Rotten smell at home? Must be a dead rat or a mouse somewhere!

Pungent rodent stink: It must be a dead one!

“I smell a dead rat!”

A very common English expression which means there is something wrong somewhere.

The phrase actually relates to the horrible smell when rats die near you. They leave behind even a ghastly smell too. Decomposed dead rats smells are even more repulsive.

The most annoying part is the smell remains for a long time until and unless you find out where they died and remove their bodies from your home. Any rodent infestation which is treated with different rat killers and poisons will end up having this smell in your home.

Till you don’t find their dead bodies and eliminate them, this upsetting smell remains in the house. In this Page, you will get to know how to remove the ghastly smell of dead rats when you find where they died.

When Rats and Mice die, Why do they Smell?

When rats and mice die, their body starts decomposing. This is a natural biological and chemical process where the vital tissues that comprise the muscles of the body break down until the skeleton and the dry skin still remain.

It involves many steps during which chemical components like hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, and methane gas get released from the body and the combination of all of them produce a pungent smell.

This odor is annoying to us but could attract scavengers. Various animals, insects or birds who feed on dead animals fall in this category like flies, vultures, opossums, jackals, coyotes, hyenas, condors, rodents, hornets to name a few.

Getting Rid of them: Stage 1: Prepare yourself with Proper Apparatuses

Rats are capable of transmitting various diseases, viruses, and bacteria through them when they breathe. The volume of health infection rises when they die due to the chemical decomposition of their bodies. You should always be prepared to fight these pestilences beforehand. You should be prepared with proper apparatuses to deal with them single-handed. This is what you should do:

• Keep few zip locked plastic bags with you: If you have applied pesticides to restrict their infiltration and if that had worked properly, there must be a multiple number of dead rodents around your house.
• Protection: Use a face mask and cover the hands with gloves. This will keep you protected from their toxic bites.
• DIY Solution: Make a DIY liquid solution comprising of 1/10th Bleach and 9/10th water. This solution is capable to remove uncanny stains as well as smells at the point where you find the decayed bodies.
• A must: Carry a garbage bag. So that you can dispose of them in the garbage bag. This will help you to dispose of them without letting them loiter on the streets.

Getting Rid of them: Stage 2: Smell Intensely and Trace them

No matter how you hate the foul smell of dead rats, you will have to sniff and sense them in or out of your house. The horrible odor of dead rodents can remain in your home indoors and outdoors till 8 to 10 weeks. It is very important to find the source of the smell ASAP.

Rats and mice like to hide in dark places, even when they know that they are going to die. Finding dead rats at the kitchen floor or at the yards are one in a million chances. They always find their dark, shady places to conceal and your greatest task is to smell intense and track them.

How to Get Rid of a Dead Rat and Mouse Smell from your House?

Finding dead rats at the foundation gaps and other opening places of your household is a common phenomenon after applying rat poisons. The more deep the foundation of the house is, it is more difficult to trace them.

You might sniff them out and be sure where they are lying but going to those vents is difficult. You should be ready with some supporting equipment to get rid of them when you become sure of their locations. Some of them are:

• Inspection mirrors: You might have seen when you enter a mall or a hotel, the security persons use equipment having a long handle and a round mirror at the bottom when they inspect underneath your car. These are inspection mirrors. Some of this equipment has a little light bulb attached to the top to have an illuminated view.
• Reciprocating saws: These are electrical or battery operated saws which cut through substances by a twin motion of ‘pull’ and ‘push’ mechanism and hence the word ‘reciprocate’.
• Headlamp: Headlamp is like a belt you wear on your head with a light source or inbuilt torch attached to it. When you put it on and switch on the light it works like a torchlight as if attached to your head.
• Other necessary things: Other necessary things obviously include zip lock bags, masks, gloves, drywall repairing kits etc.

How to Get Rid of a Dead Rat and Mouse Smell from the Walls?

Inner walls of your house are perfect places for rats and mice to live. The inner walls have a warm atmosphere and they are shady areas. As mentioned earlier rats and mice tend to get back to their den even when they know that they are going to die.

So, there are large possibilities that you will find dead rats and mice in your inner walls. The main problem lies in locating the dead rodents as you have adequate inner walls in your house and each is at close proximity. To determine which of these walls the pungent smell is coming is a difficult task.

Quick guide: Which is the best ultrasonic pest repeller for mice and rats?

Though difficult you must try smelling all around your house to determine from which of the walls the smell is generated. After doing an intensive search you come to a conclusion where you limit the source of smell from a particular room or space and its outer walls.

