DIY Dead Animal Removal Guide

Eww, Pshhh, Ugh What's that Smell??!!

Have you started to notice a smell coming from the walls, or under the house, or even in the Attic?

It can be shocking and disturbing to think that an animal may have gotten into your home and died, but it happens more often than you think. Animals can wander into homes at night looking for a safe place to sleep or hang out, and then guess what? They can't find their way out! There is not food or water source, and in time, they die! But here is the worst part about it, YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE! The animal is in the Attic, or it has died in a wall, or crawled under your home and died in the crawl space. Now you are left with this God Awful smell and odor, but worse, all the bacteria, diseases and gross nasty pathogens that are affiliated with DEATH!

What do you do??!!

Well most of the time I would sit here and write a long 10 plus page article rambling on how you can fix the problem yourself or at least attempt it before you call me, my company, or any of the companies that I recommend on the location page. But the truth is, Dead Animal Removal, is one of the hardest and most complicated things that we actually do! Think about it, there are thousands of variables that you will have to consider!

Did an animal die in my Attic?

Did the Animal Die in my Wall?

Is the Animal Dead in the AC Duct Work?

Is the Dead Animal Under the House?

What type of Animal Died?

How long has the Animal been dead for?

Where the HECK is the Animal?

Can I even Reach the Dead Animal?

How dangerous is this given the sheer amount of bacteria, diseases, and pathogens that are associated with Dead Animals rotting in the heat?!

I could go on and on and on and on and on and on, but the truth is, you don't know until you find out!

So here is what I am going to suggest when you are starting to smell something like death in your house, Call the Professionals! Seriously, do you even want to mess with something like this? And let's say you do, what are you going to do with the dead animal when you finally find it? And then, lets says you do find it, you figure out how to dispose of it, then what about the clean up and the removal of ALL the bacteria and nasty-ness that is left where you found it? Because if you don't take care of that, well then it's only a matter of time until you start to breathe it in and get sick! That's why I say, with Dead Animal Removal, Just let us do it. Its well worth the money spent!

Here is what we, and most of the companies I work with, do whenever we get a dead animal call:

Step One: Try to Find and Remove contamination: The Dead Body, Feces, Urine, etc... Its all got to go!

If we can't find it, we will at least give it our best shot and try for generally 1 hour. This is included in the initial Dead Animal Removal Costs. If we think it's in the walls, we can make a small hole and insert a scoping camera and see if we can locate it. We will only do a max of 5 holes, we can put caulking in the holes when we are done, but generally it will be the homeowners responsibility to repair any damages or drywall, unless they want to pay the additional fees for us to do it if it is within our scope of services and skill set too I might add.

Step Two: Anti-Microbial Application: This will eliminate any and all of the Bacteria and harmful agents. We will use an atomizer which is essentially this machine that will fog out and treat the attic with an Antimicrobial agent that will eliminate the bacteria, odor, and pathogens that are harmful. This Application will also help in speeding up the breakdown of the odor and stinky smells. If we were not able to find the animal then this step is crucial and will be repeated. For my customers we will generally do 3 applications of the Anti-Microbial Treatment, spread out ever 24-72 hours to help with the odor. But Body Decomp can take time, and this is more for the Antimicrobial aspect and not so much the odor. Even though people hate when I say this, it's the truth, odor will not go away right away, it takes time. No one is ever patient when they have to live with the smell of a dead animal, but it is what it is. Believe it or not, Febreeze is pretty damn amazing! Febreze that shit, they call it the Odor-Eliminator for a reason, we have all seen those stupid commercials. Maybe I should call them and they can make a commercial with me in the attic with a dead raccoon or something Febreezing the Attic and insulation while some dumbass sits up there in on a couch and acts like like is amazing and completely oblivious to dead raccoon chillin next to them on the couch? Ha, ya that will make my parents proud!

Ok ok, back to the guide, Step 3: Treat with a Deodorizer: This will eliminate any odor and pheromones. This step will need to be repeated and repeated until the odor has dissipated. This is your responsibility. Myself, and most companies, put this chore on the home owner. We will do the dirty work for you, but you have to be the Febreze Queen of your own house. But some candles, that ELIMINATE the odor, NOT MASK IT! There is nothing worse than the smell of a Dead Rat and Fake Fresh Linen Spray! EWW, its smells so Nasty, get an ODOR ELIMINATING deodorizer, trust me it's worth the ext $.98, don't be a cheap ass here, your wife will get pissed. The odor eliminator will actually help break down the odor particles and not mask them. Again, you all have seen the commercials, now get your booty to Wall-Mart and buy up Aisle 7’s Febreze stock!

Once the whole Ordeal is Complete you will want to move onto prevention. Prevention meaning, don't ever let this happen again! Clearly you have opening on your home and roof and basement or crawlspace that critters have used to gain access and die in your house. Well you're going to want to close those off so you don't ever have to deal with this nightmare again! DUH! Animals can smell other animals, and animals are curious, just like curious george, well if you don't close off these access point, you will be back to square one!

The final step that you are going to want to do will be a preventative exclusion, this is KEY! Your local Wildlife Control company will recommend this, and I definitely suggest going with it. If you don't, you and I both know your wife is going to nag you for the rest of your life and tell you “I Told you So, you cheap ass!” Don't let that happen, go with the Exclusion. If you want to attempt to do the exclusion yourself you can read more about it on my Exclusion Services Page here:

Have you recently had an animal infestation? Chances are there is quite a mess up in the attic, sometimes the Anti-Microbial treatment isn't enough. If there a large amounts of feces, urine stained insulation, dead animals etc in the attic, you may want to consider having all the insulation removed and new insulation installed. This way we can guarantee there is no more evidence, bacteria, pheromones and concerns left up in the attic.

Insulation Removal and Installation of New Insulation to the Correct R levels for Energy saving benefits! Let our attic restoration professionals remove that soiled insulation and replace it with your choice of insulation products.

The Rubik's Cube is a 3D twisty puzzle. Read the beginner's solution tutorial.