So, I think it's a mouse - I hate to think it's a rat.

I was sleeping last night and woke up to hear a rustling sound. Whenever I moved it stopped. Sounded like it was gnawing on something. I moved to the settee and waited, and eventually it would start back, maybe in the aft berth, but I couldn't figure out where the gnawing was coming from. I can't find any trace of where it's been or where it's hiding. No other signs of it anywhere, but I know something other than me is on this boat.

Has anybody had one on their boat and what did you do? I'm at dock now - not moving, so I guess I could put mouse poison in the bilge and under the floorboards, but I can't tell where the thing is. Ideas?

Can't imagine having a rodent in my boat and the consequences they leave behind, chewed on wires, hoses, leaving feces behind in areas you can't remove, eating any foods left in the boat... if you poison the vermin then you will be left with the stench and smell of a dead animal perhaps for possibly months.

My recommendation is to make it uncomfortable for it to remain in the boat... perhaps use a fogger or any chemicals used to remove vermin from homes, etc. Outside of bringing a cat on-board there really isn't an easy way to rid them from boats besides traps, etc.

For this reason we do not leave any foods in the boat that would give them reasons to look for crumbs, break into boxes of foods, etc. we clean the sole, galley, throw trash out each time we're out on the boat and carry any leftover foods home.

Good luck on the hunt.

If your tied to a dock it's very possible to have an uninvited guest. Once aboard they can be tough to catch. Best to set traps.

Do not use poison ...they will hide and die in an inaccessible spot. Spring traps work, I caught two in two days a month ago when we had cool weather. The best bait ever is my pork bbq. My friend caught 1 a day for 7 days in his warehouse, I had given him some bbq and it was all he had to bait trap...
They were rats...little doubt mice will find it tasty, All my friends do!

+1 on the cat or traps - they can get in some really inaccessible places to die when you poison them.

Yeah, I guess it's traps, but I don't want to accidentally step on one.

for a different point of view- we did have a rat and used warfarin. It makes them extremely thirsty, and since we were in an area of fresh water we bet they would come out to the docks and they did. Eventually found the nest next to the water heater- it's cold in winter in the PNW. They did the most damage in our lockers in the cockpit- thank goodness they didn't get into the electronics.
Kill it, kill it now and use whatever you need. In the future I just might (nerve)gas the cabin, but this worked.

Load your traps with peanut butter. Then wrap 6 inches of sewing thread around the bait. Gives them something to struggle with when they take the bait.

and don't cheap out with that Jif stuff, get Smoothy

Don't know how much time you spend on your boat in quiet times so forgive me for assuming incorrectly.

Freinds had what they thought was a "rustling noise" in their boat and spent hours stripping out lockers and hidden spaces trying to find the rodent.

What they were hearing was the ubiquitous sound of sea life under the boat - as they hadn't spent a lot of quiet time on their new boat, they were unfamiliar with these sounds.

This may be what you're hearing - it's actually quite rare (in my experience) to have rats/mice on leisure vessels -not enough food stuffs lying around.

Close all through hulls, lest the mouse/rat sink your boat. Shut off power if you can too.

Peanut butter in the traps is best and remove other food if possible.

If you run your docklines and fender lines through a cheap plastic funnel, they can't climb aboard.

I had a mouse aboard once. He was aboard for about 8 hrs, took one bite out of nearly everything in the way of dry goods and was gone in the morning thanks to the ship's cat "Demon".

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