Creature Infestation & Water Leaks

[Steven@147]

After a hard rain yesterday I went out to the RV and found aphid like creatures covering the whole back of the RV. Washed them off and ready to do battle to kill the little B######s. Anyone ever set off raid bombs inside their RV? Got some Ortho home Defense I might use around the baseboards in the RV. We don't have pet animals. Got to set out all manor of traps to catch and kill them.

Also found a water leak on the bedroom slide while it was in. The water is following the bottom front gear track all the way to the inside. I remember reading someone else had the same problem, gotta go searching for what they did. Something about removing the track and putting some sealer behind it. Also found the rear window leaking again. But one thing at a time, gtta kill the bugs first.

Just what i didn't want to have to deal with today but I am declaring war today!

[TucsonJim]

Steve - Be careful using a fog bomb or sprays inside the RV. It may damage the LP gas detector. If you do use one, I'd suggest removing the detector before proceeding.

Jim

[howson]

After a hard rain yesterday I went out to the RV and found aphid like creatures covering the whole back of the RV...

Made me look it up!

a·phid
/ˈāfid,ˈafid/
noun
a minute bug that feeds by sucking sap from plants. It reproduces rapidly, often producing live young without mating, and may live in large colonies that cause extensive damage to crops.

[fishnub]

If they bite, around here we call them " no see em's". They will tear you up like a mosquito, but you cant see em!

[D2Reid]

So here is a funny story. In order to kill the Aphids you need Lady Bugs, yup, they eat aphids. So growing up in Colorado we always played with lady bugs, cure friendly little bugs that would crawl up you arm and then fly away. Well, what I didn't know, was that a more aggressive version of Lady Bugs was imported to CA to help kill off the aphid infestation that was destroying fruit trees. The imported Lady Bugs are really close to the native ones, but they had distinguishing characteristics, they are more aggressive and they bite. Imagine my shock when I was bitten by a lady bug.

But since I was enthralled with the lady bug thing I also found out that Lady Bugs hibernate. They will find a cozy winter home and start to congregate in one location for the winter. They leave little enzyme trails like ants do and follow each other to the nesting place. We got lucky and they decided the ceiling in our RV would be a good place. Fall in NH. We kept sweeping them out and brushing them out, they kept coming. Apparently we had a pretty good bunch of them somewhere in our ceiling when we left NH and headed to FL. Imagine the little boogers surprise when they were all cuddled up for the winter and suddenly it's warm weather again. I think it confused them a bit.

Over the next 6 months they would come out of hibernation 3-4 a day. During that period of time we always had lady bugs walking around the RV. Unfortunately they were the biting type, not poisonous, just a bit painful.

[Cate&Rob]

The imported Lady Bugs are really close to the native ones, but they had distinguishing characteristics, they are more aggressive and they bite. Imagine my shock when I was bitten by a lady bug.
. . . But since I was enthralled with the lady bug thing I also found out that Lady Bugs hibernate. They will find a cozy winter home and start to congregate in one location for the winter.

LOL! They certainly do congregate, hibernate . . . and, bite! They gather every Fall under the tarp on our boat. Trying to sweep them away means that you are going to get bitten by these cute little buggers.

Rob

[Calbar]

LOL! They certainly do congregate, hibernate . . . and, bite! They gather every Fall under the tarp on our boat. Trying to sweep them away means that you are going to get bitten by these cute little buggers.

Rob

Sounds like we were all surprised by the biting lady bugs. For years a kids they would crawl up your arm and fly away. Shocked the heck out of me the first time one bit me.

Rob

[Buckskin]

We had stink bugs get into our camper at one campground and couldn't get rid of them. Bought hang up chemical bug killer pad from Walmart and hung it in shower for when we are not using camper and it took over a week to kill bugs but now they are gone. Before camping I will remove it and put in Zip lock bag until we complete camping trip and then put it back up. They are suppose to last for up to 4 months. About same thing as using bug bomb inside camper but much safer.

[Steven@147]

Well the war is over for now! I had also found these little buggers inside the RV on the back window. They are so tiny they can get through any tiny opening. First i washed the outside of the RV using Dawn dish washing soap. Then got my shop vac that could almost suck start a lawnmower and vacuumed the RV. Then cleaned the shop vac. We had bought some Terro sticky bug traps the other day so I put three of those in the RV. Then I got out the Ortho Home Defense and sprayed the ground around the RV. Its setting on concrete pads, half gravel, half grass and some of the jacks are on blocks in grass. Then i sprayed all the jacks and blocks, around the wheels and concrete pads and the power cord lying on the ground and the steps. The rest of yesterday they didn't seem to come back, and this morning they are still gone. So maybe I won the war, or they just called a truce. I will carefully inspect the RV inside and out for any signs of their return.

However we have to be careful of all the Ortho I sprayed on outside things. For a while we will have to wear rubber gloves and wash our hands when handling outside things. I use this stuff around our home foundation and such, I have found it works pretty well. Although the other day I sprayed a black widow that had taken up residence on the outside of the house, in a dark corner and it took a long time to kill the sucker! Works pretty fast on brown recluse spiders.

I decided against using bug bombs inside the RV but only as a last resort. I didn't know they could effect the sensors inside the RV, thanks Jim, and I also didn't want to take a chance the spraying effect could stain walls, floors, counter tops, ceilings and such. These RVS are big inside but not as open as a house.

Damn it gets to be a battle with the creatures around here. Fire Ants, scorpions, spiders, lizards/geckos, stink bugs, walking sticks crawling all over everything. Even the love bugs time of the year when you have to scrap them off your vehicles with an ice scrapper. Even killed a 3ft snake yesterday near the RV. The last thing I need is one of those to get inside the spare tire and up inside the coroplast. That would be a really horrible surprise to pull the coroplast down and getting hit on the hand or in the face with a snake!!!!! Walked in my shop one time and found a snake coiled around the garage door track. Heck I have even had them slither up the limestone rock on our house after the lizards. Mostly chicken snakes but we do have coral snakes both poisonous and non. We also have rattle snakes in this area. Around here you learn to never put your hands or body parts were you cannot see. If you're in tall weeds or grass wear fairly high top boots and keep your pant legs tucked into your boots and socks.

Well on to fixing the rear window leak and the schwintek bedroom slide track leak.

[jh.xsnrg]

The native lady bugs are bright red, oval shaped with black dots and a little smaller overall than the imports. The imports are usually more orange, more round, and a little larger. If I remember correctly, after they were released here they found they didn't actually like aphids anyway. Aphids are very small green bugs that eat plants like the dickens. No-see-ems are a little smaller than aphids, and usually black with a small touch of white on the wing. They are indeed nasty little biters.

Good luck with bugs and leaks!