Use a reciprocating saw to drill the walls and locate the bodies of the dead rats or mice. Use a zip lock bag, put them inside it and zip it back, spray the odor repellent solution you have prepared, to that place and seal the wall with a drywall repairing kit.

See this video for more information:

How to Get Rid of a Dead Rat and Mouse Smell from your Attic?

Rats and mice are critters. Critters are animals that make scratching noises especially during the night time at your roof or at the attic. If you ignore your roof or attic for a long time it can be converted to their ‘safe house’ and finally their burial grounds.

Finding dead rats and mice in the attic can be difficult, as attics have vents too and the rodents hide inside the paddings of the attic. Another factor that is important that the decaying smells of dead rats are stronger inside the rooms below the attic, as they are not that aerated as the attics are.

Take out the blueprint of the house and understand the structure of the attic. We tend to ignore attics as we consider it as a dumping room for us. We keep unused and non-functional things that we like to ignore but mentally not ready to get rid of them in the attics.

To enter into this neglected area of your house, please wear a respirator so that you don’t inhale dust and injurious gases. Wear a headlamp to increase illumination during a search. After finding the carcass of the rodents use the zip bag, the odor repellent solution and do the needful.

How to Get Rid of a Dead Rat and Mouse Smell from your Garage?

Rodents look for disorderly and overcrowded places and your garage is a perfect example of that. Every one of us has a garage which is actually a mess of disorganized utensils and kits roaming all over the place. Rats love this mess and they hide in the clutter’s dents. If your garage smells of dead rats, it is because it has dead rats in it.

The difficult task: is to find them. The toughest job of your life is cleaning your garage and getting it organized, but slowly. Pick each object and store them in a place so that you can restore them easily.

Take out your car from the garage as you will get more space to do the work. By moving different supportive equipment to your car from your garage, it becomes visibly empty and you can smell and spot the dead rodents easily. Once you locate them dispose of them and use disinfectants to secure the place.

How to Get Rid of a Dead Rat and Mouse Smell from your Car?

Your car has a lot of entry points for rats and tiny mice to go into it. For example the ventilation pipe, radiator, open hood, empty doors, etc. As a car releases various poisonous toxins like Hydrocarbon (HC), Nitrogen oxide (NOx), Carbon monoxide (CO) while it burns the petroleum or diesel fuel for its locomotion, it is a common feature that you will find dead rodents inside your car.

Dead rodents stink like hell, specifically inside a small covered place like a car. A car, though comfortable to us has a complex structure having bends and dents inside it, keeping a lot of places untouched, unseen and not attainable, small compartments, back seat cavities, small breaches at the window panes to mention a few; a perfect place for critters to hide.

Locating dead rodents at these places requires a sensitive nose, tolerance and a headlamp. The in-built air filter in your car prevents pollutants and gaseous toxin to enter in your car and also gives a fresh smell for the feel-good factor. Turn on the filter if initially, you have sniffed a ‘dead rat smell’. With increasing time if the pungent smell keeps growing, rest assure you have dead rodents in the car.

Switch off the car filter and look for the dead rats by removing car carpets, detaching car seats and dislocating other easy removal objects in the car. Go underneath the car and search for them. You never know they might be hanging at the bumpers or at the base of the car. Once you locate them dispose of them and use bleaching liquids to protect the place.

How to Get Rid of a Dead Rat and Mouse Smell from your Basement?

Like attics we also tend to ignore our basements of the house where we store food grains and other products which we carefully and in short intervals bring back to our kitchens. Rats and mice make a nice home for themselves there.

When they die in the basements it becomes a hazardous task, firstly to get rid of their dead bodies and next to get the odour away from the stored food materials. You might have to check the usefulness of the foods you had kept in the basement too.

Follow these outlines and you will get to know what to do if you smell rodents at the basement:

• Remove all upholstery, clothes, shoes, mats, rugs, papers, books, magazines which are capable to regenerate smells of dead rats.
• Mix Vinegar with baking soda and spray. This is an easy DIY solution.
• Use advanced air purifiers for basements to accelerate the action.
• Use venting tubes or exhaust fans reduce the annoying odour.
• Charcoal is a neutraliser for uncanny odours. Use charcoal.
• Strong coffee odour is also a natural repellent for dead rodent smells.

Finally

To finally find out the dead remains of these rodents, you will have to sharpen your nose. They stink when they live; they stink more when they die. These creatures love living in the dark and die in the dark. The difficult part gets over once you sniff and locate their dead remains. Disposing them is a simpler part.