My truck is a place critters go to die

gwminor48

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If you have to park outside you may have experienced this. I noticed my truck smelled like something dead when I got in but I couldn't see anything under the hood or inside. I finally saw it with the door opened ( I circled it in the photo) and then saw where it had chewed away the plastic at the windshield. I pulled it out and tried a cleanup but it still stunk so I pulled up the mats and about puked when I saw maggots. I decided to check the cabin air filter and got another shock! Is that a small possum? Not sure, I don't know how the hell it got in there, the filter is behind the glove box. At least I haven't seen any chewed wires yet. Long ago when we bought my teenage daughter a car that had belonged to a smoker I left an open can of coffee in the car and it worked great, I don't think this will be so easy. I'm trying baking soda, coffee, Lysol, carpet cleaner. Let me know if you have a success story or failure with something like this.


Rat trap.jpgRat damage.jpgDead rat.jpgMaggots.jpgCabin air filter.jpgCritter.jpgCritter2.jpg
 
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The best thing for the smell is human puke. Get about 1 1/2 cups of it and just set it on the floor, park in the sun, and let it sit with the windows closed for a day or two. Then open the windows and get rid of the puke. You will NEVER smell the dead possum again. Now the puke, that is a different story.

The cabin air filter, are you SURE the possum was not attached to it when you changed it last?
 

gwminor48

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I forgot my wife and I each had a jacket in the truck that she had to take to the dry cleaners, and I have some masks in there that you can have for free. I'm thinking about calling my insurance company. I've read sometimes they will accept the claim and try to have it professionally cleaned, supposedly in some cases they even wrote off the vehicle if it can't be fixed, not holding my breath on that - pun intended. My wife recalls a Seinfeld episode that this reminds her of.
 
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