How to Get Rid of Dead Mouse Smell

Updated on October 16, 2017
B.Z. asks from Quakertown, PA
13 answers

We have had mice & husband put oput mouse poison. It did the trick, but the mouse must have died in the wall. Does anyone know of a way to get rid of the smell?
It is in a spare room, so at least it is not in a main area.
Thanks for your help!

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

So What Happened?

Since the room that stinks is a spare room, we deciced to put in a Vanilla Glade Plug-In, & close the room (Opening the window daily the first few days as well). It has been about 2 weeks, & all we smwell is Vanilla. yea! Thanks for your help!!!

Featured Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

E.F.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I've never had the smell last for more than a week to 10 days. I'd just ignore it, and it will go away.

1 mom found this helpful

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.M.

answers from Pittsburgh on

We've had a mice problem for quite some time...my cat used to catch them and bring them to me...but recently she has been "playing" with them more and they get away from her, hide under furniture and have a heart attack and die. Lovely I know! We start with a hunt for the "victim" and remove it if possible then scrub the area with antibacterial dish soap, let it dry then I spray it with Odoban (Febreeze or pet odor spray should work too) and finally a little bit of baking soda. If you can't find and remove "the victim" ... invest in lots of air freshner and open windows with fans blowing outward. Hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.M.

answers from Johnstown on

Im so sorry. We had the same problem i while back, but it was in our bathroom floor. never had any idea something so small would smell so bad. I know you dont want to here this but it was in there for a week and i made my husbend rip the floor up and get rid of it. that is the only way the smell will go away.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.B.

answers from York on

hi B.. sorry about your rodent problem! i live in an old farm house and we seem to experience this same thing every year no matter if we have cats, set traps, ect... the mice just get in.

however, since i am home all day... in the past it was very difficult for me to "take care" of the traps after something was caught. and depending on where it was, or if it actually killed it... i would have to wait for my husband to come home and take care of it for me since I was sort of squeamish about it.

when we started having problems again this year, i decided to try terminex... who also uses poisons. now i read your other responses before i wrote mine just to make sure i wasnt repeating anything.

im not sure what type of poison your husband got, but terminex uses poison that they swear is not transferable or second hand. that was an issue for me being that we have a toddler and a few cats. and they insisted even if your cat would come across a dead mouse after it ate it, that it would not make it sick. i trusted this, since they are a large company that has been in business for a while... if something were to happen and their statement was false, the could have a tremendous law suit on their hands. mind you, i am only going by what the terminex professional told me about the type of poison bait they put in my walls.

also, in trying this we did experience a smell which i assumed was a dead mouse in our basement. but considering the alternative of having live mice crawling all over my house, i thought it was a small price to pay.

the smell only lasted over the weekend. it was quite pungent. but i kept all the windows open and burned candles in every room and when someone came to visit they actually said how good my house smelled???? she only smelled the candle so i guess it was masking it enough.

i have not ever had something smell for 6 weeks. mice are mostly fur. that is why they can squeeze under door ways, and smash themselves to fit through a hole the size of a pen. yeah! i was told that their skeletal bodies are very tiny and do not take that long to decompose. (not that it makes it any less gross) but for me it only lasted about 3 days.

Also, it doesn't continue to happen. the poison is also supposed to make the mice very thirsty and dehydrated. its supposed to draw them outside looking for water and then they die outside. but once in a while one dies before they can get out i guess. again for me the alternative of having to empty out a mouse trap... i choose the poison when i weigh the pro's and con's.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

That's the problem with using poison for mice--they just crawl somewhere and die and STINK! Luckily they are small and it doesn't take TOO long for the smell to subside.
O. thing (cheap & easy) that you could try is what I found out worked when our dog got skunked last fall: Put a small dish/bowl of coffee (right from the can) somewhere in the room. It's amazing the amount of smell a small dish of coffee absorbs. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Unfortunately, short of tearing the walls apart, you have to grin and bear it. Open the window and hope for the best. Another suggestion get a ferret! We had a mouse problem until we got ferrets and then no more mouse problem. Natural enemy and even if the ferret is caged the scent still keeps the mice away.

Good Luck

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.F.

answers from Philadelphia on

Unfortunately you have to get rid of the mice and there could be quite a few. After that I woule scrub under each mouse you get with bleach.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.D.

answers from Scranton on

I have made my husband promise to stop using poison for this very reason! He cut a hole in the wall with a dry wall saw (it's a small hand held saw, a little bigger than a steak knife). He was then able to remove the mouse and spray it with Fabreze. We let the wall open for a few days, then used dry wall tape to reattach the piece of drywall he cut out, spackled the edges and repainted.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.W.

answers from Erie on

You have to get rid of the dead mouse to get rid of the smell of it decomposing.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.M.

answers from Pittsburgh on

The smell lasts about six weeks. The only way to get rid of the smell is to get rid of the mice by cutting the wall, getting rid of the rotting mouse, and bleaching the area. A few plug-in air fresheners help mitigate the smell if you do not want to do this.

If you have children or pets you really should not use poison as they can eat it and be poisoned too.

I never use poison (I have three cats) but there was a mouse trapped in my wall when my house was built and it took six weeks for the smell to go away. You just have to wait for the natural processes to work and then of course you will have a petrified mouse in your wall until it rots to just bones.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

P.G.

answers from Philadelphia on

hey if u actaully find a way PLEASE let me know! the smell can last a week! i found the only way is to set "snap" traps and just throw em out.. but when they eat the poison and die in walls be prepared for the worst smell of u'r life!

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.P.

answers from Atlanta on

the rat poison you buy now will actually dehydrate the dead mouse, so isnt really a bad odor if you der the right stuff, the best one to use, or the one that helped me the most was called just one bite or ask a extermanator, thats what we did and it helped.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.G.

answers from Pocatello on

Ok after reading a ton of reviews on different sites...and getting nauseated after smelling a dead mouse....literally nauseated....I found a home remedy that actually works...without worrying about chemicals that were harmful to Garfield (my cat). I took several small dishes with a couple of scoops of coffee grounds in each and set them over the heater vents. I also soaked a cotton ball in peppermint extract....supposedly a deterrent to mice....and placed the cotton ball on the heater vent also. So far...it has worked...thank goodness. At least it has killed the smell for now because it is in my master bedroom. I hope this helps someone.
NOTE: Just found out that peppermint can be harmful to cats....did not know this.
So the chemicals /peppermint extract (that I did not want my cat exposed to) could possibly have made my cat ill.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions

Related Searches