Do Dryer Sheets Help With Mice When Winterizing Your Camper In Minnesota?

It's been a very warm September here in Minnesota. It's so nice that we've had some weekends to enjoy the lake and a few extra nights in our camper. Still, with the warmer weather, I've already caught some mice coming into our camper. These things are terrible and if they go unchecked they can really destroy your stuff.

I've always heard that dryer sheets work well to deter mice. So, the first year we had our camper I started putting dryer sheets in every corner of it, hoping to deter mice. We cleaned out all the food we had, and we even set some traps.

Spring came around and we opened up the camper and found some dead mice in the traps. There were mice droppings on the floor. In the space behind our electric fuse box, there was a huge nest. They had gotten in, and they had made a mess!

I've found mice droppings DIRECTLY on the dryer sheets.

As I went through the rest of the camper, I was surprised to see that there were mice droppings on the dryer sheets. So the thought that dryer sheets work is totally useless.

Get our free mobile app

It gets worse.

Yes, mice don't like dryer sheets, but the smell wears off quickly, and they adapt to it. Even worse, the mice will then chew up the dryer sheets and use them for a nest, causing a huge mess. This Old House explains the best way to deter mice from your house. But what do you do with a camper?

Read More: These Baby Birds Took Over Our Camper In Wisconsin

The problem with a camper is you can't ever seal it up as tightly as you could your home. There are moving parts to a camper, and mice love to find a way in. One of the main entrances is if you have a slideout. You can use steel wool to plug any holes that you find.

The best way to prevent mice.

The best way to prevent mice is to make sure there isn't any food source for them in the camper. Don't even leave salt or pepper in your camper. Clean it out, vacuum it out, and set live traps to hopefully get any mice that come in.

Stuff like essential oils and scented things work for the short term, but they aren't a long-term solution for the entire, long, Minnesota winter. Good luck.