How to get the smell of decomp. out of a heated reptile room?

Gross, I know, but I need info in the worst kind of way.
My husband and I were both gone overnight Wednesday night and when I came home and checked the snake room, I was hit in the face with an almost tangible wall of decomp odor. Apparently, one of our Kenyan sand boas didn't actually eat her rat pup Tuesday night... She just buried it and it basically sat in her tank on the warm side rotting until I found it Thursday evening.

I tossed the rat, disinfected her cage, changed out the bedding, etc. and put her back, but now my snake room has a powerful funk. I'm open to ANY suggestions for how to improve the stench. My main hangup, is how do I air out the room properly when it is being heated to 78? I'm considering turning the heater off and opening the window this afternoon when I get home (it is supposed to be in the mid 70's outside today). Do you think that would be sufficient ambient temp if the snakes also have hot spots? The room has a vinyl floor, so I'm also considering moping, but I don't know if the vinyl has absorbed the stench or not and I don't think mopping with something like pinesol would be a good idea in a snake room (aren't they sensitive to pine oil vapors?).

What I'm trying:
Baking soda in bowls around the room and some sprinkled on the floor near where the cages are
Air febreeze (sprayed once)
Running the bathroom ventfan (the bathroom is attached to the snakeroom).

Please let me know if any of you have feedback or if anyone has gone through this before. I can guarantee I'll be using a snake hook to dredge the KSBs tanks after feeding now, that's for sure.

It won't hurt your snakes one bit to have the room temps drop for a few hours. Go ahead and open the windows and get some fresh air in there. If it's a windy day, that might be all you need to do. If it's a still day, get some fans to help blow the old air out of the room. I've been in your shoes, and fresh air is the best solution. Good luck!

The same thing happened with me over the summer. I just vacuumed out the room with one that has a scented filter, changed the bedding out of the cage, used dawn dish soap in the cage, turned on the ceiling fan and opened the window.

The smell was gone after a few hours.

Hope this helps!

Judy hit it. Opening the window should take care of most of it. Otherwise, vinegar is an amazing odor destroyer.

Everything that they have mentioned and light a candle or two for a while

Just leave the window open for a while. Also pouring simple green into a few bowls and leaving them around the room will cover the smell pretty well (of course then your room will smell like simple green and personally I'm not sure that's better)

Clean the enclosure floor with either F10 or chlorhexadine under where the dead rat lay, in case any of the decomposed "stuff" managed to get absorbed into it. It also works on regurge odor BTW.

Thanks so much guys for the info! I will open the window, turn off the heater, bring in some fans, and might mop the floor with vinegar water if that doesn't work.

MarkS- I don't know what "simplegreen" is... Is that some kind of organic cleaner?

bcr229- This boa is still in a glass tank. I cleaned with a fresh batch of chlorhexadine that I mixed up and let it sit for a while and then dried the tank and replaced the bedding.

I've read regurg smells even worse then this... I hope I never find out because this was pretty darn bad.

Thank you again everyone for your input!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by artgecko

I've read regurg smells even worse then this... I hope I never find out because this was pretty darn bad.

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Decomposing rat stank. Regurge sent me running to the bathroom to hurl.

Mmmmm....the smell of death. You'll never forget it! It stays in your nostril hairs. I've had some half digested rabbits come up out of my Burm before, and it doesn't get much worse for site and smell, I can actually smell it when I think about it. Some good old Vic's Vapor rub under the nostrils will work if you know you're going to be smelling something pungent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by artgecko

MarkS- I don't know what "simplegreen" is... Is that some kind of organic cleaner?

bcr229- This boa is still in a glass tank. I cleaned with a fresh batch of chlorhexadine that I mixed up and let it sit for a while and then dried the tank and replaced the bedding.

I've read regurg smells even worse then this... I hope I never find out because this was pretty darn bad.

Thank you again everyone for your input!

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Simple green is a commonly available household/automotive cleaner, light degreaser:

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Simple-Gree...3005/100060853

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Heeltoeclutch

Simple green is a commonly available household/automotive cleaner, light degreaser:

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Simple-Gree...3005/100060853

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Yup, this is the stuff. I have a lot of friends who swear by it and say that it is a safe, effective and pleasant smelling cleaner. And I trust their judgement. However I don't know what trick of the sub-conscience I've got going on, but I personally can't stand the smell of the stuff.

I think it smells comforting... Like the smell of progress. :D

to me it brings to mind the smell of that stuff that the janitors used to sprinkle on the vomit whenever some kid got sick at school. :puke2:

You guys are selling it so well... lol. I might pick some up.

Airing out the room seemed to work. I have now vacuumed up the remaining baking soda and there's no residual funk.

Thanks again to all those that helped!

Baking soda always works well for me, for the air, open up the windows and put baking soda and charcoal in the room.

I've had a similar situation before. I've never used simple green but Target (and other department stores, I'm sure) sells these little things in with the air fresheners and candles.

http://m.target.com/p/up-up-fresh-cl...z/-/A-13409497

They do a really great job at getting rid of smells without leaving a really heavy odor or going into the air like Febreeze. I keep one under my rats' cage and it almost completely eliminates the smell.

When the retics leave me some odors, I have learned from other keepers to put Listerine in a spray bottle (keep that in the room anyway incase of bites) and use it as a cleaning solution after I f10 the enclosure. The added mist of Listerine to clean has completely eliminated the smells I have encountered.

Anytime I've had a left over food for more than a few hours, a quick open window though has done the trick FWIW

Thanks so much for your help guys!
whatsherface- I had to get some stuff from target anyway, so I ordered a couple of those to try.

Reptileexperts- What "flavor" of listerine do you use, and do you just wipe it dry afterwards?

I second that question.

Sent from my SGH-T999