How bad are the rodents in the shelters in GA?

[SCRUB HIKER]

You all are proving my point that it's overblown. Out of 19 responses, only three people including me have said not to worry about mice. That is ridiculously out of proportion to what you see on the trail. Almost every single hiker I knew on the AT would and did sleep in a shelter in a heartbeat if they knew it wasn't going to be crowded or if there wasn't going to be a snorer or a creepy guy in there. People are the animal that force hikers out of shelters more than anything else--no one talked about mice after the initial jitters in Georgia. In fact, after spending five months on the trail (and yes, I recognize that many commenters have more experience than me on this count), the only time I heard of someone's gear getting eaten by a rodent was my friend Foon who was sleeping IN HIS TENT when something nibbled through his food back and one sock. He somehow managed to survive this catastrophic turn of events.

If all we have to go off of is anecdotal evidence, then mine says: Me and my friends slept in AT shelters constantly for five months. We never had problems.

Also, the hantavirus thing is a grossly misplaced fear. Hantavirus infections have shown up on the East Coast, but the vast majority of them are in the arid and semiarid parts of the West because mouse poop needs to dry and aerosolize really fast (48 hours or less) before the virus dies, and then be breathed in by humans. The East is most of the time too humid for humans to contract it. The rate of infection in humans is also minuscule. There was one case of hantavirus for every 175 West Nile cases diagnosed last year. One case of hantavirus for every 800 of Lyme disease. I will continue to sleep soundly in shelters on the AT knowing that I am more likely to get mauled by a wild boar in my sleep or have ball lightning sear a hole in my abdomen than contract hantavirus. If you're going to go fear-mongering about a disease, at least read up on the likelihood of anyone on the AT contracting it first.

[Camel2012]

If people wouldn't kill them, dropping a rat snake at each shelter would solve the problem, but most people have an unreasonable fear of all snakes, and this wouldn't work this time of year.

I considered doing this a couple times, but was afraid it would just get killed, and i didn't want to be responsible for that.

I would take a rat snake any day over mice, and they also kill rattlesnake and copperhead... Win-win situation to me.

[Tipi Walter]

.................................................. .........

[kayak karl]

the nite of 1/1/09 at Hawk Mt shelter mice got in my pack and chewed holes in my long-johns and rain pants. the rain pants had a hole in the crotch. i patched it with an X made of duct-tape.

[Wise Old Owl]

foreversuperawesome Part of being in the woods is getting close to nature - Well welcome to WB as I can see you are new. Your tent isn't mouse proof and deep down you are mentioning your fears. To be honest if you are hiking the trail you will be too tired to worry about mice on you. There are worse things that come into shelters - Skunks, Bats, Wood Roaches, Porcupines, and Snakes. The list is huge....

[Two Speed]

Six should do it!
Attachment 18566

Nice, seriously, well done, particularly if that's your won work . . . but somehow a chocolate mouse doing a burn out on my face isn't making me feel any better.

That and I had more of a barbeque vision. Probably just a personal hang up.

Maybe some beef bouillon, barley and Rotel? Gotta address the whole nutrition thing, ya know.

[Two Speed]

own, not won, dammit.

[Praha4]

the shelters in GA tend to have more of a rodent problem due to the large thru-hiker traffic and the amount of food waste and garbage left out. My experiences in GA were that Hawk Mtn shelter was by far the worst for mice problems. I started using an Ursack food bag, mice can't chew into that bag it is worth the money. That all said, if you are starting in January the mice may not be as bad as later in the spring when temps warm up. good luck

[MuddyWaters]

The deer mouse does exist in georgia, only in the blue ridge.
One of the first hantavirus infections recorded in the US in 1993 was an AT hiker who believed to have caught it in Va.

Important to note that Lyme etc. is not fatal to 40% of those that contract it. like hantavirus is.

Totally without proof, I have a suspicion that hantavirus is like west nile, or other overblown things.
Can be devastating to some people, but not everyone will be succeptible to it , for whatever reason.
If they were, people would be dying left and right for years

Of course, viruses morph and change too.

