Safety Products

Please be sure to read the product label of any insecticide you choose to use to get information on the personal protective safety gear you will need. In most situations, it is recommended that you wear long pants, a long sleeved shirt, closed toe shoes with socks, chemical resistant gloves, and goggles. In areas where ventilation is poor, a manufacturer may recommend you wear a mask or a respirator. We have put together two different safety kits that will make selecting the correct safety gear easier for you.

How to Get Rid of Dead Animal Smell

By DoMyOwn staff
Overview
dead animal smell odor cause

When an animal like a rat, squirrel, opossum or raccoon dies in an inaccessible area of your home, the smell can be overwhelming. We often hear of this situation after a customer has placed rodent bait or poison inside of the home. (We do NOT recommend using any type of rodenticide inside of residential structures). This can make a house uninhabitable until the stench has been eliminated.

Step 1

Find the Source of the Odor and Remove the Carcass

When you know that you have rodents, raccoons, possums or other creatures living in your attic or basement, this is where you should start the search. Sniff the air and follow the scent to the area where it is strongest. Most people can tell what room smells the strongest and where in the room the smell is coming from. If the scent trail leads you to an area that is inaccessible, such as a wall void or under floor boards, you may want to call in a professional. Failure to remove the dead animal can lead to secondary infestations of flies, maggots, carrion beetles, carpet beetles or roaches.
Step 2

Choose a Product to Assist in Odor Elimination

If you are able to remove the animal carcass, you will be able to eliminate the odor quickly by using products like Bac-a-Zap Odor Eliminator or Odor Hunter which utilize enzymes to break down the offending odor carrying molecules. These products should be sprayed onto the area (or as close to the area as possible) where the odor originated from to be effective. You may also use the Earth Care Odor Remover Bags. These bags are simply hung up in smelly rooms and as the air in the room passes through the bag, the odor is removed.

If you are not able to locate or remove the animal carcass, there are steps that you can take to control the odor until the decomposition process is complete. You can hang Earth Care Odor Remover Bags throughout the area. You can also use Bac-a-Zap Odor Eliminator with a foaming agent in a poly foamer and foam the scent destroyer down into the wall void where the smell seems strongest. You may consider installing a metered misting device such as the TimeMist Classic Metered Dispenser. This system allows you to use a canned air freshener or aerosol insecticide and it automatically dispenses the product every 15 minutes. When deciding what odor control products to use consider the size of the animal in question. The larger the animal is, the stronger the smell will be and the longer the odor will linger. Using a combination of products is usually the best route to achieve relief.

Do My Own Pest Control does NOT recommend using rodenticides in residences. We receive several calls a day from customers wishing to purchase a rodenticide or rodent poison that will "make rodents thirsty and drive the rodents out of the structure for water" or "make them dry up so that they won't smell". This type of rodenticide does not exist. In residential structures we recommend using products labeled for rodents only for rodent control. For larger animals such as raccoons and opossums we carry a full line of animal traps

Check out our odor control products for general odors or to assist your odor elimination.

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