A Mousy RV Experience

Mitch | Feb 02, 2010 | Comments 0

by Laura Weaver

We were on our annual trek to Florida via the east coast of North and South Carolina. We were in the midst of the remnants of Hurricane Ida from the south and a Nor’easter developing along the eastern coast. We had chilly temperatures, strong wind, and sheets of rain coming at us from all directions.

The creature poked his pointy little nose up between the windshield and the dashboard on the passenger side…my side of the motorhome. Not sure what I’m seeing, I peer more closely. Up pops his furry brown head. EEK! I scream, at the top of my lungs and he disappears back where he came from.

I decide it wasn’t such a good idea to scream while my husband is driving on a busy highway in these adverse weather conditions, as he swerves and swears. “There’s a mouse in the house!” I explain. It’s not that I’m afraid of the mouse…it’s just that I certainly didn’t expect to see it INSIDE our motor home!

When we make a stop at a Rest Area, both my husband and I investigate…finding no mouse or trace of him/her. “Maybe I scared him away”, I suggest…hoping with all my might that was the case.

Stopping at a campground for the night, we inquire about purchasing a mouse trap, but the camp store does not stock that item. I carefully inspect inside our cupboards and under our kitchen sink. To my dismay, I find mouse “traces”, which I immediately clean.

The next day of travel goes by uneventfully. I find no more traces of the mouse in the cupboards. “I really think I did scare him away”, I happily announce. We check into another campground and get ready for bed. Imagine my dismay when I pull back the bed sheets and find mouse “traces” all through our sheets. YUCK! I strip the bed, cursing under my breath as I head to the campground laundry room. That chore finished, I sleep fitfully, wondering what kind of damage a mouse in our motor home may cause. Will it gnaw a hole in the woodwork? Will it chew our electric wiring? Will it bite our little dog as she sleeps? I know if I want to ever sleep peacefully again, we HAVE to get rid of that pest.

Since mousetraps aren’t available in the campground stores, we make a stop at a store with the primary purpose of buying a trap and end up with a set of three. We set the traps and place them in strategic areas where we think the mouse would be. Upon waking the next morning, we quickly check the traps. No mouse. We repeat the process the next night. Still no mouse. By this time, I’m really getting annoyed.

The term “three’s a charm” is true, because on the third night we set the traps, we finally got him. My emotions ranged from relief to dismay. I never thought we’d have a mouse in our motor home, but we did. I never thought it would be so difficult to get rid of the mouse, but it was. I never thought I’d feel sad he had to go, but I do. Here’s hoping we don’t have to go through this again.