What am I smelling in my kitchen?

[momacacia]

Let me preface this by saying two things, nay, three: 1) I am pregnant. 2) No one else in family smells this smell (though DH said he thought he smelled it a few weeks ago). 3) Our hamster disappeared about mid-February (smell has been for about 3-4 weeks???)

 

So I've been smelling this smell which I had thought was coming from bottom of pantry so would have logically been a rotting and long-forgotten onion or potato. Having cleared out the pantry, there is no sign of any such rotting thing. It is also not in the nearby utility closet. It is making me *crazy*! Sometimes I smell it only in the kitchen and it is definitely strongest in that pantry area, but sometimes it gets into nearby living area (never into bedroom area).

 

What is this smell!!?? Could the missing hamster have died in a wall in that area? Would that smell even worse than just a dying onion? I just cannot locate what or where it might be and no one else in the family seems as offended by it as I am. :-/ I think I'm going to have to pull in a third-party smeller!

[Stacia]

Well, one time we had a weird smell in our kitchen. I thought it was something in the fridge, but it wasn't. Turns out, under our ice/water dispenser on outside of the fridge door, there is a little lift-out tray. Apparently some milk had gotten splashed into the tray & what I smelled was the spoiled, spilled milk (that was stuck underneath the tray). Because it was such a weird location, it took me a little while to figure it out. That's probably not the case for you since you're mentioning the pantry, but I figured it doesn't hurt to mention it.

 

Sorry to hear about your hamster.

[mmasc]

I'm sorry about your hamster. I hate to say it, but my money would be on it being the source of smell. My DH teases me that my superpower is smelling stuff, and I've had a hard-to-find smell before that *nobody* smelled but me. It was hard to isolate but I finally figured out it was frig area. Then I figured out it was worse when the fan-thing on the frig would come on. We pulled out the frig and a tiny (tiny!) mouse was dead in the back. But it smelled horrible. And yes, much worse than a rotten potato or onion.

I'm sorry you're going through this smelly problem, especially pregnant! I hope you solve the problem soon!

[momacacia]

^^^well, our kitchen is not humongous, so I've recently started thinking behind the fridge or stove would need to be my next stop. :-/ I would just think a dead animal would smell much worse. That was one of the things I told my oldest when hamster got out--"I don't want to be smelling dead hamster." But then I was mad at the hamster for getting out, not falling for ANY of our well-set-up traps and for making 10yo cry. It was a sweet wonderful hamster and cute, and now I'm just mad at her...and it seems she might be dead. Sheesh! Parenting! Lol.

[Reefgazer]

My money is on the hamster.

[El...]

My money is on the hamster.

:iagree:  And this emoticon is entirely too smiley.  I'm so sorry.  I hope it isn't the hamster, but I bet it is.

 

We once had a bad smell in my husband's office.  I was convinced it was something of his.  I blamed the peeing cat we'd had as a houseguest.  I washed everything fabric, including his flying jacket, dug through all his stuff, etc., and couldn't figure it out, but the smell faded.  About a year later, I painted that room.  When I took the ceiling vent down to spray paint it, there was a desiccated MOUSE on the top!  It's little tail was hanging through the grate!!!  So gross.

 

DH never could smell it.  :huh:

[Forget-Me-Not]

In my case it was a pan of leftover chicken enchiladas, mistakenly put into the cupboard rather than the fridge. About two weeks prior 😵

[klmama]

Another vote for hamster or mouse.  I remember when I was a kid having a dead mouse in the bathroom wall.  It smelled terrible in there for several weeks. 

 

[happi duck]

Any musty towels hiding somewhere?

 

I hope it isn't the hamster!

[Heidi]

I don't know.. I had a mole die in my basement and it was a very strong odor. Even after bleaching the spot of death and decay it still smells faintly in there. I would think everyone could smell a rotting hamster. Maybe a mouse though..

[KungFuPanda]

I once had a potato end up under a kitchen drawer. I still don't know how that happened :-/

[Ausmumof3]

We get dead mice in the wall and yuck. Everyone can smell it. But if it's just recently happened it might be faint still.

 

It's my number one pet hate about country living.

 

Another possibility if it's not a strong smell is that your hamster is alive somewhere and it's the faeces building up somewhere. I have no idea if a hamster could survive like that though.

[momacacia]

Any musty towels hiding somewhere?

It isn't the musty towel smell. My money is going on a hamster or mouse at this point too. :-/ Hoping it's somewhere we can move and clean out and not in a WALL!

[momacacia]

When I was little, we always found our hamsters hiding( alive, tho) behind the fridge. So yes, I'd check there.

I was told behind the washer/dryer. We looked when she first went MIA, and no hammie. Oh I bet she bit the dust under the fridge (no pun ;)), as the fridge is right next to the pantry. Aaaaaeeerrrrrgh! At least then the mystery smell and missing hammie would be solved in one stop. We haven't had mice in the house for quite a while.

[gardenmom5]

yes - the hamster could have gotten into a wall, or into the toe kick area of a cabinet.

 

generally, the smell is worse at the beginning, and fades.  far worse than a rotten onion or potato.   I had a mouse die in my garage.  in summer.  we did eventually find it's desiccated body, long after it stopped stinking.  it got into a storage box - then couldn't get back out.

 

 

when we had gerbils escape - I improvised a live animal trap by bringing out a cage with the tube entering from the top.  I filled it with their favorite food, they'd climb up, and drop in and couldn't get back out.  they would generally come out at night to feed.

[fairfarmhand]

Yes, it could be the dead hamster.

 

I have a much keener sense of smell than anyone else in my family. It's greatly amplified when I am pregnant.

 

My dh stuck rat poison under the house one winter. I swore I could smell something dead in my bathroom. Dh didn't smell it, nor did the kids. My sil, who was also pregnant could smell it too. I think we had a dead mouse under there, and we pregnant women were the only ones who could detect it.

[Cinder]

My guess was going to be dead potato but you say you've ruled that out. My second guess is rotten broccoli in the fridge and the smell only escapes when the fridge is opened but then it floats to other nearby parts of the kitchen.

 

One year we thought we had a dead mouse in the garage walls. It smelled really really bad. We were just about to start cutting holes in the wall when on a hunch I took the fire ant bait out of the garage. That was it. I had no idea that stuff could smell like dead mouse. :ack2:

[momacacia]

Is your house raised? Is there a dead animal under the house?

No. A dead animal would have to be in the walls or in the attic--unless hidden by a big appliance.

 

I know the cauliflower/broccoli smell. ;) That's not it. I've cleaned out (as in wiping down also) the fridge twice since this started. It's at least not coming from inside the fridge.

[Wildcat]

It could definitely be the poor hamster. If you haven't had hot weather yet, it is possible the smell is mild. The good (??) news is that by this point, it should be almost over.

 

When we had a mystery smell in the kitchen that smelled an awful lot like a dead animal, it turned out to be a head of garlic that had gone bad. The smell was concentrated in an area no where near where we keep the garlic.