RV Fact or Fiction: Pest Control Edition | Ep 32

RV Pest Control

Today, on episode 32, we’re diving into our first ever RV Fact or Fiction episode, where we examine common RV and camping hacks to see if they live up to the hype. Today we’re focusing on Pest Control and Deterrents

I’ve rounded up 4 of the most common RV Pest Control Hacks and we’re going to do a deep dive on each of them, and see what the experts have to say, as well as coming to our own conclusions about each. There’s only a few on this list we haven’t personally tried, so I’m really excited to see the feedback from this show to see if you agree.

Alright let’s dive into one of the most passionate topics we’ve come across (besides whether to leave your black tank valve open at a full hook-up site – and you’ll want to listen to episode 2 to discover why that’s not a good idea.) Anyway, this topic is that of rodent control!

Now – I’m not going to list every single method out there, because we’d be here all day, but I did pick the top 3 most popular natural methods being talked about in the RV community for rodents: Irish Spring Bar Soap, Dryer Sheets and Peppermint Oil.

Moth Balls

If you follow this topic, you’ll notice that I left Moth Balls off the list, and for good reason, but I do want to address why:

Did you know that using moth balls as a pesticide for mice is illegal according to EPA regulations? While some advocate for the use of moth balls for mice elimination, using them in a way that’s not clearly stated on the label is illegal, not to mention they can be harmful to the environment, pets and people. Their labels should specify exactly how, where and when they can be legally used just as other pesticides do. Aside from that reason—it turns out that according to experts backed by empirical evidence, it isn’t even effective. So let’s move onto Irish Spring.

Irish Spring Bar Soap

Long touted as a cure all for keeping the  mice away when your trailer is in storage, the strong smell of Irish Spring soap is said to deter mice from setting up camp in your camper. So – does it work?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say the official RV Canucks verdict – is that it is Fiction. Some of you may know that my day job is HR, which revolves around a lot of metrics that help us make decisions. I’m always looking at data to see what kind of story it can tell us. Unfortunately there’s a distinct lack of empirical evidence, when it comes to this method, however the one scientific study I did see, plus the observations I’ve gathered from a multitude of RV forums that discuss the subject make me pretty confident in my call—heres why:

1. A Fellow named Shawn Woods hosts a Mouse Mythbusters segment on Youtube he calls “Mousetrap Monday’s” where he tries various methods of rodent control and reports on the results.

In this case he placed several bars of Irish Spring Soap in several different areas of his barn for a period of one week with some food, set up night vision cameras and recorded the interactions between the soap, and the rodents. While the soap is fragrant, it did not deter the mice. Each night the food was eaten, and the presence of the soap was not enough to change the behaviour of the mice—and in the case of the Norweigan Rats, they returned night after night to snack on the bar of soap.

• The second reason I am listing this in the Fiction category is because I painstakingly went back to 2019 and recounted every instance of rodent control I could pull up on message boards and made a spreadsheet counting how many times each method was mentioned as a solution, and whether commenters had luck with the method. Being that it reduced or eliminated the problem, or that they tried it and they’ve never had a problem. Overall I had over 525 comments – a small sample size for the overall RV community, but I think it was a representative snapshot from varying geographical locales.

What I surmised from my own data was that 89% of the people who swore by the use of Irish Spring soap as a deterrent, heard it worked so tried it when they bought a trailer and they’ve never had a problem. Only 5% of people said that it reduced or eliminated the problem, and 6% didn’t comment one way or another.

The reason this tells me that it may be unreliable is because there is a great chance that the reason those people never had a rodent problem, is that they otherwise wouldn’t have, because of other mitigating factors – and I’ll give you us as an example. We’ve talked about this in a previous episode, and for 7 years, we’ve stored our trailer at a farm near us and never had a rodent problem. Period. And the theory is, that because we are parked outside, in Snowy, Cold Ontario right beside a comfy warm barn with lots of smaller trailers and livestock – the mice have everything they need to keep them satisfied that they don’t wander outside too much. There are a ton of factors that play into why someone may not have mice, and there might be factors tipping the scales for Irish Spring soap, but I’m not seeing the overwhelming evidence that suggests it’s a reliable method to use (unlike one of the other natural methods we’ll talk about on the list)

Okay – so hate me if you want, but that’s the verdict. Onto the next method which is Dryer Sheets.

Dryer Sheets

Again, I used the same two methods we just talked about to determine effectiveness, and my overall Fact of Fiction Decree is that it’s somewhere in the middle. Here’s why.

