here on Vancouver Island especially the highly invasive non native eastern grey and black squirrels that have replaced the native populations of western red ground squirrels almost completely in many areas of south Vancouver Island and the lower mainland of British Columbia in the last 30 years.
Trailers and RVs in general can and do become far too attractive to anything that can chew their way in or nest in many hidden places. So going underneath with a good light and checking any place that they can create or enlarge a hole in, is a good idea.
Where rodents are most likely to get in is not always obvious. And eventually removing the electrical covers, plumbing covers and cargo area covers as well as any covers over appliances might become necessary if any signs of intrusion anywhere are evident. Once in with an in out access they spread very quickly indeed and become sociable with others of their own species. Before one knows it the trailer is a rat or mouse apartment house with a for rent sign on it carried by the smell of the rodents. Mice which usually start the process are prey for Norway
(Rattus norvegicus) and other aggressive species of rats and can start the process up the ladder in size of damage by rodents leading up to and including pack rats and squirrels. So the best thing to do is first see if anything at all has been in or is starting to chew anywhere around pipes, wires and any other access openings underneath the trailer with a thorough visual inspection. Then check for any signs of intrusion inside the unit. Or if a motor home especially check carefully around the engine compartment. Rat and mice nests can be very hard to find indeed and even so well hidden that they are very hard to eradicate once established especially in larger RVs and all trailers.
Rats and mice are very skilled at home renos and are consummate interior decorators with a taste and the teeth and tenacity for doing damage that can make even professional home renovators look like amateurs. Pack rats even have color pallet capable design skill capabilities and sensibilities on the level of Martha Steward
So far we have avoided this aspect of RV maintenance but our neighbor has been plagued with them getting into his vehicles, RV and house. Even chewing at the wires on top of the motor of a Toyota Tundra pull vehicle, which he found out is a very common problem with mice nesting and chewing through the insulation foam under the air intake plenum of the 5.7 toyota engine in particular. Then nesting and reproducing on top of the engine while chewing on wire insulation which to the young mice in a nest explore as a possible food source. The same thing frequently happens very easily in RVs especially around the appliances and power equipment, motor compartments etc.
We have seen Western Pine Martins in many places turn pickup trucks and cars into cheap rental housing units and those not so little critters, though cute and friendly can and do have a penchant for also acting like pack rats. Like pack rats they like to abscond with things that are colorful and especially absconding with pieces of thermal and noise insulation material used as heat shields on engine compartment fire walls! They think nothing of chewing on hoses and wires to get at it the same as pack rats do.
When working up north years ago we had to keep our hoods propped up with a stick to discourage encroachment by weasels and rodents and the critters were even worse on the camp trailers.
Here on Vancouver Island there are large numbers of pack rats in some areas and they can be really hard to deal with. Especially in some of the coastal recreation parks if one leaves the site for even a short day trip. They can do surprising damage in a very short period of time.
All that aside, I personally do not believe in using poisons to control rodentia as I have over the years seen dead eagles and owls near camp grounds and work camps. Trap lines for rats and mice, yes, when necessary but warfarin and other chemicals that can and do go up the food chain are a fools tools in my books.
In only the past 10 years there have even been skunks showing up in RVs and transport trucks on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands that have started to move west. Careless and uncaring RV owners and truckers can and do easily transport and spread invasive critters. The last thing I would want to do is transplant more of the plague of eastern grey squirrels and Norway rats to areas of the Gulf Islands like Quadra or up island to the National Park or up further to Port Hardy where we love to camp. There are enough uncaring and blissfully ignorant people in RVs and vehicles in general doing exactly that already.
Time to check our RVs for critters intrusions
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