Evicting an unwelcome guest

[daveenty]

Wasn't sure which section this should be in but, as it's car related, this seemed the best section.

I have a moth in my car. Nothing unusual about that I suppose but the thing's the size of a small pterodactyl and keeps disappearing behind the dash and the A pillar trim. This is in the Jeep by the way, not the Mercedes, so that's one consolation I suppose.

He disappears until I start driving anywhere, then decides to fly from one side of the dash to the other, which is quite distracting when trying to negotiate traffic, or indeed anything at all. I first noticed him on Saturday, he must have been hiding in some of the rubbish I put in the back on Friday night for a tip run, and decided that the front of the car was a better place for him and seems to have moved in.

I left all the windows open on Saturday morning, including the sun roof, then turned the heater up to full defrost in the hope that it would get too warm, but this didn't really seem to do anything apart from get the interior drenched as it promptly started lashing down. I was away Saturday afternoon so the car just got left and I forgot about it Sunday.

It reminded me of it's presence again this morning when I popped up to get a paper, doing it's usual fly around the windscreen, scaring me half to death in the process. Every time I try to grab it it disappears behind the trim on the A post though, as soon as I remove the trim, it then wanders down into the depths of the dash. It's lashed down again all day again here, so I couldn't open the windows again, but I'm wondering if it would decide to leave even if it had the option?

Tomorrow is a good forecast, so it will be outside all day. I've put a couple of mothballs in the car and will be leaving everything open on it, but any suggestions into how to get rid of my lodger would be welcomed as I need to use this Jeep soon.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Hang some old fashioned fly papers around the car over
night.

 

[moonloops]

Who you gonna call? Mothbusters ?

 

[bob6600]

Set fire to the car, that should get the b4stard

 

[Chrishazle]

He swallowed a spider to catch the fly, I don't know why he swallowed the fly...

 

[AMGeed]

Got a vacuum cleaner Dave?

 

[Ginger55k]

Dave,

Jackie says.... "leave one of your old cashmere jumpers on the seat overnight, then catch the bar$teward sleeping it off in the morning after a big feed"

 

[John]

Can of WD40 and a lighter.

:bannana:

 

[daveenty]

Fly paper and vacuum are both good ideas, but ideally I want it alive as I'm a bit soft with stuff like this. A wasp may be another matter...

Dave,

Jackie says.... "leave one of your old cashmere jumpers on the seat overnight, then catch the bar$teward sleeping it off in the morning after a big feed"

Like the one you looked after for me in Jury's Ginge???

As for the fire suggestions, appreciate the logic but have to use this car for the next few weeks as the MB will be off the road, so need an up and running car.

 

[Sanke]

One motorway, 70mph, open all windows and let nature suck the moth and all your dust particles away.

Steve

 

[dunos]

My cat, Starbuck, is very good at catching moths. He is very accustomed to killing and then leaving the pterodactyl size ones outside our bedroom door.

I suggest I lend you my cat. You can take him on a quick car journey with you and he can catch the moth during the trip.

 

[markjay]

This may offer some (admittedly very limited) consolation:

https://www.quora.com/How-long-do-moths-live

 

[Lotiman]

Reminds me of the time a few years ago we were on holiday at a ranch just outside Tucson and decided one day to hire a car and drive over to Tombstone, famous for the 'Gunfight at the OK Corall'.

Anyhow, we returned to the hire Ford after spending a few hours in Tombstone and visiting Boot Hill graveyard and I opened the drivers door to see a huge hairy spider, the size of my hand and with legs as thick as my fingers, sitting on the drivers side floor mat! The wife shrieked and I have to confess, I was none too pleased by this either, especially when I took off my shoe to throw at it and it just ran up under the dash on the drivers side. Only the day before, we'd been to a walk and talk nature trail on the ranch and been shown a Tarantula nest with the huge hairy mother inside, so we were pretty sure of what we were seeing in this car.

Now, of course, came the rather tricky decision of what do we do about driving back to the ranch, especially as the wife flatly refused to do the honourable thing and drive in my place. So, having thought about it for a while, I reckoned the only thing to do was start the engine (from outside) and turn the aircon on max, blowing down into the footwell. My thinking was that a tropical spider of this type would hate the cold and become fairly inactive (hopefully).

Once the car was good and cold inside, I very gingerly got into the drivers seat with the wife's pashmina wrapped around my bare legs, she got in the back with her legs up on the seat and off we went. As far as possible, I used the cruise control with my feet pulled well back out of the way, just in case the thing dropped down from under the dash, and had probably the most tense and nervous drive I've ever had in my life, back to the ranch. Once there and stopped in the car park, you've never seen two people exit a car as quickly as we did on that day!

 

[c_200k]

I hate this kinda stuff so I was driving and that happened I can't imagine the outcome.

Sorry I haven't got any helpful advice as usually I run away lol

 

[whitenemesis]

A high powered torch and a shotgun.... ah, no that's for moles...

 

[Lennox]

Set fire to the car, that should get the b4stard

Woke the wife reading that one!!! Thanks!!

 

[tanuie]

Fly killer, sod the moth.

 

[developer]

Fly paper and vacuum are both good ideas, but ideally I want it alive as I'm a bit soft with stuff like this. A wasp may be another matter...

Good for you Dave - how about doing a few journeys with the front windows open - I'm sure he'd find a way out.

 

[MancMike]

I'd also go with fly spray. If it dies naturally, it'll crawl into somewhere to die.

Fly spray really screws up their nervous system so they go berserk and will die out in the open where you can flick it out the window.

 

[addbuyer]

You lot are being a bit drastic.... set fire to the car, cashmere jumper?

Just leave the sunroof open .... simples

Then put a hose pipe through and drown the bugger