Rats in your van? how to get rid of them? (the rodent, not dirtbag rats)

So we’ve all been there before, sleeping in our car/van and you hear the unmistakable scratching sound of a little rodent (rat, mouse, etc) running around inside your vehicle.  

I went around and under my vehicle looking for little holes but couldn’t find anything.  I know they are resourceful little guys and can squeeze through the tiniest of hole.  

I asked a friend and she said that she puts the old school style mouse traps inside her van.  they will catch one occasionally.  

any tips from the mound project hive mind?  thanks y’all!!  

PS - wrapping the van in chicken wire is not an option.  i’ve heard some people do this when they leave their car parked at the base of the mountain for a long alpine adventure.  i’m usually not in one spot long enough to make this a worthwhile solution.  

funny story.  I had a mouse stowaway from Yosemite back to Southern California.  for days he wouldn’t leave the van.  my final solution was to take out all the food from the van and just let the van sit for a week.  he eventually left.  

I tried everything to get them out but he wouldn’t leave.

chicken wire?! To stop a mouse???

Tent the van!

Have you tried just accepting the fact that we live with other creatures of the earth,  and showing them respect?  You can like, live in harmony with the local fauna man...

 Living with animals is a thing we've done for millennia, not all of it good. Mice are scary. They make creepy noises when you sleep. Plus they give you hanta! Kill those varmint!

If you leave your van in spots where there are mice, particularly when you aren't sleeping in it, you'll get mice. Traps work. Use them when you get em, otherwise keep it clean and keep your food in mouse-proof containers.

Get a crag cat.

Mice don’t care for some smells ammonia, peppermint . My strategy for home is to seal possible entry points, I place ammonia soaked cotton balls at what I suspect are entry points, replacing every few days, I also have the sonic things broadcasting at same points. I have traps set out , to monitor rodent population. With this two pronged approach I get no mice in my traps, without the ammonia I’ll have mice in maybe 4 of 6 traps.The cool kids use the term integrated pest management.Reducing clutter will help as well , traps I would think could easily eliminate your pest.

 I've read that with an infestation the majority aren't caught by traps. If traps fail to solve the problem rat poison is more effective. Worked in our house.

Traps and the soaked cotton balls described above. You really want to get them out though. "Living in harmony" with them is not an option in your vehicle or they will end up costing you dearly when they chew up your electrical wiring. I had them chew up wires in my headliner and it took weeks in the shop for them to figure out what was going on (probably shitty mechanics too) I like the plastic snap traps with the teeth. They seem to have a high, quick success rate.

The vanlifers at vedauwoo this summer had so many mice they resorted to the ol' bucket trap method

Check your cabin air filter first, its uncanny how much they love this spot. 

I’ve had to resort to placing traps at the entry point outside the vehicle-the tires- so they don’t even make it inside.  Seems like they mostly run around at night and lying awake waiting for the snap wasn’t cutting it. 

Put a few snakes in your van for a week. 

Do you have power in your van? If so, those ultrasonic mouse deterrents work very well. 

Turns out mice love the van life too. If you find yourself parking near other van campers and one of them has a mouse problem soon all of you will have a mouse problem. Its a pretty good gig I think, for a mouse. New pastures all the time. Just have to be on the train when it leaves the station.

I had some ground wasps build a nest in the driver's rear view mirror on my van this spring. These wasps are docile and will only sting if you step on one of them while mowing the lawn barefoot. But you would swear they are yellow jackets, when you see them. They aren't, though. I couldn't bear to gas them with poison, I dunno, for what? I knew I could flush them out with the garden hose but I decided to live and let live. So these became my traveling wasps. They made it through the whole summer though I'd lose a few on every trip - they'd come out in the oddest places and didn't always get back in before I left.

And I think, though I can't be sure, that having wasps swarming around your vehicle is a theft deterrent.

Btw, in the early fall they abandoned the van nest and relocated to the eves of my front porch. I let them be there, too. Porch pirates and Amazon drivers beware.... :)

We live in a heavily wooded area in New England and have frequent mouse 'guests' in both our vehicles (as well as other places), a situation made worse during the pandemic as we are primarily working from home, so often the cars sit idle for days in a row. At the suggestion of a mechanic who had just cleaned a nest out of the car heating system, we have started using a product that goes by the wonderful name of Fresh Cab Biological Rodent Repellant. It comes in small packets that you spread around your vehicle--4-6 for our SUVs, so likely more for a van. Every time I open the car door it smells like I am in an evergreen forest--which is fine with me. We've only recently started using them ( a few weeks) so I can't say anything definitive but, so far, so good.

I have never had an "Infestation" but have dealt with them off and on. You want to deal with them, I've had them chew away at some of the insulation and "carpet" like materials in the engine, thank god they haven't touched the electrical wiring, but I have heard of rats/mice chewing through peoples electrical wiring in the engine. A few solutions:

1. Find out where they are hanging out. I have deliberately left "loud" trash (like a grocery bag with food in it or something) in various parts of the van to see if I can hear where they are coming from. More times than not, they are living in the engine compartment and come through by the gas and break pedals. Another thing, look for poop and that will show you where they hang out.

2. Once you identified where they hang out, set 3 to 4 sticky mouse traps in the vicinity. I like the sticky ones. I had the old style conventional "snap" traps and those bastards would just eat the cheese or peanut butter down to where the trap wouldn't deploy - smart buggers. A few traps under the engine or tires will help too.

3. If I am in an area with potential for mice/rats, I leave the hood of my car open at night. Rodents like your engine because it is warmer than being outside. So if you leave it open there shelter isnt as good anymore and it might deter them.

Overall, they are super annoying and usually do not go away on there own so you'll want to do something about it.

I had a buddy hanging out with me last time I was at Indian Creek.  Kept hopping all over me.  I just moved camp in the morning and he didn't follow.

Cute video.

I think it was cause I left some banana peels and other food out.  Next time I am out, I think I'll switch to closed containers for trash / foods.

Guaranteed best technique

Helped a friend make a trap for his RV that consisted of a thin stick overhanging a bucket of water. Tape the stick lightly enough so that when it gets weighted by a mouse it'll fall into the bucket. Put peanut butter out on the end of the stick to lure the mouse out there. Worked within an hour. Deadmau5.