[RedBeerd]

My first night on the LT a bat flew into the shelter with me and was flapping around like crazy..scared the **** out of me. After that I thought about bats, not mice. At one shelter there was this cute fat little mouse that was bolder than bold. The little guy was basically eating out of my hand. If a shelter smelled like mouse urine I would tent. Or if mice were running around in the day I would move on. Not a fear of them (I live near a field in an old Victorian. Mice are inevitable) its more about avoiding the gear damage mentioned already. Tenting is better anyways.

[BFI]

I heard that a mouse ate a hiker in his sleep, that must of been one hungry mouse to sleep eat...

[kayak karl]

there are no BAD rodents. just rodents who are not taught manners, appropriate social skills, patience and self-control turn in to adults mice who are out of control and headed for trouble.

[Pedaling Fool]

I'd just sleep in my tent. But as far as rodents in Georgia, I don't think they're any worse there than anywhere else. Seems to me some of the worst stories I've heard about was in SNP, but also heard some bad things north of there, especially Dick's Dome, but I'm just going off stories heard.

[Wise Old Owl]

You all are proving my point that it's overblown. Out of 19 responses, only three people including me have said not to worry about mice.
If all we have to go off of is anecdotal evidence, then mine says: Me and my friends slept in AT shelters constantly for five months. We never had problems.

Also, the hantavirus thing is a grossly misplaced fear. Hantavirus infections have shown up on the East Coast, but the vast majority of them are in the arid and semiarid parts of the West because mouse poop needs to dry and aerosolize really fast (48 hours or less) before the virus dies, and then be breathed in by humans. The East is most of the time too humid for humans to contract it. The rate of infection in humans is also minuscule. There was one case of hantavirus for every 175 West Nile cases diagnosed last year. One case of hantavirus for every 800 of Lyme disease. I will continue to sleep soundly in shelters on the AT knowing that I am more likely to get mauled by a wild boar in my sleep or have ball lightning sear a hole in my abdomen than contract hantavirus. If you're going to go fear-mongering about a disease, at least read up on the likelihood of anyone on the AT contracting it first.

To be honest - I have had ticks, cockroaches, mice, rats, snakes, skunks happen to me on the AT. We do have one "documented" case of Huntavirus on the AT from Newspapers. There are no absolutes, never say it can't happen. I am not downplaying or creating fear. There are plenty of things to make you sick. I have had Lyme and my dad & I came down with Rocky Mountain together after a section hike on the AT.

I am in Pest Control. And John is right - they are everywhere.

[ChinMusic]

Just bring a bottle of bobcat urine and sprinkle it around your bag and on your pack.

[hikerboy57]

Just bring a bottle of bobcat urine and sprinkle it around your bag and on your pack.

king kullen was sold out.so was costco

[Lyle]

Occasionally you will get some damage from rodents. Most of the time you won't. Hang your food/packs. Sleep with your head to the door, away from the walls. I now keep my water bladder hose up, out of the way since a mouse chewed and destroyed one. That won't be a problem in winter, most folks find water bottles more convenient than dealing with frozen hoses.

I agree, critter worries are overblown. Are problems possible, yeah. Frequent? nope.

[ChinMusic]

king kullen was sold out.so was costco

Lone Wolf catches his own bobcat before sleeping in shelters..........

[Stir Fry]

If you can catch a couple, use them with some Roman and it make wonderfull stir fry. I usualy have everything that I need for stir fry but the meat.

[JAK]

In an Old Barn

Tons upon tons the brown-green fragrant hay
O'erbrims the mows beyond the time-warped eaves,
Up to the rafters where the spider weaves,
Though few flies wander his secluded way.
Through a high chink one lonely golden ray,
Wherein the dust is dancing, slants unstirred.
In the dry hush some rustlings light are heard,
Of winter-hidden mice at furtive play.

Far down, the cattle in their shadowed stalls,
Nose-deep in clover fodder's meadowy scent,
Forget the snows that whelm their pasture streams,
The frost that bites the world beyond their walls.
Warm housed, they dream of summer, well content
In day-long contemplation of their dreams.

Sir Charles G.D.Roberts