THE ALL STAR ADVANTAGE

All Star Animal Trapping serves greater Los Angeles, and our founder, Robert Messersmith, is an animal trapper who has 18 years of experience. He also has a background in construction, so he knows the best ways of removing a dead animal and then repairing any resultant damage. All Star Animal Trapping makes a point of hiring similarly experienced professionals.

How To Remove A Dead Animal Under Your House 

If your house isn’t properly sealed, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a refuge for several wild critters. And since all living things eventually die, you might have to deal with a dead animal infestation sooner or later. 

Wild animals can die in several places in the house, ranging from the attic to the chimney to under the house. And the removal process is highly dependent on the problem at hand. In this post, we focus our attention on how to remove a dead animal from under your house. To learn more about the process of dead animal removal visit wildliferemovalusa.com

But first, why is there a dead animal under your house?

Through our experience in dead animal removal at All Star Animal Trapping, here are some of the most common reasons we’ve noticed for having a dead animal underneath a house:

• Use of poisons

Many homeowners use poisons to deal with wildlife infestation problems. Once an animal consumes poison, the poison slowly damages its internal organs, while causing immense pain. In response, the animal looks for a secluded place to die. That place might be under your deck, patio, or shed. 

• Old Age/Disease

Animals like possums, rabbits, raccoons, rats, and mice, sometimes take up residence under your crawlspace. If it becomes sick and fails to recover, it will eventually die there. Similarly, an animal might die under your house once it gets too old. 

• Brought in by pets

Believe it or not, pets like dogs sometimes drag dead animals from other places under the house.

The Dead Animal Removal Process

Whatever the reason for having a dead animal under your house, here are the steps you can take to get rid of it:

• Wear protective gears

Before you go looking for any dead animal, make sure you stay protected. Why? Because dead animals are breeding grounds for several diseases, and the last thing you want is to get infected. 

Therefore, make sure to wear a long-sleeved shirt and trousers. Then at the very least, put on a nose mask. Do not forget to wear disposable gloves to prevent direct contact with the bodily fluid of the carcass. 

• Follow the smell

Now comes the hard part. You see, the only way you can quickly pinpoint the spot is to get underneath your crawl space and follow the smell. Wherever the smell is most concentrated is most likely where the carcass is. 

Many homeowners find this stage challenging. That’s why they’d rather employ the services of professionals like All Star Animal Trapping.

• Dispose of the carcass

Once you’ve located the carcass, put it in a garbage bag. You should also use a shovel blade to scrape off maggots, feces, hairs, and other waste materials into the bag. 

You should then dispose of the garbage properly. Note that the right disposal method is highly dependent on the type of animal. A dead rat can easily be through with the trash, while a dead raccoon might need to be sent to the incinerator. 

When in doubt, you can contact your local wildlife authority to know the approved disposal method in your district. 

• Inspect your crawlspace

This helps to find if there are other animals stuck there. For instance, there might be orphaned babies if their mother is dead. You want to make sure you remove them too. 

• Disinfect and Deodorize the entire crawlspace

Dead animals are breeding grounds for lots of diseases, including rabies, tularemia, leptospirosis, and more. But through disinfection, all bacteria and viruses can be permanently eliminated. 

Depending on the intensity of the noisome odor, you might need to apply a deodorizer to accelerate the dissipation of any lingering odor.

• Seal entry holes

Any dead animal under your house must have gotten in through some entry holes. The goal here is to locate these potential entry holes and seal them up. This ensures that the same problem doesn’t reoccur.

Wrap Up

Removing a dead animal from under the house comes with lots of challenges, especially the risk of infection. That’s why it’s always prudent to involve a professional. All Star Animal Trapping can help find and remove dead animals from your house. But most importantly, we put measures in place to ensure the same problem doesn’t reoccur.

How to find a dead animal in the house?

It is often thought that animal invasions do not reign in urban areas. However, this belief has no solid basis and is often wrong.  Because there might always be some unwanted visitors inside the house. 

Especially in urban areas, where the invasions of cockroaches, spiders, flies, and rodents predominate. These animals are looking for a place that provides them with food, warmth, and shelter, and what better place than your home? There, rodents and insects will find those three fundamental things for their existence. 

This possibility increases when your home has a basement or A garage because it will be easy for rodents to stay there for a long time before you realize it. In fact, you may only start noticing signs that they are there when they have already reproduced enough to be considered a pest. And that is difficult to combat. 

Signs that can alert you if you have rodents inside your home

• Noises at night
• Crumbs of food everywhere
• Odor of urine 
• Presence of feces behind furniture, in drawers, and under seldom-visited surfaces.

Some rodents tend to be very discreet, but that doesn't stop them from leaving signs that alert you of their invasion. What's more, many homes have breathing systems, and rodents like to move through those systems. Even in places where pests are seemingly under control, rats can live in pipes, garbage cans, basements, storage areas, and so on. 

How to combat these unwanted guests

There are several ways to combat rodents, insects, or any other animal that has made a nest inside your home. Among these methods, the most common are traps, sprays, poisons, or predators. 

• Traps

People often prefer traps, or in such a case, if the situation allows, they look for a predator. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to each method, for example, a trap may catch the animal and then announce to the user that it has already been caught. Nevertheless, it may not be effective enough. Rodents are cunning and quick animals that may be familiar with this type of extermination, so they avoid approaching traps at all costs.

Although there are disadvantages, there are different models of traps on the market, from the traditional ones to the most modern ones.  Some of them have had successful results, such as glue traps. However, these traps are traumatic for the rodent, as they lead to a slow and painful death. 

• Poisons

The use of poisons is an alternative with many disadvantages. First, the poison must be placed in places that are not frequented by children or domestic pets, to avoid tragedy. Second, the poison may not have an immediate effect and the rat may continue to roam after consuming the poisoned food. This means that it can drop dead anywhere, whether it is in plain sight or inaccessible places.

Many times, people may not realize that the poison has worked until they begin to smell an unpleasant odor, which will be the corpse of the animal.

So how do you find a dead animal indoors? 

It is complicated. You could be guided by smell, but little can be done if the rat died in the ventilation system, pipes, or areas where a human cannot access unless he destroys a part of the house. In those cases, you must find an expert.  

To avoid the use of poisons, you could look for a predator, like a cat. These animals can be very useful to get rid of a pest. Also, there are many agencies designed to combat pests in the home, and they have the necessary equipment for this purpose. 

Whether any of these methods are used, or even if you don’t have pests yet, it is important to keep your food sealed and to clean and disinfect areas frequently to prevent both their arrival and the spread of disease.