So I have an ambulance that I haven't driven in a few years, I used it for hauling stuff and more recently for storing things. But I want to get it back on the road. It has mice living in it. They above the fiberglass ceiling in the back and probably in the walls too. Rather than deal with spraying poisons and hoping I got them all I was thinking why lay down a giant sheet of platic, roll the vehicle onto it, fold it over the top, heat seal the ends together so that there is more or less an airtight platic envelope around the entire truck then use an air compressor to suck most all the air out of it so the mice will suffocate. I figure 30 minutes would be more than a safe time period to ensure death. But if you don't think that will do it how about once you empty the air out injecting the envelope with some sort of gas to taint any remaining air, maybe nitrogen or something. Or if you want to get dangerous hydrogen or propane.

Any thoughts on this?

I don't know that you would be able to pull enough of a vacuum to get a reliable kill that fast. Mice are durable little critters. At a place I once worked, a guy sealed up a couple of mice that were trapped in glue traps in a Ziploc, squeezed all the air out that he could, and sealed it. There wasn't more than a couple of cc's airspace left. He thought it would be a quick, merciful kill. They lived more than a full additional day. Not quite the same since they weren't under reduced pressure, but...

You may want to speak with somebody local in the extermination business. Your best approach might be to bag the vehicle and fumigate it with something, letting it sit for several hours to penetrate.

You'll need to let it air out good afterwards, but you will be doing that anyway to get rid of the odor of dead mice, however you manage to kill them.

I actually had a mouse in my grove box one time. No telling how long it was staying there cause it had made a small nest . It saw me & run out the door & that was it.

My funniest mouse meeting was after my car had been sitting for a while (about 2 months). Some mice had built a nest on top of the exhaust pipe, not too far back from where it goes off under the back of the engine compartment.

I don't know how many bailed when I first cranked it and pulled out (you would think that all the noise and vibration would run them off, but I guess they were laying low hoping whatever was causing all the ruckuss would go away), but I had it out in the driveway with the hood up (still running) when suddenly a mouse runs out form under the car. Then another. Then another. Might have been more (wasn't looking for them, just noticed). I was wondering where they had come from when all of a sudden wisps of smoke started rising up the front of the firewall as their nest began melting and burning in earnest (it was made of all sorts of dragged-in material).

I guess they picked there because the cats coudn't get to them very easily. I'm just glad they didn't make their way into the interior.

then use an air compressor to suck most all the air out of it so the mice will suffocate.My only thought here is even if you're successful in doing this...they may be deceased, but there little dead bodies are still in there smelling up the vechicle. :oops: And what about the little mice ghosts?

why not just set some traps, that way you won't have to deal with dead bodies in places you can't get to smelling up your ride.

Heck if your going to go to all that trouble then just roll up the windows and set off a Bug Bomb inside it. Its going to stink anyway of you kill the mice without removing them. Just get the vehicle running again and start using it they'll come out on their own.

You don't want those little critters dying in the ambulance, the stench could keep you from driving the vehicle. Best to use a baited trap or poison that causes them to seek out water so they die outside the vehicle.

Not concerned about the stench of little mice corpses... the back of the ambulance is not connected to the cab and it's just for hauling junk around. Oh yeah, and it's a ford.

The best thing to do would be to set out some of those sticky traps. Put them along the walls of the interior. You caould bait them up with some peanut butter too if you want. Be careful though they are STICKY as hell!

You should catch them all within a few days, and you will be able to dispose of them easily. No running off and dying in your car somewhere.

Don

I set a few traps in the elky for several days after that to make sure their wasn't more & I guess their wasn't. I would hate the thought of those little guys in there chewing out the wiring & such.

I deal with them little critters in the hotel. I just put out regular traps, the bait is what get's em. I get a box of milk duds, knock off the chocolate coating on one. Warm it in the microwave for about 6 - 7 seconds at a time until soft. Press it into the bait bar real good. Set the trap..... has never failed for me. Just keep putting the trap out til you get no more. The milk dud will usually last a few weeks. You just don't want to kill them in the vehicle and leave them... the stench is terrible.

AHHHH HAAAAAA!!!!! This is the funniest subject I've read in a long time!! Everybody's got a story or trick to get rid of those pains in the butt! I had little black ants under my carpet but they went away by themselves.
Scrubby, the milk dud trick was the best!! I'll use that one in the garage next time I see one. Amazing how stinky they get when they die!

A milk dud huh? I'll have to remember that one.

Amazing how stinky they get when they die!
Not as stinky as a coffee can full of dead worms that's been sitting behind the seat for seven days after I went fishing, in 90 degree summer heat with the windows rolled up. Bleeeccchhh!

Lock a cat in the vehicle for a week. He'll get the mice.

Holy smokes! I don't know what would be worse, the smell of dead mice or a weeks worth of cat crap!!!!!!!

Or, if you dont leave the windows down.. the smell of the dead cat!..

It gets funnier when they live in your heater ducts.. turned on the heat in my car and mice started shooting out of the ducts by my feet..

screamed like a little girl

WROR

Ernie, I did that too one time. Rotten worms- not good. :)

If you dont care about it and it is a ford why not just gut the back of it or make a smokey fire in it leave the door ajar and smack them with a 2x4 when they run out . worst it might explode kill the mice and the pig. :lol:

Had a 66 Mustang on the rotisserie replacing the wheel wells and down inside the rockers you could see where a family of mice had been living in the 60's. Couldn't believe the amount of stuff they had dragged up in there, dog food, mattress stuffing, bits of cloth and straw etc Figured I had better clean it out or risk setting the car on fire when welding.
Stuck a chunk of pipe on the vacum cleaner and sucked them out. Little buggers were petrified, figure they croaked about the same time as elvis. 8)

When I first saw the title for this post "Exterminating pests from a vehicle", I thought...well usually I just tell my in-laws to get out...I guess that's not the answer your looking for..is it? I do like your posionous gas theory though...I'll keep it in mind! :lol:

I deal with them little critters in the hotel. I just put out regular traps, the bait is what get's em. I get a box of milk duds, knock off the chocolate coating on one. Warm it in the microwave for about 6 - 7 seconds at a time until soft. Press it into the bait bar real good. Set the trap..... has never failed for me. Just keep putting the trap out til you get no more. The milk dud will usually last a few weeks. You just don't want to kill them in the vehicle and leave them... the stench is terrible.

Peanut Butter works really well also.

Holy smokes! I don't know what would be worse, the smell of dead mice or a weeks worth of cat crap!!!!!!!

Cat crap! Its a FORD Hurse it should smell like death warmed over. :D