Came back from a 2 day trip to the mountains to discover Melvin hadn't actually eaten one of his f/t rats, and it was still sitting there in his tank, stinking the house up to high heaven. I've moved Melvin to the racks, thrown out the paper bedding and the scrumptious rat, and wiped everything down (several times!) with 10% bleach water. The house smells better, but the tank still reeks of carrion when I stick my head in there. I assume it's not the glass that's producing the lovely smell. Maybe the caulking at the joints?

Does anybody have any proven (and preferably non-toxic-to-snakes) suggestions for getting rid of that smell? Do I have to switch to chlorhexidine for this?

And has anybody had this happen with a plastic tub? How did you get rid of the smell? My tubs smell pretty awful after breeding season, and I have the hardest time getting rid of it. I'd hate to have a tub that always smelled of rotting meat.