Dead Animal Removal in Duluth, GA

A dead animal in your Duluth walls or crawlspace

The smell usually builds over a day or two. It starts faint and sweet, then becomes clearly rotten, and it's strongest in one room, closet or vent. Air fresheners don't help. Soon after, flies start collecting at a nearby window. Something has died somewhere you can't see, such as inside a wall, in the attic insulation, or in the crawlspace. In Duluth, with rats and squirrels getting into both older homes and newer townhomes, this happens more often than most people expect.

There's usually a reason behind it. The most common causes are a rat that ate poison and died inside the house, and babies that were sealed in after someone closed a hole without checking for young. Either way, an animal got inside, and the opening it used is probably still there. Left alone, the smell usually lasts about 14 days. A pro can find the animal, remove it, clean the area, and point out the opening that needs to be sealed.

How the animal is found

Finding the animal mostly comes down to two things: smell and flies. The pro follows the smell from room to room until it's strongest, watches where flies are gathering (they come out close to the source), and checks the spots where animals usually die. Those are often wall cavities behind kitchens and bathrooms where pipes run, deep in attic insulation, and the far corners of a crawlspace. In an older Duluth home, a rat can fall down the inside of a wall and end up at the bottom of the cavity. In a townhome, the source may even be on the other side of a shared wall. Finding the right spot first means fewer holes cut in your walls.

Why poison leads to dead animals in walls

Poisoned rats and mice don't die where you can see them. They go back to their nests, which are often inside walls, in the attic or under the floor, and die there. That's why using poison to solve a rodent problem so often leads to a dead-animal smell a week or two later. In Duluth, where roof rats are common, the better approach is to seal the openings and trap the rodents, not poison them.

How long the smell lasts

If nothing is done, the smell usually lasts about two weeks from start to finish. Warm weather makes it stronger and can make it fade a little faster, and in a hot attic it can spread through the air ducts into rooms far away from the source. Waiting it out means two weeks of smell plus flies, possible staining, and leftover contamination after the smell is gone. Removing the animal ends the smell faster and lets the area be cleaned properly.

Getting to it and the drywall question

When the animal is in the attic or crawlspace, the pro can usually reach it without cutting anything. When it's inside a wall, they try to reach it through an existing opening first, such as a vent, an outlet or the attic above, and only cut drywall if there's no other way. Before work starts, ask whether patching the drywall is included, because most wildlife companies don't repair drywall. You may need to hire a handyman or drywall contractor to finish it. Knowing that up front avoids surprises.

Cleaning the area

Removing the animal is only part of the job. A complete cleanup includes taking out soaked insulation or debris, treating the area with an enzyme or disinfectant cleaner to break down what causes the smell, and dealing with any maggots or flies. Air fresheners and plug-ins just cover up the smell for a while.

Sealing the way in

If an animal died inside your house, it got in somehow, and other animals can use the same opening. After the cleanup, the pro should show you where the animal got in, such as a worn vent or soft fascia on an older home, or a gap at the roof-to-wall joint or a shared wall on a newer one. That opening should be sealed with metal. Otherwise, you may end up with another live animal and another dead-animal smell.