The mouse plague is abating but unfortunately have died in inaccessible areas and now are stinking the house out. There is one in the air gap in the stove so every time the oven is turned on, a putrid stench through the house. Another is in a cavity behind the kitchen cupboards and I think that there is one (? more) in the cavity where the recessed doors open into. They each stink ++. If it was summer, the meat or black ants would solve the problem in a day or two. In winter, the ants have packed up and the mice are not drying out.
HEEEEEELLLLLP does anyone know how to mask the dead mice smell? All advice greatly appreciated :-)
I would try these: vinegar, coffee grounds, and baking soda. Place a small amount of each separately in a small container like bowls and put these containers in a convenient place near the smell.
sweet lord.
I know at our auto shop, when critters die in cars and start to stink the general sentiment is that if you can't reach it and get it out, the car is a lost cause. I would do whatever possible to try to locate it- pull the stove out (ugh), drill a hole in the back of the cabinet, etc. Luckily there are good tools for this- in the shop we have a USB snake camera and light that can get in holes, I think we bought it online very cheap and probably an auto parts shop would have it. Same for telescoping flexible grappling tools.
Good luck!
It will take about 2-3 weeks for the smell to fade, with plenty of airing, from long personal experience. Longer with a bigger critter :(
Coffee grounds and vinegar in dishes do work somewhat well. Borax also.. I ended up leaving my windows open for 2 weeks with a fan running in late spring last time I had something die in my walls. I put probably half a dozen bowls out with stuff to absorb the smell. The last one I had was in my bathroom, so I just kept the door closed and the windows open. Time before that I was a teenager and slept on the couch downstairs for weeks while I left the windows in my bedroom open.
If it's in your kitchen, I would consider putting up plastic in the doorways to block out the smell from the rest of the house, then open a window and run the exhaust fan continuously.
Have you considered an ozone generator? They are dangerous, but will get rid of the smell for a while.
Hi there,
I actually just posted this a few days ago in a thread about stinky clothes but it might help you too.
I honestly don't know if this will work because I don't have any sense of smell (severe deviated septum). But I used to work in a hardware store and these 2 older dudes were regular customers. But most of the time they just bought a couple boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax laundry detergent. Basically it is just Borax. I finally asked why they liked that brand. They both had similar answers.....
They had both been doing taxidermy for years. If they happened to get/come across a dead animal that was apparently in good condition but already stunk to high heavens on a hot day.... they would cut the side of the box wide open and lay the animal on top of it and place it in a plastic bag for a couple of days. They said it did an excellent job of getting rid of the smell. So I've been using it on my gardening clothes ever since. It even says on the box it is good at eradicating odors.
If the mouse is in a wall cavity I would make a small hole.... fill up a squeezable bottle or use a freezer bag with a small corner cut off with the Borax and squeeze as much as possible into the wall. It might do the trick. Good luck to you.
Debbie, that's an awesome observation. Borax? It never would have occurred to me. The things you learn here!
Of course, you still have to find the little dead fink. Will dissolved borax spray through one of those pressurized 2 gal. deck sprayers? A few half inch holes beats my suggestion, which is to declare nuclear war and attack the wall with a sawzall.
Thank you for the suggestions. We have bought a new gas oven but it unfortunately has an electric griller (Broiler). Gas grillers are not available because apparently, people do not want to use gas to cook except in ovens.
Debbie, saw the post on stinky clothes. Think borax is awesome. Will give it a try in the cavities. But as Doug says, you need to find the (stinkin') little dead finks first. I did think about getting in a skunk to tone it down a little but then realised we do not have skunks in Australia LOL.
You could always go on a holiday somewhere and get trapped by a lockdown.
3 weeks would go quick away from home.
Bi Card soda is another stink absorber.
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