In the Mousetrap Monday experiment 3 different species of rodent interacted with the dryer sheets, including this time, in an enclosed box with only one point of entry, which would greatly increase the concentration of the fragrance. In the week long experiment, all of the species ate all of the seeds placed on or around the dryer sheets and they even took some of the dryer sheets to use for nesting material.

Seems cut and dry, however in my own personal research, conducted in the same fashion, I had 487 responses, dating back to 2019 which clearly specify – BOUNCE dryer sheets. The Mouse Mythbusters experiment used Snuggle which I have to include as a factor in the ineffective rating it got. On a personal note – I use bounce dryer sheets and leave them in the trailer year-round, so out main cupboard reeks like dryer sheets (or I should say, smells like a fresh summer breeze) and we’ve never had rodent activity, BUT remember my theory as to why.

I would like to see the experiment repeated with Bounce and see if that changes the story, but overall there was about a 50/50 split on whether they work or not – again, not enough to give it the RV Canucks seal of approval.

Last in the rodent category, before we move onto ants, is the use of peppermint oil!

Peppermint Oil

Now I’m going to eat crow, because I fully expected this to be complete woo, pseudoscience nonsense, but I have to say both the scientific data AND the anecdotal data fully support this method as an effective rodent deterrent with one major caveat.

So the two methods most commonly used are cotton balls soaked in pure peppermint oil and placed around the trailer, or a product by pest control brand Victor which are stick on peppermint pods that you can stick anywhere mice might be found. Kind of like Glade scented items, but that work in reverse.

In the Mousetrap Monday experiment, placing several of the peppermint pods in the enclosed box I spoke about earlier not only caused the mice to skip the snack, it altered their behaviour over the week so that they avoided the box. The key to success, being the small space the pods were in, however most places you would stick peppermint oil in a trailer will be enclosed spaces, so that’s a plus.

On the totally non-scientific statistical side, I did note that peppermint oil was surprisingly mentioned roughly 60% less than Irish Spring, but nearly everyone who mentioned it as a viable option seemed to have a pest-reduction story to share—with one notable caveat and that was that you need to replenish the scent every 2-3 weeks, making it not so convenient or viable for those who store their trailer in the off season and may not have access to change out the peppermint as needed.

So peppermint oil is one that I would be confident giving a “Fact” verdict too, though I will stop short of recommending it only because I haven’t personally tried it. But take the information I’ve shared as you will and if you’ve tried it and it made a noticeable difference in your rig, reach out and let us know!

Baby Powder for Ant Control

The last item on today’s list moves on from rodents to my sworn enemy—ants. Now don’t get me wrong, they are useful insects, who are important ecological contributors, but just not in my RV (or my house for that matter).

This pest deterrent is one that our family has literally used for decades, and is one people still seem surprised to find out about, and that is baby powder.

A simple ring of baby powder spread around the base of vehicle wheels, stabilizers and jack stands are enough to prevent ants from crossing the boundary and getting up inside your rig. When you’re done camping, the powder can be swept into a dustpan and disposed of, making it a low impact solution to deter ants. I only have my own experience for this solution, however it was literally handed to my family in 1990 at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in California. Upon check in, they handed us our campground map, site tag and a sample bottle of baby powder to spread around the tires of our van as they were having a particularly bad year with ants. Worked like a charm and it’s been in our camping toolkit since. Although we haven’t had to use it a ton of times, it worked like a charm after we were invaded with tiny pavement ants in Anaheim, and again with fire ants in Utah.

Now with all of that being said, we’ve been using this hack with baby powder that includes talc, which as of May 2020 were being phased out in the USA and Canada due to claims the product causes cancer due to potentially trace levels of asbestos – which hasn’t been proven. You can still buy it where you can find it, but it is being replaced with a non-talc version, which may or may not be as effective, but I plan to purchase some non-talk powder and give it a try or see if an alternative will do the trick.

So there you have it. Popular pest control methods, fact or fiction edition. Have you tried any of these methods? How did they work for you? As always get in touch and let us know—and if you have an idea or two for future fact or fiction episodes reach out, we’ll be happy to roll them into an episode.

As always, stay safe. We’re still in lockdown here in Ontario at the time of recording, but hope to be allowed to camp beginning June 14^th. Cross your fingers for us and in the meantime, we hope everyone continues to stay safe. We’ll be back in a few weeks with a new episode!