I think I found the hamster

Poor Holly. I feel for your kid, too. Losing a pet is never easy.

As for the smell, I'm not sure there's much you can do. Theoretically, it will lessen over time, but that could be a long time. If you can pinpoint the area, with the help of a friendly feline if necessary, punching a small hole in the drywall and patching it up again shouldn't be that bad.

 

A hamster is pretty small; it should dessicate in a short while, after which the smell will vanish.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bigdaddy @ Jan 8 2007, 11:30 AM) [snapback]372587[/snapback]</div>

I would try to get it out; the smell could linger quite a while and in my experience, with an animal larger than a mouse, the odor will get worse. Once the carcass is removed, you will still have a lingering smell.

If you don't have respiratory problems, find someone with an ozone generator air cleaner ... the ozone will really oxidize the odor. If you do have respiratory problems, breathing a lot of ozone probably isn't the best idea. In that case, an anti-bacterial odor eliminator like Odo-Ban (available at Costco) or even Frebreeze might work.

 

The smell will linger a long time. We had a dead rat in our wall and the smell lasted many months until I finally figured out exactly where it was coming from and tore the wall apart. It was not fun. Get it out of there and then spray the thing like crazy with bleach water. Let it dry back out, then spray a deodorizer in the wall and seal it all back up. That will take care of it. Trust me - don't wait it out. The putrid smell will stick around longer than you will want and you'll wish you just took care of it right away.

In my case, there was a small defect in the foundation where the concrete in the garage (floor) met the wall. Big enough gap for a rat to get into. Look along the bottom of your walls to see if there are any gaps. Had I not noticed the small gap, I would have torn apart a lot of wall looking for the source.

 

poor hamster! and shudder... the smell of dead things sticks.

i agree, get it out of there asap. who knows what kind of pests that smell will attract even if you can put up with smelling it...

 

I also vote for get it out fast. You don't know what is going to be attracted to it. Things that eat dead things. Bleech.

Drywall isn't the hard to patch.

After the bleach spray make sure you wait until it is thoroughly dry. But rather than spray with deodorizer, I would put a box of baking soda in there.

Poor, poor Holly.

Don't let your kid see any of this.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Jan 8 2007, 08:43 PM) [snapback]372899[/snapback]</div>

Don't feel so bad. I'm so sick I actually clicked on it to be sure.

 

Not sure how this turned out, but if need be, bust out the gyproc and clean up the ... remains. Be prepared for a gutwrenching sight, yes I'm talking about wiggling maggots and other things. Whatever you do, keep the kids away when you're performing the cleanup.

I'm sure you don't want such a health issue in your home, especially if mold results from it. The faster you clean it up the better