# dead animal smell in house **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160 "2006-01-30T03:10:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/1 "2006-01-30T03:10:16Z")
In my second-floor master bedroom for a few weeks there has been a bad smell that I can only compare to a dead animal. It does not smell in any other room in the house, including the room directly below. I thought something might be in the ductwork but it smells whether or not the air is blowing, and the vents and returns don’t smell. A couple of years ago we had some mice. I caught three in the kitchen with snap traps. An exterminator put in glue traps around but we never caught anything that way. I put out some poison in the basement storage room, but that was a long time back, so I don’t think a mouse that died two years ago would start to smell today. I know that poisoned mice sometimes die in inconvenient locations. Suppose that something died in my house. If I cannot reach it by checking the attic, how can I find something in the walls? BakingWithGas is going nuts but I really don’t want to tear out all the walls to find one dead mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/2 "2006-01-30T03:24:47Z")
You can’t in most cases or at least it wouldn’t be practical. It will just go away on its own after the decomposition has stabilized. It should go away in a few weeks or maybe less. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/3 "2006-01-30T03:25:37Z")
Its probably a mouse that died in the wall very recently. Don’t bother to tear out walls. The body is very small and smell will go away in another day or two when it dries out. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/4 "2006-01-30T03:27:58Z")
Yeah, once most of what is going to decompose in the wall decomposes, the smell will go away. Not much you can do about it. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/5 "2006-01-30T04:12:18Z")
Yep, probably a mouse. Worst case, a squirrel, bat (or even raccoon) in the attic. If you have access to the attic, that merits a look. But it will go away in time. In the meantime, various scented air fresheners or candles might be in order. ---
**Author:** ![orangetruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ad7895/32.png) [@orangetruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangetruck)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/6 "2006-01-30T04:14:05Z")
Hopefully its not a rat, I had one die in the back of my crawlspace and it made the entire house uninhabitable until I found it, crusted with maggots and turning into soup. I couldn’t eat rice for months after that. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/7 "2006-01-30T04:41:54Z")
> [@orangetruck](#): > > I couldn’t eat rice for months after that. Retrieving maggoty dead cats from the crawlspace under the front porch also produces this effect. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-smell-in-house/342160/8 "2006-02-02T18:45:06Z")
[It wasn’t a dead animal after all.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=356955) :smack: