Flies, mosquitos, gnats, stink bugs, and more are a fact of life when it comes to RV’s. You don’t have to go crazy, or use nasty chemicals to get rid of your ‘little friends’. Here are a few things to try.
Flies aren’t so bad to deal with because they’re big and we have an electric flyswatter that zaps them with 20,000 volts (actually no idea what the voltage is but it zaps them with a satisfying zap of electricity). The dog is getting pretty good at catching the ‘sky raisins’ as well. Really, the only place we’ve had a problem with flies was in Southern Wisconsin. No idea why. Maybe all the dairy farms in the area?
Gnats and mosquitos are a little harder to catch. Every year when we stay in North Carolina we are inundated with hundreds of those little gnats and they are hard to kill and hard to keep ahead of their onslaught. This year we bought a gadget called the Katchy. The Katchy is a USB powered device that has a black light to attract the insects, a fan to suck them into a chamber and a sticky bottom to hold them once they land. It’s easy to dispose of the carcasses afterward with an easy to open bottom.
I was pretty skeptical of this device at first. I am so glad to be wrong. This thing is great! Within a few days (well nights really) the gnats were cleared from the RV. When we set up camp we just set it on the countertop, plug it in and turn it on. It’s quiet and it does its job.
Available on Amazon for $39.99. Best $40 I’ve ever spent.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M8VX4T9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Stink bugs are an invasive species and we were getting these big crunchy insects in the RV for several months. Never more than three or four a day but enough to be annoying. I’d use a Kleenex or paper towel and crush these nasties before putting their bodies outside. When you kill (and often when they feel threatened) these things they release a chemical that…er…stink. Hence their name though I’m sure they have a more scientific name.
After doing some research I found out a few things. Killing them guarantees they release their scent and this in turn tends to attract other stink bugs. So now I try as gently as possible to escort them through the door.
I watched a video from an RVer with the exact same problem and they solved it with drier sheets. They used the drier sheets to wipe down the outside bottoms of their windows (where the drain vents are and where the little creepies crawl into your RV) and around the window. Again, I was skeptical but after using Downey Drier Sheets on all the windows we’ve not had a single stink bug! Apparently stink bugs don’t like the smell of the chemicals on the drier sheet. I don’t know how often I’ll have to redo the application on the windows but it’s already been worth it.
I hope these insect mitigation efforts make your life a little less buggy!
Update: Well, the Stink Bugs made a return after some heavy rains. Reapplied the drier sheet treatment over lunch today so hopefully they go away for a couple more weeks.