Trying To Find A Dead Mouse

[swiftyman]

I am new to this forum, so I am sorry if I am posting in the wrong place. I briefly glanced around for any rules but couldn't find them so I just jumped right in. Onto my problem....

My wife texted me while I was at work today and told me the inside of her car smelled like a dead animal. So when I got home from work I started trying to find the source, and I will detail what I've done, and what my next steps are going to be tomorrow (since it is dark now) to see if I'm even heading in the right direction.

The first thing I did was remove the glove box and drop the blower fan down to see if the mouse was in there, but unfortunately it wasn't. After that I started to remove trim pieces, and then the stereo and heater control knobs. I also pulled out the center console and the 2 center pockets below the control knobs.

Questions....

1. Behind the stereo and the control knobs there is a big plastic white "thing" that the blower motor feeds into. I'm wondering if the mouse might have made its way in there but I don't know how likely that is? How do I get into this thing? I think I'm going to need to remove the whole dash but I hate to do that since I'm not even sure if it is in there. Would it be foolish to cut a hole in it somewhere and then patch it back up with HVAC heat tape?

2. Would it make more sense to look "above" the blower motor by taking the cowl off below the wiper blades? I read somewhere that's where the exterior inlet is.

I am currently *cough*acquiring*cough* the repair manual so hopefully that will help me out for tomorrow, but I'm also hoping some people on here can help me out. If anyone has any tips I would greatly appreciate it, or thinks it would be helpful to have pictures of the white "thing" I'm talking about, then I will go take some pictures.