Pests in a motorhome

Don’t you just love a hot Summer night, those romantic moonlit serenades sleeping under the stars? It’s going so well, that is until the long-awaited trip away is disturbed by pests in your motorhome!

It seems like an idyllic opportunity to soothe away the stresses of life but soon the dream becomes a nightmare. All of a sudden, there’s a strange rustle in the ground. A buzz in the air or even worse, a hiss in the undergrowth!

Uninvited motorhome pests

Well, I have to say, we’ve had our fair share of pests in the motorhome over the years. Not only that, but we’ve also heard a few tales of even weirder creatures sharing the inside of the Campervan.

So much so, that now, nothing would surprise us, more importantly, we try and prepare for every eventuality!

So, without further ado, here’s our list of those most familiar motorhome pests. Along with some rather strange creatures that we’ve shared our home on wheels with over the last couple of decades!

Ants the ultimate motorhome pests

Love them or loathe them, wherever we are in the world, these you just can’t avoid! From the tiny, just about see them type to the giant variety that carry a crumb the size of a loaf of bread!

Not only that, but they love climbing too! The bigger the obstacle the better, so the motorhome is just the perfect ladder to add to their fun.

So, how do you stop them? This is so difficult, once they get inside the van they just don’t want to leave. On our trip round Australia, we had ants accompanying us for a few thousand miles!!

Eventually, after trying every deterrent known to ants, we realised the only place left was underneath the van. How simple could that be! It turned out some dried mud in the wheel arches proved an ideal home!

The solution – a trip to the car wash to hose under the Campervan and hey presto! The ants were gone for good!

As with most pests, prevention is better than cure! Checking the ground where we park helps. Sometimes a circle of ant powder on the ground around each tyre is the only solution.

Mosquitoes

Despite an array of anti-mosquito devices – fly screens, citrus candles, burning coils, insect repellent and diffuser. These little pests still make an appearance in the motorhome.

You know the sound, buzzing round your ear hole at 3am. Soon disappearing out of sight as soon as you pop the light on to investigate. Why do they blend into the decor so well? We’ve wasted so many hours hunting down the pest in the motorhome that’s the mosquito!

Yet, all our efforts usually end in vain, only for the annoying culprit to make an appearance the next morning! After a disturbed night in the van, waiting for that next buzz to fly on by.

Flies

Oh heck – these just drive you insane! Landing on you and your food. Flying round the inside of the motorhome with no clue on how to fly back outside.

Yes, you open every door and window, frantically trying to direct the pest back out into the fresh air. The fly just isn’t having any of it.

Europe can be bad, but it’s nothing compared to the Aussie outback. Here, the humble fly is you’re new best friend. I always remember being asked if we’d “got the hang of the Aussie wave yet”?

We soon knew all too well just what the Aussie wave meant. Goodness, did we put it into good use!

Flying Beetles

These massive things with a hard shell and wings are enough to make even the most hardy Campervan traveller yelp.

Even worse is when they head straight for you! Duck and dive becomes the new game of play before frantic arm waving. Then gasps of horror and finally the exit door saves the day.

Cockroaches motorhome pests

I never thought we’d come victim to a cockroach invasion! How wrong I was though, yet strangely when it happened, I stayed relatively calm. Spying the huge invader sat right there in front of me, I could barely believe the cheek of it!

After removing the offending article from the clothes cupboard in our Aussie van, we set about disinfecting and pest control. Ensuring the pest with a nest was never to return!

Spiders

They attach themselves to wing mirrors, find their way in from tree branches above or crawl in from the ground.

Whichever entrance they choose, they somehow find a way into the motorhome when you least expect it. Always remember to check those shoes too! Yikes!

I remember seeing a huge Huntsman Spider on the ground by Nigel’s foot. As big as my hand but rather beautiful at the same time. Then again, I wouldn’t want to see it under my bed covers that’s for sure!

Flying insects

You don’t realise just how many flying insects there are until you start travelling by Campervan. My goodness, once you start heading out of the British Isles, they appear in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

From green, black, red, brown to tiny, huge, hard bodied, long-legged or a combination of all of these put together. There are so many bugs out there with wings, which soon end up resting on the ceiling of the motorhome.

