View Full Version : What are the shelter mice eating from your pack?
Starchild
02-03-2015, 18:09
Never having a problem with shelter mice, I would like to why, what am I doing right? It has not been uncommon for my shelter mates to wake up with entry and exit holes in their food bags and or packs. I do tend to think it may be my diet, which is quite a bit different then what I would consider a conventional hiker's diet is.
Now I know these little critters will eat anything, but having been raised on hiker food for generations I would think they would develop a preference for it, and perhaps bypass food that smells a bit different then they usually get.
My trail diet is low in carbs with almost no sugar. No or very little pastas or rice sides, no noodles usually, no poptarts however I usually have some sort of bread, so there is that. I usually have a abundance of meats, cheeses and sometimes eggs.
So wondering how the little critters treat your pack and how your diet is?
Slo-go'en
02-03-2015, 18:22
They zero in on the nuts without fail. If they chew a hole in a food bag, it will be exactly where the GORP is. Most everything else they will leave alone, unless it's something which has a lot of nuts in it like granola bars or candy bars.
Furlough
02-03-2015, 19:21
I don't stay in shelters. So nothing. Talked with a guy who had his hip belt pocket chewed through because he left a snickers wrapper in it.
Slo-go'en
02-03-2015, 20:05
Yes, they do seem to like candy wrappers too, might be the left over nut smells. My mesh side pockets are torn up a bit due to forgetting to remove candy wrappers I stashed in them during the day.
kayak karl
02-03-2015, 20:13
sometimes in winter they just chew it for nesting material. they climbed in my pack and chewed holes in my long underwear at Hawk Mt Shelter. First and last time mice got to my stuff.
Spirit Walker
02-03-2015, 21:58
I've had mice try to dig into my food bag while I was cooking. Others chewed holes in my hung pack. At Overmountain Shelter, a sick hiker had holes chewed in a shirt and socks by mice. Deer will also chew on hats, gloves, hiking sticks and packs--anything with salt on it--as will porcupines and marmots out west. On the CDT one of the hikers had a dog chew through his pack strap.
Migrating Bird
02-04-2015, 09:10
sometimes in winter they just chew it for nesting material. they climbed in my pack and chewed holes in my long underwear at Hawk Mt Shelter. First and last time mice got to my stuff.
As mentioned above Karl they were after the nuts:)
last hike in Vermont, they got into my Cliff Bars
Sirsnappy09
02-06-2015, 13:15
Good one bird!
MuddyWaters
02-07-2015, 11:53
They love sweaty wool
lonehiker
02-09-2015, 17:08
A female mouse ate part of one glove then proceeded to give birth in same glove. Didn't discover this, and the pleasant surprise in them, for a couple of days. Was a rude awakening as I tried to put glove on my hand. I don't know if they died from suffocation, starvation, dehydration, or simply from being compressed. I can laugh at the experience now but at the time.....
honogica
02-12-2015, 02:04
Mice have never been a problem. I snore like a bear with sinus problems and a stomach ache. Keeps everything at bay.
slbirdnerd
02-12-2015, 15:48
Nothing, because I hang my food. Always. However, they really LOVED my pack towel, which they demonstrated by chewing it up and crapping all over it. Mental note: Hang salty pack towel with food bag. :)
Shadotek
03-05-2015, 09:34
One of my trips mice got into this girls bag to eat her sunflower seeds and destroy her toiletpaper. Then it moved to a guys food bag to take a dump and seemingly ignore all the food.
ny breakfast
03-07-2015, 09:21
they never got to my food. but for the grip on my trekking pole that's another story. rodents go for the salts. i heard the ponies do to, so watch your pack at grayson highlands. i tend to stay out of shelters during the hiking season. and much welcome them in the winter when there quite and empty. mice are the most common pesky rodent but not the only one.chipmunks and red squires are very bold too. i usually keep my food bag at the top of my pack. pulled food bag out and put next to me, reached in for my stove and in those few seconds one chipmunk on my food bag and another on it's way(i keep my food in an odor proof sack as well). as mentioned before it's salts they go for so if you don't sweat or eat salty foods your good. all you can do is reduce your risk and make the odds better in your favor. learn from others and your own experience.