RE: What you need to know about mouse nests!

[Campinfools]

 
We arrived at the campsite last Friday afternoon for our first trip of the season.  DH went to crank up the roof on our 2001 Westlake and it would barely budge and was making very bad noises.  We called the dealer who said " betcha you ve got a mouse nest."   Well, he was exactly right.  DH crawled under the PU, removed the plate on the gear box, and found an ENORMOUS mouse nest which was causing the mechanism to bind up.   We got it cleaned out, then sprayed it with silicone, and eventually (about 5 hours later which included the trip to the store for the silicone) we got the roof up.  
 
 The last time the PU was opened up was several months ago; if we had tried to open it before leaving we would have discovered the problem sooner, but we decided to just load everything in the TV instead.  
 
 The 5 hour delay could have been much worse.  Our original plan was to leave Thursday afternoon, which would ve put us at a dark campsite at 8:00 pm with no way to pop up and the dealership closed.  Instead, because it was raining, we left Friday morning.  Once we got settled we had a great weekend.
 
 I ve been reading this Board for over a year and never read anything about this, so I thought I d post my story.  We have to bring the PU in to the dealer, because although we got the roof up, then back down, it still sounds unhealthy and may have some damage.  
 
 So, my advice is to pop up before you leave, or if you don t, make sure you have room to sleep in the truck if you need to!!
 
 
 Happy camping.

[C. Hains]

 Campinfools
I am sorry for your misfortune -- sounds nasty![: (]  I have a 2002 Westlake and store it outside at a storage facility in the winter.  I worried all winter about critters possibly nesting in there somewhere.  Have you gotten any advice from the dealer or anywhere else about how to avoid that in the future?  Hope it doesn t cause you any more problems.
 Thanks,
 Carole

[birol]

 Campinfools
Not trying to beat you or steal your thread but, there was a mice nest in the air filter area of my car [>:][>:][>:]

[DC]

 Campinfools
Just a note.....3 people near where I live have died from hantavirus exposure just recently.  Which is exposure to mice droppings.  Specifically deer mice.  I m not kidding.  Around here mice droppings are getting to be a serious situation.  There is no cure yet.  The CDC was even around here trying to find out what was going on.  Happened in New Mexico also.  It comes on like a bad cold then you get shortness of breath which is the tell tale sign.  If dying from sex isn t bad enough, the aroma of mice turds might do ya in!  Once again....not joking.  My wife is the Lab Scientist at a Medical Lab.

[angelsmom10]

 Campinfools
Drawing a blank about mice, but when we picked up our new PU, the dealer said to put moth balls in a small bottle with holes in the outside compartments (ie vent area for furnace, refrig, etc...) -- this will deter wasps from setting up nests and I think also will help mice (having a senior moment).

[birol]

 Campinfools
If I recall corectly, not any moth ball, but the cedar scented ones. I was recommended to put them when we had mice in our garage .....
 
 Obviously mice hate the cedar smell   ....

[campingboaters]

 Campinfools
I know EXACTLY how you feel Campinfools!!
 
 Last year, we had gone on our first trip of the season and a few weeks later (2, MAYBE 3 - tops), we went on another trip.  I had left everything in good condition on the first trip, so I didn t have to pop open the camper before the next trip.  When we got to the campground and popped up, we kept finding black ants -- one here, one there... I soon discovered their nest in the egg crate mattress on the one bunk -- HUNDREDS of black ants and their egg sacks.  I am SO thankful we had a vacuum to suck up those buggers and we threw out the egg crate mattress.   [&:] My skin was crawling all weekend.  Luckily, we had a friend watch our youngest so she didn t see all those ants -- or she would not have slept in the camper that weekend.  Since that was her bed, I wouldn t let her sleep in it -- it s a good thing our Coleman had a king sized bed on the other end for the three of us!  
 
 So, the moral of BOTH these stories... crank up the top before your trip or you might find something you don t want in your camper when you are away from home and un-prepared...
 
 

[Campaholics]

 Campinfools
To add to the mouse tales...
 
 Last October I popped up a few weeks after our last trip.  We found a lot of mouse droppings, a partial roll of paper towels chewed up, a hole in the front bunk end curtain.  After winterizing, and double checking for food (we didn t leave any), I put it away and spent the winter woundering if we were going to have more guests.  Luckly we didn t.  
 
 On my To Do list is to silicone seal every hole I can find.
 
 Bob

[deniski]

 Campinfools
If you are from the western half of the US (I don t know about Canada), then you should spray the mouse nest with a bleach solution (1.5 cups bleach to 1 gallon of water) to THOROUGHLY WET IT so that you stop any airborne dust problems while removing the nest.  Hantavirus is rare, but very serious.  To see a map of states where cases of Hantavirus have been found, check this CDC link:
 
   http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/casemap.htm