KEEP VERMIN OUT OF YOUR CARAVAN

WHO DOESN’T ENJOY seeing wildlife? Caravanners who have had a visit from the small furry kinds of wildlife, that’s who!

Most caravans spend long periods standing idle and because many of us don’t have the space at home to park our vans, a lot of them pass that time in storage facilities, often in fairly remote rural locations.

The problem is, those locations are home to lots of wildlife, and your caravan represents a safe, warm environment that is ideal for them. So they tend to like invading our precious tourers.

Sometimes you get lucky and the little blighters do minimal damage, although they always leave their droppings behind.

Other vans aren’t so fortunate and suffer all kinds of damage, which can range from slightly chewed soft furnishings to wiring being bitten right through. All of this is very annoying, and over many years in the industry, I’ve seen all sorts of rodent damage.

So what can be done to deter the little pests? Well for starters, consider carefully where you will be storing your caravan when you are not using it.

Try to avoid farms, because they are rife with the furry devils, mostly owing to the fact that there is always an abundance of food for them and their offspring.

Don’t leave any foodstuffs in the van unless it is stored in tins – even a plastic tub of cornflakes will attract peckish rodents.

Make sure gas dropout holes in the floor have a fine metal mesh cover, but do not block them off altogether, because they are there for a very important reason.

Finally, there are plenty of ultrasonic pest repellers on the market at reasonable prices.

Just make sure that you have an adequate power supply, whether that be AA batteries or the van’s 12V system. If the latter, ensure you have a means of charging the leisure batteries.