Pests invade the camper!

We have had ants invade our camper while in Nevada. A branch was touching our slide out so the little buggers just hiked across and into our couch/dining room. I was very unhappy when we got home that night to thousands of them roaming around our camper.



I began smashing them with my fingers while my husband grabbed the vaccuum. We sucked and smashed everyone of the pesky little creatures.
He went out and sprayed the outside of our camper with bug killer and cut down the branch they were using as a bridge into our home. I'm sure all of the crumbs of food on the floor and in every nook and cranny didn't help the situation!



I did not use chemicals inside of the camper because I did not want to breathe it in. Instead, my finger and a vaccuum did the hard work of removing the ants.
We also had some mice move in. They wanted to make their home in our camper as well as in our truck's motor. They enjoyed eating wires and pooping in random places. Thank goodness Shae checks the wiring before we leave a campground. He noticed the mice had chewed through the insulation but had not actually chewed the wire. He was able to fix it himself.
We used traps and bait to kill them. My husband about went crazy at night when he would have to listen to them running in our walls.

We spent two months in Wisconsin, leaving our camper in Missouri. After a run in with pack rats in Arizona and mice near the border of Arkansas, we decided to put led lights in our compartments and under the hood of our truck. They were on for two months and worked great. Of course, the poison and traps my husband put in a compartment, may have helped, too!

Thankfully we saw this tarantula outside of our camper.

Now, it is spring again, and once again, the little critters are trying to make their way into our camper. Shae bought bug spray for the outside and we put chalk around the bottom of our picnic table. I'm not sure if chalk will work, but we heard it did. Someone also told us they put Ajax around the tires of the camper and any other piece of equipment that touches the ground. We have not tried it ourselves, so I can't verify if it works.

I often see campers with bags of water hanging outside their front doors. It is supposed to scare off flies.  We have one hanging out right now.  It seems to be a welcome sign for the nasty critters - telling them to come in and dine with us!

Hopefully, we won't have anymore pests in our camper. With all of the kids I can't stand the thought of nasty, little creatures biting my wee ones. Finding a way to kill them all or keep them out without chemicals is a challenge. I will share more as I learn more.