My 1966 Mustang Convertable has been sitting in a Barn for the last 10 years. I now have some money saved to get it running again and put on a new top as the old one was in shreds.
This Barn has Black Widow Spiders in it and the mechanic that is going to work on the car for me asked me if I would bug bomb the car before I have it towed to his shop.
Has anyone ever set off a bug bomb in a classic car before?
Should I open the hood and put one in the engine compartment?
Should I just set one on the front seat?
Should I bomb the trunk?
Will it hurt the plastic console, dashboard, steering wheel or paint?
i’d ask the entomologist at your state’s Department of Agriculture Office how to eradicate black widows. You have too many absorbant surfaces to be letting off a bug bomb.
Personally, I might consider hiring an exterminator. Let someone else stick his fingers under the edge of the hood and feel around for the hood latch.
Why not do the whole barn and be done with the problem? I think you would need to tarp the car to create a closed bubble if nothing else and would have to sit for some hours without the gas escaping. Those little things could be everywhere-under seats, in dash, in trunk, under hood, etc.
I don’t know the climate in your area but in my neighborhood spreading clear plastic over the car and parking it in the sun for a day should toast most any creatures that might be hiding in the car. I have virtually sterilized areas of my lawn with clear plastic.
With respect to Rod, when dealing with a creature as toxic as a black widow it’s better to play on the safe side and consult an expert or hire an exterminator. The black widows just might be tolerant of things that would eliminate other species of bug. I don’t know about black widows, as we don;t have that problem here, but I know from trying that some other spiders are tolerant of things that kill other bugs instantly.
I’d hate to assume they were dead, stick my fingers under the hood to get the secondary latch, and find out they were alive, well, and prepared to defend themselves.
Realize when trying to poison spiders that spiders ARE poison. All spiders are, it’s just that very few have fangs long and strong enough to piece human flesh and toxin strong enough to kill us at the volumes they produce.