Frogs

Ok, so they’re less likely to live inside your van, but they’re often not that far away.

Outside on pathways, jumping out in the road, hiding in a toilet or hopping about in the dark. The most odd feeling is sitting on a toilet seat, only to have a bum cheek rub against a slimy frog tucked in the rim!

Then, as the Aussie’s warn – where there’s frogs, there’s snakes!! Help……time for a sharp exit!

Rats outdoor motorhome pests

Oh my, these are just so creepy! Here’s a testament to just how hardy we’ve become.

We were stood outside our Campervan in New Zealand, happily talking to our neighbours. Suddenly, a white thing dashed across the grass in front of us. Next, Nigel felt something nibbling at his toe. It was pitch black outside, darkness had fallen and lack of street lighting meant for a dark sky.

Instead, we reached for a torch, shining the light towards the ground, just in time to catch a flurry of furry creatures fleeing the scene. Yes – these were rats and loads of them, right there amongst the campground, scurrying between the campervans.

The flash of white we’d seen on the ground, turned out to be a rat carrying a wet wipe in its mouth! The rats were everywhere, we actually screamed and darted into the safety of the Campervan until the morning.

Thank goodness, none had made it inside the van!

Mice

They may look cute at times, but the mice area a menace that you can’t afford to have inside the motorhome. These little furry creatures are great at climbing and even better at squeezing through the smallest of holes.

We see them scurrying across campsites, parking areas and worse still, we’ve spoken with people who’ve had whole family’s make their home inside their motorhome.

Touch wood, we’ve never had them inside the van, but we know it’s possible!

Bats

No camping spot is complete without the night bat watch! Swooping down from those amenity blocks, flying through the trees or just hanging out above the Campervan. To be honest, I’ve never heard of anyone having one inside the motorhome, but maybe you know different?

You smell them before you see them or in the depths of night, hear them squeaking in that tree that you parked below, when daylight hid the nightime truth of what lies above you.

Whilst most are small enough to cope with, some of those in other parts of the world are as big as the family dog!

Yes, we’ve shared our camping spots with the mighty Flying Fox – the huge bats which hang majestically from their trees during the day, but at dusk come alive in their hundreds! Taking to the skies like some prehistoric species, these incredible bats soon retreat to a branch near you – with plenty of yellow poo to splash around in the process!

Wild Boar

These common night time intruders who rummage around the Campervan are actually quite comical. Those grunting, rustling sounds that become so familiar as they shuffle around, easily mistaking these strange noises for a human prowler.

Worse still, is when you’re walking back to the van, torch in hand, only to be terrified out of your wits by these rather large pigs appearing out of the darkness.

Remember not to leave any food outside, not only will it be gone by the morning but you’ll also have a bit of a fright in the night as it nibbles next to the van.

Snakes – Pests in a motorhome

They can creep under your bonnet for a cosy place to sleep, or slither across the ground in front of you. Strangely enough, we’ve seen more snakes in Europe than we did in Australia, having said that, they might not be quite so deadly!

Be sure to make a noise to keep the snakes at bay – clapping, tapping a stick or waving your keys!

Wasps

Well this Summer, we were plagued by wasps wherever we parked up. So much so, that as I innocently sat writing in my diary, I suddenly felt something behind my knee. Not thinking, my immediate reaction was to just brush it away, at which point the pain shot through me like a knife! Ouch – my first wasp sting in years and it hurt for about a week afterwards.

Worse still is if you have them find a cosy place in the van, not that we’ve ever had the experience but we have in a house! For those that have mentioned a wasp invasion, it sounds like the stuff of nightmares quite frankly.

When we opened up our awning at home last week, out fell a huge wasp and I can’t help but wonder what exactly it was doing there! Let’s hope there’s no swarm to welcome us next time.

Lizards

These just have to be the most adorable pests, so much so that they’re not really pests at all! They move quickly and disappear into any rocky crevice they can find.

A guaranteed find in warmer climates, they come in all sizes from a few inches right up to the fabulous Lace Monitors of more exotic destinations.

There is nothing more incredible than coming across these colossal reptiles right in front of your van. We’ve seen them on the beach and on the roadside, gliding out of the way before graciously climbing a tree – amazing!

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