Hamster story

Star · 01-15-2005, 02:43 PM

My daughter's hamster got out of her cage and we couldn't find her for days. Well, we found her! She got into our duct and went and died in there and now my house smells like a big old dirty smelly butt because we have the heat going (being winter and all). This is really gross! The problem is we don't know where the hamster is in the duct. We have a 2 story house so what are we supposed to do now? Just wait for it to rot to the point of not stinking anymore? I don't hink I can wait that long, the smell is really disgusting. I can't believe that this happened! 8O

Merika · 01-15-2005, 05:12 PM

We used to live next to a hay field and when they harvested we would get mice in the house. I know how bad that 'dead smell' is. If you can't find it..there isn't much you can do other than waiting for it completely rot away.
They gravitate towards water sources....so maybe check around the hot water heater. They crawl up in the stuffing there and get stuck.

Star · 01-15-2005, 05:20 PM

how she got into the duct was through the vents (we have really old vents here so the holes are big) and I guess she got lost in there and ended up near the furnace. I remember a couple nights ago, I heard scratching sounds near the furnace like an animal trying to get up someplace and couldn't because of sliding (and there is a bit of a hill there) so I'm going to get hubby to take off some of the duct around there tonight to try and see if we can find it (hopefully she never made it up the hill) and take it out. The smell is horrid! My nice fresh smelling house now smells gross!

How long does it take to completely rot away anyways? I wish it were summer and we didn't have the heat going because the heat is making it worse.

Merika · 01-15-2005, 07:38 PM

Unless you find it...that smell will remain for a couple of weeks.

Star · 01-15-2005, 07:47 PM

a couple weeks! 8O YIKES!

I think i'm going to go and buy a few of those odor eater things for the house and buy somekind of deodorant sheets and put them in my vents.

My landlord came here today and asked what that smell was. he thought it was a dirty diaper or something. I told him what happened. It's really embarassing when somebody comes over and smells that. It smells like a manure field in here. it's sooooo gross!

hubby fell asleep after work so trying to find the thing will have to wait until tomorrow. that sux. I told kassandra to clean up her hamster cage and pack it away. NO MORE hamsters, guiny pigs or any rodents ever again in the house. I didn't want that hamster in the first place. I hate rodents! They spend their entire lives trying to eat their way out of the cage (which is extremely annoying when you're trying to sleep) then when they succeed, they go and commit suicide in the duct vents. :?

Merika · 01-15-2005, 08:33 PM

Oh...it is a HORRIBLE sweet sour smell!!!!! You can cover it up to some degree....but it does take at least 2 weeks for it to die. I don't know if there is someone to call to find it or not. Those things just die NASTY!