Mice (mouse) in house - dead

Next time think cat.

Thanks for the advice but it does not answer my question.

Surprised you smell it at all. A rat can stink for a month but a mouse should only last a few days.

Somehow, I knew that was coming ;-)

The unpleasant odor will go away when he's completely "eaten" or dried out; which ever happens first.

Think "mass of dead body" there is only so much "food" there.

Depending on local weather conditions (your level of sensitively to smells) I'd guess a week (or two at the most.)

Mice are about 30g .... about an ounce, not much food there.

cheers Bob

Leave the 4X8 sheet rock down; until you cannot smell the dead mouse. Think cat next time.

Rats tend to take 10- 14 days...hotter the temperature the fewer the days the more extreme the odor...the cooler the temp not as strong but can last longer. A single mouse should be a week or less. Cinnamon candles mask it as well as anything.

Lar

I reside in a rural area with some feilds around. I baited the perimeter (sp) of the home outside. It's a fairly old home and I have sealed all areas (I think). The basement sump has a clay pipe for overflow if the power fails or the sump fails. Tracing the pipe by guesstimate it's opening some 30 feet from the house was unscreened. I figure they might have gotten in this way, perhaps or came in with the firewood.

Oh, okay. One mouse (depending on the weather), three days to a week.

But, you've put out bait. That means there could be a steady stream of rodents eating the bait and dying in your inaccessible places.

Yes, the smell will go away. Eventually.

Look at Victor Tin Cats. A live trap that doesn't have the problem poison has caused you. I'm curious. What did you think would happen to them?

Steve

Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow...... I'm thinking cat !!!!!!

Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow .........

I sure wouldn't rip down a whole sheet of drywall because of a mouse. Yes, the smell will go away. In fact I just found a mouse trap behind my water heater with nothing but a skeleton and some fur. Probably has been there for at least a year. I did notice a foul odor once during the hot summer but thought it was sewer gas from the septic and I knew my wax ring on the toilet was bad. I replaced the ring and never smelled it after that. Maybe it was the mouse because the water heater is in a closet next to the bathroom.

In your case, if that ceiling is all drywall, replace that sheet and before you finish, spray a whole can of air freshner up there. Next time, drill a 1/2" hole and use that same air freshner. Better yet, use traps, or a cat and avoid the poison indoors.

Now here's something to think about. On a scale from 1 to 10, (10 is REAL DEAD), how dead is this mouse? What was his or her name. Was it a male or female? How old was it? Is it's family grieving? Was a proper funeral held? Did it's soul go to heaven or hell? Was it a smoker? Did it shop at Home Depot? Did it have an ebay account? Where did it work? How much money did it have in it's bank account? Who is the next of kin? Who inherited it's estate?

By the time you answer all these questions, the smell should be gone.

Ummmmmmmmm......... How do you dye a mouse????? :)

I get at least 1 dead mouse/odor a year in the house. Usually just before the holidays. On the plus side, no one wants to come over for holiday meals and if they do, they dont stay long.

Get a cat? I have one and he's dragged in more mice than he's dragged out

If a mouse can get his head through a hole, he can get the rest of his body, too. That's about the size of a dime. Unless a house is built today, and special attention and a lot of cash is spent on that aspect, it is impossible to keep mice out. Or they just chew a hole through somewhere.

They sound like a much larger animal when chewing through wood in the dark.

I'm tellin ya. Look at the Tin Cats. You won't keep them down in the fields, but you can get the ones that make it to the house. And if you're the humane type, just take them all for a five mile ride. I'd dye a few, though, just to find out if they make it back to their original home.

Steve

And, more importantly, who is responsible for it's outstanding credit card balances?

You're not gonna tell us it lived in your house and didn't have at least one Amex, Visa and Mastercard!

Sounds like you cat was a defective model. There may be a recall notice for your model of cat. Check the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's website at

Better than live ones running rampant. .....or dead zombie mice shuffling around.

I bait but have never smelled a dead mouse. I've found some old dessicated mice in traps but they did not smell. I would imagine that if blow flies got to the dead mouse before it mummified, then there would be an odor as the maggots do their work. Eventually odor will clear as cadaverine and the odorants committed from a corpse are volatile organic compounds.