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Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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Posted by anjalid (My Page) on Tue, Feb 20, 07 at 19:40
I've read many of the posts here talking about dead rat smell. We have a similar problem in one of our closets.... for almost a month now, we've emptied the closet and checked the attic, no body found... so we think it's in the walls....not sure if we want to tear down our walls.
I've tried everything and the smell won't go. I am going to try one of those odor bombs.
But can it also be harmful to health? Should I disinfect the closet, any suggestions on products to use? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| The smell in the wall - IF it is from a dead rodent - will go away in a few weeks. Disinfecting the closet??? From what? I thought the 'body' (if that is what the smell is from) was in the walls... Are you sure it isn't mold or mildew? THAT needs to be disinfected... |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| I would think that the smell of rotten meat (which is what it would be if it's a rodent) is a LOT less harmful to your health than any chemicals you might spray into the air to combat the smell. After all, dead animals are natural, deodorants are not :) You might have some issues with maggots and flies if the body is accessible to flies. While maggots will make quick work of a decaying body, it's just nasty :) Do move any clothes and items that tend to absorb and hold on to odors of any sort. |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| I think it would be more harmful to your psychological health - lol. |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| put a couple open boxes of baking soda in there, don't scatter it just open the boxes and set them down. they will absorb most of the odor. |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| personally, i would rip wall down. the dead rat would freak me out more so then the smell. |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| I wouldn't think a decomposing rodent's smell would linger that long. In one of our previous homes we had a rotten smell in a closet. Turns out it was sewer gas coming from the nearby bathroom. Might this be your problem? |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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I have no idea where the myth came about that baking soda absorbs odors...it doesn't.
The body will dry up and not smell in a few weeks. In my experience a mouse takes 2 to 3 weeks to dry up....never had a rat!
If it's been longer than 3 weeks I would suspect something else...either sewer gas or a larger animal.
But the odor is not harmful to your health.
The one thing that may help is putting a dish of charcoal and or kitty litter in the closet.
Linda C |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| we have what we suspect to be a dead mouse in one of our heat ducts. we are pretty sure it is a mouse because lately we have had a bit of a problem with them, so we out some posion in the basement. we know that seem to like the ductwork, as we have found droppings next to a few vents. we dont have any way to get into the duct without tearing it apart, so removing it isnt really an option. is there anything we could use to neutralize the smell? |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| "is there anything we could use to neutralize the smell?" No - as stated above, it will go away in a few weeks. |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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Like western_pa_luann stated. You cannot neutralize the smell. It will go away in a couple of weeks. If you live in the country you kind of get used to it in the fall or winter.
What you have to do is get in the attic and try to find where they got in the wall at and close off that source. Rats and mice will follow urine trails of other rats and mice. So if it happens once you have very good chances that it will happen again. one place that is a bad area for it to happen is the soffit area of a kitchen (if you have soffits above the cupboards) The way they are designed a mouse can get in them, walk along to the end and drop into a wall cavity. Once in the wall, they cannot get out. A mouse can go through a hole the size of a dime, so you really have to look around the perimeter of a house to see where they are getting in. And yes....mice do get into attics very easily. |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| We used to put out poison for mice where I used to work. Don't do that. They die in the walls and you have the odor to contend with until they fully decompose. Finally switched to snap traps and assigned one of the janitorial crew to check and change them. But, when we had the odor problem we burned scented candles until the odor went away. Doesn't eliminate the odor but did make it bearable. Just make sure you snuff out the candle before going to bed at night. You could probably use those plugins but I've never had one I could stomach and I'm not so sure plugging an oil into an electrical outlet is any safer than a candle. |
RE: Is dead rat smell harmful to health?
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| Be careful using anything to eliminate or cover the odor if you have pets or people w/asthma, etc in the house. The fumes can be deadly or at best irritating. If you must use something look for products that are safe around pets and use with caution anyway. If your weather permits at all, open windows as much as you can, to get fresh air. We used to live in a house that frequently got squirrels in the attic. They can rip open holes thru wood, metal, screen, etc, if they want to bad enough. When they die in your walls it can stink to high heaven for weeks. If it's bad enough, the odor can cling to clothing, etc. Health food stores often sell products based on enzymes to kill odors on furniture, carpet etc that helps. One incident like this should have to looking hard for the ways animals got in, and preventing them from getting in anymore. You might have to look in some normally inaccessible places like your roof, around chimneys and vents, etc. One of the places squirrels kept getting in for us, was an eaves vent that was not really visible from the ground due to the meeting of some roof angles. The rodents just strolled right up to the vent, tore off the cover, and invited themselves in. Trees and fences, sheds, cars, etc, can make it easy for them to get to the roof. |
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