A noise in the night.

[Phantom]

Last night in our motorhome we heard some scratching about outside and guessed it was a badger trying to get at the bird table, but when I went out to look there was nothing! Tonight we heard the same, again I went out and nothing! But as the noise had come from the front my wife suggested that there might be an animal under the bonnet? Well the motorhome hasn't moved for about 2 months, so I grabbed a torch and took a look. A mouse had started to make a nest by chewing up the sound insulation on the bulkhead, but the little bleeder had also chewed right through the alarm siren wire. It's an easy fix though!

 

[mariesnowgoose]

Shouldn't laugh cos understand its annoying, but funny all the same

 

[Martin P]

Ive had 4 mousetraps under our bonnet this winter and have had about a dozen mice in them

 

[Herman]

With our van being parked up since September I was giving it a clean and noticed a mouse had been chewing the soundproofing under the bonnet, Didn't notice any noises when away the other weekend and it's not had another nibble but did think about setting traps, just a bit wary about putting a food source in the trap and inviting them back.

 

[Tezza33]

Find where they parked and put the traps in their car after chewing some of the soundproofing

 

[Phantom]

It was right at the back of the engine compartment behind something, the mouse barely left enough wire to access though fortunately it was only a single core. It was awkward but the Aldi gas soldering iron came in useful yet again. What a great buy that was!

 

[Pedalman]

With our van being parked up since September I was giving it a clean and noticed a mouse had been chewing the soundproofing under the bonnet, Didn't notice any noises when away the other weekend and it's not had another nibble but did think about setting traps, just a bit wary about putting a food source in the trap and inviting them back.

I think I agree, wouldn't it be best to put the mousetraps on the ground around the wheels where they start to climb up ? If the mice smell food in the engine compartment that's where they will go .

 

[trevskoda]

Get yourself a cat, problem solved.

 

[harrow]

For a few months I have been keeping mouse traps in my garage at home and catching mice, I can recommend the rentokil advanced traps, dearer but much better.

 

[n brown]

even with a cat you get problems .i heard a kerfuffle in the hall last night , cat had a new friend ,a small mouse ,and was playing throw him up some stairs ,catch him when he runs down ,then chuck him back up again . only way to stop him was catch the mouse ,slippery sod he was ,[ you can't grab them by the tail ,they come off ] and take him up the garden to freedom. didn't even thank me .

 

[r4dent]

take him up the garden to freedom. .

We had a mouse problem an called the professionals in.

I asked the guy to capture rather than kill and he agreed. When I said "take them to the bottom of the garden he just laughed". He explained unless he took them a couple of miles away they would return, attracted by the smell of their own urine.

He also told me that the best bait is peanut butter, but he wasn't allowed to use it because he would be liable if we had a visitor with an allergy.

 

[Andyjbee]

Get yourself a cat, problem solved.View attachment 97695

That would be cruel to keep a cat under the bonnet

 

[Pedalman]

We had a mouse problem an called the professionals in.

I asked the guy to capture rather than kill and he agreed. When I said "take them to the bottom of the garden he just laughed". He explained unless he took them a couple of miles away they would return, attracted by the smell of their own urine.

He also told me that the best bait is peanut butter, but he wasn't allowed to use it because he would be liable if we had a visitor with an allergy.

Yes, I found that out with mice in the house , I used a trap that didn't kill them and released them in the field about 100 yards away. I was told by the farmer they would return from that distance.
To shorten the story I put some red paint on the backs of the mice and sure enough they came back and were caught again !
I started releasing them a couple of miles away.
Peanut butter is a great bait it has a strong smell and they just can't resist it .

The farmer had a problem with rats in his sheds and he used peanut butter because the rats can't just pick it up and run away with it, they have to stay and lick it up giving time to shoot them with an air rifle. The same happens with mouse traps, the mouse can't grab the peanut butter and run off with it as they sometimes do with cheese .

 

[barryd]

A mouse eh? Thats nothing! I had a wild boar attack the scooter rack once. Wilding in some woods in the south of France. About six in the morning there was an almighty clatter right behind my head where I was sleeping and I very nearly shat myself. Bolt upright I leapt out of the door still probably half asleep to see the back end of a large pig like thing thundering off into the bushes.

 

[trevskoda]

A mouse eh? Thats nothing! I had a wild boar attack the scooter rack once. Wilding in some woods in the south of France. About six in the morning there was an almighty clatter right behind my head where I was sleeping and I very nearly shat myself. Bolt upright I leapt out of the door still probably half asleep to see the back end of a large pig like thing thundering off into the bushes.

You should have rubbed your eyes, you were on a dogging site.

 

[Norfolk NewBoy]

My daughter (who no longer lives with us) has a peanut allergy.
We use chocolate spread in the traps and KILL the little blighters.

I had the engine out last October and "something" had chewed through much of a fuel pipe.

 

[r4dent]

That would be cruel to keep a cat under the bonnet

Yep. My cat is halfway down the exhaust pipe, and I think that is quite usual .

 

[Caz]

We had a mouse problem an called the professionals in.

I asked the guy to capture rather than kill and he agreed. When I said "take them to the bottom of the garden he just laughed". He explained unless he took them a couple of miles away they would return, attracted by the smell of their own urine.

.............

The last mouse I caught - I let it go at the end of the drive and he/she/non-binary ran off into next doors' garden, never to be seen again. Maybe they have more food about the house than I do.

A few years ago, I woke up about 1 am and could hear splashing sounds coming from the bathroom. I thought that's funny, my son must have come in late and decided to have a bath, and I went back to sleep.

Next morning I went to the bathroom and there was a drowned rat floating in the toilet. No idea where it came from. Poor thing must have been struggling to get out of the bowl.

 

[Pedalman]

A mouse eh? Thats nothing! I had a wild boar attack the scooter rack once. Wilding in some woods in the south of France. About six in the morning there was an almighty clatter right behind my head where I was sleeping and I very nearly shat myself. Bolt upright I leapt out of the door still probably half asleep to see the back end of a large pig like thing thundering off into the bushes.

It's a wonder the wild boar didn't attack you when you got out , they can be very aggressive and some are twice the size of a large farm pig. As you may know the French go out on shooting parties to kill the wild boar because of the damage they do, sometimes the boar charge at the shooters rather than run away.

 

[barryd]

It's a wonder the wild boar didn't attack you when you got out , they can be very aggressive and some are twice the size of a large farm pig. As you may know the French go out on shooting parties to kill the wild boar because of the damage they do, sometimes the boar charge at the shooters rather than run away.

I did wonder that. Afterwards. I suspect it was just being inquisitive but the noise of something suddenly stirring was enough to set it running in the opposite direction. I remember riding the scooter down a back road that was hemmed in on both sides by short steep rocks about ten feet high in Provence not far from Gordes and there were signs all along about the Wild Boars. Apparently they will attack if they cant easily flee which they couldnt on that road. Thankfully,we never saw one. We did get chased by a Cow once though.