Rats and other rodents that infest your home are not the most hygienic creatures. The grease marks they leave on walls should give you a picture of their bodily filth and repulsive characteristics. And while the smells that permeate a home when live rodents are present can be nauseating, a dead rodent can produce foul odors unbearable to anyone.
Successfully removing a decaying rodent carcass along with the stench that is polluting the air in your home can be tricky. It requires locating the body and collecting with the use of gloves and a mask to protect you from diseases.
Generally, once the carcass is removed, the bad rodent smells are muffled; however, rodents often die behind walls making it difficult to access the body. This happens from baits being used to target an indoor rodent infestation. The baits are ingested by rodents that roam freely inside your home, often in attics or between walls, and die from the poison at a later time. Rodent removal & clean-up can become extremely difficult when indoor baits are used to eradicate the rat infestation. Traditional rat traps are a better solution for indoor rodent infestations, as they offer an immediate kill and rarely make collecting the rodents bodies complicated.
Search attics, cabinets, closets and electrical boxes for dead rodents. If you used rodent traps, check these too. It is best practice to make a map of all the areas you placed a trap so you can easily return to collect the captured carcasses.
As mentioned above, always use a mask and gloves to collect rodent bodies. Also, it is recommended to dispose of clothing worn when removing decaying pest remains.
If a rodent is in an inaccessible area, you may have to remove a portion of your wall to obtain the decomposing corpse. Contacting a pest control professional is recommended to successfully remove dead rodents within wall voids.
If you are not willing to cut into your walls here are some do-it-yourself remedies to resolve your home odor problems: