Dealing with rodents and bugs

Question:

I have an unusual question. I am planning to restore a 1967 Chevrolet Pickup which, unfortunately, was a victim of a rear-end collision several years ago. I believe that it is probably inhabited with critters. My question is, how can I humanely de-verminize my ride, before I start reconstruction? I’m trying to avoid infesting my garage with everything from mice to Big-Foot. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Answer:

Many moons ago a then long-derelict Facel Vega came into my shop and though I didn’t know it at first, the car was infested with mice. Within a day of the car’s arrival the entire shop was infested with mice. It took a lot longer than one day to get rid of them all and the process was not particularly humane.

I happen to be an animal lover and in an ideal world would have preferred that they simply vacate my building and live free, fat and happy in the great outdoors. Realistically, however, they carry and transmit various diseases, were creeping out my employees and customers, and if left unchecked would have eventually gotten into and damaged every car in the shop so they had to be eliminated as quickly as possible.

If your mice, bugs and whatnot are still lurking in the truck and you want to send them packing without bodily harm then do the evictions someplace other than your property. Mice and other critters of that ilk can be driven out of frame rails, mufflers, and other hiding places with high-pressure air or high-pressure water. Insects are a different story. Because bugs can be quite small they can be present in very large numbers and can hide in very obscure places that can’t practically be reached with an air or water hose unless a lot of disassembly is done. For those reasons I suggest poisoning the insects with liquid insecticide or an insecticidal fog. For the latter you need to enclose the truck in a garage, tent or something else that will hold the fog in and, depending on where you live, you may need to hire an exterminator to do this.