Ghastly Stench In Car

[teach1rusl]

Several years ago I was taking my classroom pet snake (ball python) home for Christmas break. I'd forgotten my portable tank, so just put Caicus (the snake) in a basket and draped a rug over it. I stopped to get gas, and when I got back in the car, I spied the snake, or the last 5 inches or so of his tail, in the floor on the passenger side. He'd already found a place up under the dash to squeeze most of his body. I had his tail, but was afraid to pull too hard. CRAP!! Keep in mind that this was mid December. I left a lamp out in the car the first night (all night), and tried a mouse in a little cage the next day, trying to lure him out. No go. We had a severe cold snap that lasted a few days. Within 2 days of school resuming, I was driving to school with windows down. I had to pay someone to disasemble my entire dashboard to get poor Caicus' decomposing body out

I tried every deodorizer under the sun (some of them worse than the rotting body smell) to get that smell out. Eventually it went away. At least I didn't have to worry about maggots though...

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

I don't know if this will help with a car, but it worked with a washing machine once. Take it out and park it over or near the biggest ant hill you can find. Hope that they clean up for you. I agree if you can't find it in the car it is in the undercarriage or the frame somewhere under the carpets. Look there, powerwash if you can and hope for the best. Bugs like flies should be encouraged, maggots will eat up your problem! Ants will break it up and pack it away.

 

[StupidBird]

Sorry, but you HAVE to find the source and remove it. Or pay someone to do it.

I bought a nearly new car years ago. It had been repossessed and was a great deal, extended warranty included and all. Well, I had that (*&)( thing to the dealer many times trying to find what was wrong with the engine or exhaust or whatever - I knew little about cars then - and had to give up and sell the thing (well, there was much more to the story about having to sell it). But the smell got bad whenever it rained or was damp.

So, I have help emptying the car for the new owner. I was in the habit of nearly living out of the trunk between work and night school, so things had rolled around the trunk and we decided to take out the spare tire just to make sure nothing important fell into that hole. Guess what we found under the spare? A whole *&(&( pound package of mummified large shrimp, left by the previous owner!

So, the moral of the story for you is to remove everything and find it, because it'll just keep coming back. And don't trust the used car dealer.

Man, I am so using the ant hill technique if I can

 

[Finn's Mom]

This happened to me a few years back and it was a mouse that got stuck behind the engine block. You would have thought it was at least the size of a cow for how bad it smelled inside the car. Though I guess they can also chew through the headliner if they are getting really comfortable and then get stuck. If you can't find it looking under the hood yourself I would definitely pay someone to find it for you. (is there a reputable place that services cars near you? -- it shouldn't cost too much. My husband works at a place that takes care of this kind of thing all the time lucky for me) I'm sorry -- I feel your pain! Good luck.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Whelp.


I found it.



I didn't look easy enough. I had opened up that car and searched, and searched and searched. Gave up on it. It was actually returning to the non-smelly car I know and love.

As I was cleaning out the storage unit to bring some stuff back with me, I opened up the back hatch. I have opened up the back hatch I can't TELL you how many times. I put all of my stuff in there, closed it down, opened it again to put something else in there. Stood back and looked to see where else I could cram stuff for the ride back.

Upon stepping back, I saw it. The evil vermin from Hades was stuck in the latch. You know, the latch when you close down your trunk and it "locks"? Yep. Squished mouse. It didn't JUST happen either, that thing was decaying in there.

The car doesn't smell anymore though!

I don't know what's worse, the fact that I had to touch it several times without even knowing it, the fact that I murdered the thing without even knowing it, the fact that it had to be alive and running in the rear or my car without my knowledge...

So many creepy things running through my head.

 

[LarryPQ]

Sooooo funny.

I am a little sorry this story has an ending.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Rod, at least your decaying rodent was actually a rodent. My "decaying rodent" was actually a forgotten decaying sandwich under my front seat.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
Umm, not exactly.

In my youth, we had a minivan where a family of mice made our console their home. (On the inside, in the vents of the air conditioning where you can't get at it.) We trapped Mother, but didn't know that she had a family, which died in the vents.

It STANK. It stank and stank! It was there until we sold the car, so on every hot day, open the windows, DO NOT at ALL COSTS do not use Air Conditioning.

Sorry!

 

[SillyChicken]

I'm sorry........ but thats just plain funny!

 

[Brindlebtch]

YAY! you found it youfound it! Ew.