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Original poster

How long for dead mouse smell to go away? (Searched archive, found conflicting info)

31 replies

DirtyMartini · 24/02/2011 12:18

Highly localized, rank smell in living room this morning - I think it is a dead mouse. Fortunately the dc are at nursery today and tomorrow and I am working at home in the kitchen. Will look under/in sofa after bedtime tonight with DP (I am squeamish and do not wish to search alone).

IF we cannot find it and it is under floor/in wall, how long will it take to stop smelling so dreadful? I looked at old threads and of course this has been asked before, but advice varies between seven days and EIGHT WEEKS Shock. And the people who start the threads do not tend to come back and update.

Please tell me, if this happened to you, how long it took?

OP posts:
Original poster
DirtyMartini · 24/02/2011 12:37

.

OP posts:
iskra · 24/02/2011 12:45

definitely a week or two. Sorry. It's a horrible smell, I know.

Original poster
DirtyMartini · 24/02/2011 13:36

Well, at least you didn't say "definitely eight weeks" ... thanks for replying.

I rang Rentokil just now, and they told me four to five weeks.

I guess it must depend on so many factors (eg weather, location of corpse and whether heating pipes etc are nearby) that it just varies a lot.

Rentokil people recommended I get strong deodorizing products, but I'm not keen on that with small dc running about at floor level. Ugh ugh ugh to the whole thing.

OP posts:
going · 24/02/2011 13:38

A couple of weeks at least.

I had a horrific smell in my house and it took me a few days to work out what it was. We didn't find the dead mouse(I assume that's waht it was). I really feel for you as the smell is so cloying.

Hassled · 24/02/2011 13:39

I've always been able to locate the corpse so I don't know if we're talking time taken to completely decompose. Findng the corpse is your priority.

On the plus side, you will always always recognise the smell of mouse. I know from the instant I step into the kitchen in the morning if the cats have brought one in overnight. You never forget that smell.

ZZZenAgain · 24/02/2011 13:44

don't know the smell but could you heavily deodorise the room and leave the door closed/block it whilst the dc are up and about till it gets a bit better?

iskra · 24/02/2011 13:46

Yes, definitely try to find the corpse. I'm pretty sure we've got a dead 'un about to start smelling (put poison down, scrabbling has stopped...) & it's much nicer to find them before they are crawling with maggots...

Original poster
DirtyMartini · 24/02/2011 13:52

Maggots - aaaaaaaaah!

OP posts:
iskra · 24/02/2011 13:56

Even worse - we cleared out a maggoty one, went away for a week, & came back to find the house was filled with bluebottles. We must have left some maggots behind...

Original poster
DirtyMartini · 24/02/2011 14:35

Aaaaaahhhhh!

OP posts:
Original poster
DirtyMartini · 24/02/2011 14:36

That was me leaving town FOR GOOD, not just a week to let the maggots breed, btw

OP posts:
ZZZenAgain · 25/02/2011 09:28

dead mice, maggots, bluebottles

OMG

whydobirdssuddenlyappear · 25/02/2011 09:39

If you can't find the corpse, either put out some bowls filled with bicarb in the affected room, or ring Rentokil - I believe they have a powder to neutralise dead mouse pong smell. Last time this happened to me, I used bicarb. Smell was gone pretty quickly.

whydobirdssuddenlyappear · 25/02/2011 09:40

sorry see you've already rung rentokil. I think there IS some sort of deodorising powder they have though - my next door neighbour's dad works in pest control and apparently said there was...

Original poster
DirtyMartini · 25/02/2011 10:42

Ah good, we will get some this weekend, and use bicarb too. Thanks.

Ugh, it's worse today. We hunted last night, but no luck. Cannot take up floor - might be in wall, anyway (old building). Bleugh.

OP posts:
whydobirdssuddenlyappear · 25/02/2011 10:50

It'll be behind the skirting or under the floor, quietly mummifying. Yum.

SpawnChorus · 25/02/2011 16:20

Ours took about 3-4 days, but it was summer = fast decomposition?? It smelled horrific for those few days though.

BlackBag · 26/02/2011 17:36

Wall up house and move Grin

'I can smell a rat' that phrase sends shivers down me, day three the worst then gets easier. Eight weeks- that must have bee eight rodents one after the other.

Although the dead rat in the shed smell has only recently gone, bugger ate the blue food back in november still have n't found 'em

iskra · 26/02/2011 20:21

Thanks for the bicarb tip!

Jajas · 26/02/2011 20:27

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bonfiervsssscs · 31/01/2016 14:34

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bonfiervsssscs · 31/01/2016 14:41

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bonfiervsssscs · 31/01/2016 14:42

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StillYummy · 31/01/2016 17:56

They smell like cabbage don't they (pokes dinner with fork)

Kaylyn · 27/05/2016 17:33

Well today I had a terrible find... A female pregnant mouse dead in a trap behind my stove ... Thing is I removed the body and cleaned the floor as much as I could that it died on... But it leaked or something behind my counter and I can't clean the area back there.... I'm so grossed out by the smell! Following for tips as well !