Mouse-Proofing a Maine Summer Camp - Suggestions? (appliances, house)

[Maineah]

Those traps work for chipmunks too but red squirrels can jump hard enough to get out.

[AustinB]

I did a couple of d-con applications for two-three years. It worked. I placed a bunch outside and a few inside in likely areas. Squirrels can often get lead poisioning at camps.

[Drover]

I worked in the boating department of a summer camp for a couple of years. When the sails went into storage for the fall/winter/spring, we rolled up a bunch of mothballs in the sails to keep the mice out of them. We also put mothballs in the desk where we stored our merit badge books and the like. Not sure if that's a practical solution for mattresses since nobody wants to sleep on a mattress smelling of mothballs. But for stuff that people aren't going to wear or sleep on... mothballs.

[minerva22]

Yeah, mothballs are powerful. But you're right, no one wants to sleep with that smell. There's also been reports of them possibly causing leukemia.

[Nor'Eastah]

Here's how to protect mattresses. I got this from a guy who has a hunting cabin in Alaska, where the mice are pretty big. If you have carry-tabs on the edges of your mattresses, you can do this; if not, it isn't hard to sew some on. Screw some large hooks into the rafters on the ceiling, right over the mattress tabs. Thread a strong rope through the hooks, and through the tabs on the mattress, then hoist the mattress up into the air, as close to the ceiling as possible. This will definitely work. It gets the mattress out of their reach. You can't keep them from climbing/jumping on the beds while you're away, but you can get the mattresses up to safety. When you return, just lower the mattresses back onto the beds and remove the ropes for next time. No smelly mothballs, and no mouse-nests to deal with, or chewed-up mattresses!

[AliceT]

Put glue traps all along the floors and tops of cabinets. Mice, rats and squirrels cannot free themselves from these devices.

A mousetrap that works really well is the Victor® tin cat® mouse trap. You don't even need bait. Get two, one for inside and one for outside.

Throw moth balls under your camp before you leave, but be sure not to let any pets or children under there, either.

The bucket trap mentioned by both 7th Generation and maureenb will work well for you whether or not you are there.

[IRV007]

Rent storage for your mattresses?

[Moxie]

We just use pellet mouse bait. We still get a little chewing now and again but that's the nature of the camp. We also bought heavy gauge plastic mattress covers that envelope the mattresses and while they can chew through plastic they haven't yet on these. And when the roof leaks they don't get damaged!
I tell you, over they years I think we've gotten lazier or smarter about not going to as much trouble packing up everything. I've also wondered if we just gave them a nice bed of stuffing and a pile of pine cones on the kitchen floor if they'd just leave everything else alone!
We had a porcupine in the wood shed last night which is connected to the bunk house so the boys are asleep in the living room. Porcupies make A LOT of noise!
We still have not been able to make the move to Maine full time. Economy is still getting in our way. Houses are moving slow in NC and we have both my parents and ours to sell. That and my husband got one of the few raises at his company (good news but hard to leave!). Hope all are well, Moxie.

[Moxie]

I should have also said that we don't remove the plastic in the summer cause it would be a pain. We just use a fabric cover on top and then sheets as usual.

[OkieTex]

This suggestions may not be for everyone, but down south we had a problem with mice in the attic. The pest control man suggested "borrowing" some cats long enough for them to dirty a litter box. He advised to NOT clean the litter box and just leave it into the attic. Evidently the smell of cat (predator) urine is enough to deter mice for a long time. We have a spare litter box which we switch out every couple of months and we have not had any problems with mice ever since using this trick. It doesn't seem to phase squirrels, though.