When a dead animal smell in the house seems to come from a wall, the first thing to work out is whether the animal can be reached without cutting into anything. A carcass on an attic floor, in a crawl space, in a garage or under a deck can be picked up, and that is the kind of request this site passes to an independent operator where one covers the area. A carcass sealed inside a finished wall is another matter. Operators reached through this site do not open drywall, plaster, ceilings or other finished surfaces, so for a sealed wall this article is information only.
Is the smell a dead animal?
A mouse or rat that died somewhere inside the house is one possible cause, and a squirrel or a larger animal in the attic or under the house is another. Other things in a house can smell foul too, and a smell on its own does not prove an animal is behind the wall.
Places to look first, if you can reach them without cutting anything: the attic if the smell seems strongest near the ceiling, the crawl space or basement if it seems strongest near the floor, and the garage, porch or deck on the other side of an outside wall.
How to trace the smell without cutting anything
Stand where the smell is strongest and work outward, checking only spaces that already open:
- the attic above that wall, through the existing hatch or pull-down stairs
- the crawl space or unfinished basement below it
- an attached garage that shares the wall
- the space under a deck or porch next to an outside wall
- the cabinet under a sink, the space behind an appliance that slides out, and any access panel that comes off without tools
Take a flashlight and look before you reach in. Keep your hands off the animal until you have read the handling sections further down, and back away if what you find is alive. A live animal is outside what this article covers.
Treat the spot where the smell seems strongest as a place to start looking. If you find nothing in any space you can open, the animal, if there is one, may be inside a cavity nobody can see into.
What a removal service can and cannot help with
Where the animal lies decides whether this is a removal job at all.
Reachable without cutting
An animal on the attic floor or in the insulation, in a crawl space, in a garage or under a deck can be taken out through openings that already exist. That is the case this site is for. For a dead bear, alligator, hawk, eagle, owl or other bird of prey, call DNR (1-800-366-2661); DNR also asks for a call about a protected species such as a bald eagle, and we found no Georgia guidance on a bear or alligator found dead on private land. Bats: DPH says it is best never to handle any bat; if a person or pet may have been exposed, call the county health department. Other dead birds are covered on the dead bird guidance page. Calls reach this site's routing line and forms route by ZIP; either way the inquiry goes to an independent operator where one covers the area. Price and availability are settled on the call, and independent operators set their own prices. Two pages cover these cases in more detail: a dead animal in an attic or garage and a dead animal under a deck or in a crawl space. If you already know what the animal is, the pages on dead squirrels, raccoons and opossums are written for those species.
Sealed inside a finished wall
Operators reached through this site do not open or cut into drywall, plaster, ceilings or other finished material to reach a carcass, and nothing on this site offers that work. Getting to an animal inside a closed wall means opening the wall and repairing it afterward, which is building work. Whether to do that is the owner's decision, and a building or contracting professional is the person to ask what it would involve.
This page cannot tell you whether a particular wall has to be opened. That depends on the house, and on how the household weighs the smell against the cost of opening and repairing a wall.
How long does a dead animal smell last?
This article gives no timeline for how long the smell lasts; none of the sources we use gives one, and we did not research it.
If the smell moves, or a second one turns up somewhere else, look again in the attic, the crawl space, the garage and under the deck, because an animal you missed the first time may be within reach after all. This site does not advertise deodorizing or disinfecting services or products; the only disinfecting step on this page is CDC's, listed below for a reachable dead rodent.
What the CDC and Georgia DPH say about a dead mouse or rat
If the search ends with a dead mouse or rat you can reach, these are the steps published as federal guidance by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Put on gloves.
- Spray the dead rodent, any nest and the area around it with a disinfectant. Let it soak for 5 minutes, or as long as the product label says.
- Put the rodent in a plastic bag and tie the bag shut with a knot.
- Put that bag inside a second plastic bag and knot that one too.
- Throw it into a covered garbage can that is emptied regularly, or ask the state health department about other ways to dispose of it.
- Wash your gloved hands before you take the gloves off.
The CDC also says not to vacuum or sweep rodent urine, droppings or nesting material.
On hantavirus, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) says hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is caused by several hantaviruses, which can be carried by certain mice and rats, that most cases occur west of the Mississippi River, and that the disease is not endemic in Georgia. On rabies, DPH's Rabies Control Manual says squirrels, rats, mice, chipmunks and rabbits are almost never infected.
Whether a garbage cart or private hauler takes a bagged carcass is up to that cart program or hauler, and your city or county may have rules of its own. The guide on how to dispose of a dead animal in Georgia has more on disposal.
This site does not advertise rat or mouse removal. The Georgia Department of Agriculture licenses structural pest control; whether removing a dead rodent counts is a question we could not answer. Georgia's Structural Pest Control Act defines that work to include controlling rodents in household structures, and the department says anyone providing pest management services must hold a valid license.
What Georgia DPH says about a dead bat
A dead bat calls for different handling from a dead mouse. Georgia lists three bat species as protected (Rafinesque's big-eared bat, the gray bat and the Indiana bat), and DPH advises never handling bats. DPH's Rabies Control Manual also says you cannot tell whether a bat has rabies by looking at it.
Bat bites may not be visible, and the manual lists situations where a bite cannot be ruled out, including waking up to find a bat in the room and finding a bat in the room of a child who was left alone. In those situations DPH says medical advice should be sought. If a person or domestic animal was exposed, the manual says the bat should be submitted for testing where that is available, so ask the county health department what to do with the carcass. If someone was bitten, DPH says to report it to the county health department or 1-866-PUB-HLTH (1-866-782-4584). The Georgia Poison Center gives rabies consultations to the public at 404-616-9000. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
Who to call, case by case
- You can see or reach the animal in an attic, crawl space or garage, or under a deck, and it is not a bat, bear, alligator or bird. Use the call button on this page or send the details. Have ready what the animal is, where it is lying and how anyone would get to it. Calls reach this site's routing line, which passes them to an independent operator where one covers the area.
- The smell leads to a finished wall and nothing can be reached. Use this article as information. If you decide the wall should be opened, ask a building or contracting professional.
- It is a mouse or rat. Follow the CDC steps above if you can reach it. This site does not advertise rat or mouse removal.
- It may be a bat, or someone was bitten or scratched. Do not handle a bat. If someone was bitten, DPH says to report it to the county health department or 1-866-PUB-HLTH (1-866-782-4584). For other contact between a person or pet and the animal, ask the county health department what to do with the carcass. DPH's manual names raccoons, skunks and foxes as the most common terrestrial wildlife infected with rabies in Georgia, and says all bites and scratches by them must be considered possible exposures.
- The animal turned up outside, in the yard or by a road. Who picks up dead animals in Georgia sets out what is public and what is private, and the page on a dead animal in a yard covers your own lot.
This site is a publisher that routes calls, and it has no field staff of its own. Ask the operator what they can reach and what they charge before you agree to anything.