12/17 Camping & Critters That Invade

It rained all day yesterday, last night, and part of this morning in southern Florida, and I have been very lazy, so I thought that while I was watching television tonight, I would write about some of the experiences I have had with critters that invade my motorhome.  

When you do the kind of traveling I do (in a motorhome and mostly in federal, state, and county campgrounds), you end up having experiences with critters.  In eleven years, I have had more than most people simply because I have been to so many places over such a long period of time.  I will try to write about the most memorable experiences I have had. 

Insects that Invade

One important thing to know is that a motorhome is very different from a "sticks and bricks" home in several ways:

• First, nearly all motorhomes have slide-out walls that make your RV larger when you are camped, which means that unless they fit absolutely perfectly and have something that seals them against your rig, you will have a lot of cracks that critters that can get into.  Even if you start out with slides that fit tightly, they will not stay that way. 
  
• A motorhome also has an engine compartment, so there are spaces around things like your accelerator and brake pedals from that compartment.  There also may be spaces around AC and heater vents, and other things.  I have never seen anything enter that way, but I know a lot of cold air does. 
• Also, all RVs have entrances into your rig through spaces around water and sewer pipes, electrical connections, and who knows what else.  They are supposed to be sealed, but often are not closed off.
  
• In addition, at least in my motorhome, window screens do not fit very well, so there are spaces where insects can get in when windows are open.

I imagine that if I could have afforded one of those $500,000+ motorhomes, things would have fit better, but I am not 100% sure of that.  Anyway, I am stuck with what I have.  

Other than the normal, every day times insects get into my rig, I have had two major insect invasions.  

1. My first was about 7 years ago when I was camped at Dam West Campground, along Carlyle Lake in central Illinois.  It was fall, and I did not realize that they were threshing and taking in soybeans from a large nearby field.  This apparently disturbed several thousand ladybugs and stink bugs.  In looking for a nice, warm place to spend the coming winter, they covered the entire one side of my rig, with a few hundred of each making their ways inside and hiding out. For the next 3-4 months, I killed and flushed a dozen or so ladybugs and captured at least 4-5 stinkbugs each day.  Not wanting to crush the stinkbugs, I kept them in a ziplock bag and i sealed and tossed each day.
2. The most recent infestation I have had was early last June in Cherry Creek State Park, just east of Denver, Colorado.  The first night, I slept fairly well, but woke up about 5 am to find dozens of moths flying around.  I got up and started electrocuting them with my  bug wand.  It was just beginning to get to be daylight, but they were still coming in somehow, and it seemed like the more i killed and flushed, the more came in.  These were the big miller moths, and I was getting frantic, with at least 100-200 moths flying around inside at any one time.  I panicked and got out the can of outdoor insect spray and hit my bathroom and kitchen, killing a bunch, and closing the bathroom door.  I got dressed quickly, put my slides in, unhooked, and took off, with dead moths littering the floor and everywhere.  I headed east into Kansas and stopped for some breakfast and to use a McDonald's restroom because my bathroom was a disaster, taking a few minutes to do some quick research on moths in Colorado.  Turns out that miller moths hatch in western Kansas and head for Colorado's front range every May or June, and this was a banner year for them.  I stopped at a hardware to get traps and more spray, and then drove 384 miles to central Kansas which was apparently moth-free.  (I almost never drive more than 200 miles in one day, but I was desperate.)  Made it to a campsite, hooked up, put slides out, and got my vacuum cleaner going.  I was exhausted, but could not even sit down or use my bathroom until I vacuumed and washed off all the spray I had used.  Not a good day, but here is an article about moth invasions in Colorado.  https://denverite.com/2023/05/15/colorado-miller-moths-horror-infestation-nuisance/

 Other Invaders

I have had some other non-insect visitors, but overall, these were a lot less bothersome than the usual insects.

• In Sebastian State Park in Florida a few years ago, I was camped at the back of the campground, next to a swampy area.  I started to hear some thumping and bumping under my bed just before daylight one night.  To explain: My bed lifts up and has storage underneath it.  That area is pretty well sealed from the outside, but under it, there are a couple of large storage compartments that are accessed from the outside.  I had locked them, but what I did not realize was that there was access from a next door storage compartment I had left open. The locked storage area had a large bin on each side, and an 8" tall area connecting the two.  I use this area to store my bunk ladders, my outside ladder, some tools and other long maintenance things.  I was pretty sure the thumping was caused by something a lot bigger than a mouse, so as soon as it got light outside, I got dressed, grabbed a flashlight and my senior grabber and headed outside.  (The grabber was to reach in for what I was pretty sure was a racoon.)  I opened the storage bin door, saw two "bandit" eyes looking at me, and yelled at the racoon that was staring at me.  It flew out and ran off into the swamp, but it took me half an hour to pick up the tiny bits of paper towel it had torn up to build its nest, I assume.  
• Two years ago in August, I stayed at Elk Creek Campground in the Curecanti Recreation Area, near Gunnison, CO.  It is a pretty place, but extremely dry.  On the second night, I was watching television about 11 pm, with all the lights on, and saw a little mouse come out from under my couch.  It looked at me with an "Oops, didn't know you were awake" look and ran back under the couch.  I had not had mice in years, so at midnight, I was outside with a flashlight trying to find my old mousetraps.  No luck, so went to bed and the next day drove 35 miles back to Gunnison and spent $53 on mousetraps!  I caught three mice that night and two mice the next night.  Left the following day, for obvious reasons!!!  Camp hosts admitted there were a lot of mice in the campground. I assumed they were getting in around my slides, but I really don't know how they got in.  
• I once had a tiny Florida lizard come in and race around, but it left on its own somehow, and really never bothered me.  
• I also once had a tiny tree frog in my motorhome.  I had accidentally left my passenger's window down for a few hours, so I assume it crawled in that way.  Two mornings later, I was lying on my side in bed at 5:30 am, facing the little shelf and the wall next to my bed.  I opened my eyes and found a tiny green tree frog making its way up the wall about 10" from my face, which is a little startling that early in the morning.  I jumped up, gently picked it up with a paper towel and tossed it out the door, watching it walk away.  (They tend to walk instead of jumping.)  They are rather cute little frogs with suction cups on their feet that enable them to climb even very smooth surfaces, so I did not want to hurt him or her.  Then, of course, I had to wash the wall down where he had been, and by the time I got all that done, I was wide awake for the day.  

Tomorrow night, I will write about some of the outdoors animals that I have encountered who actually stayed outdoors!!