Tag Archives: rodent removal

How long does dead rat smell?

rat removal

“How long does a dead rat smell for?”  I blinked when I read my brother’s Facebook status update.  Who says that?  He usually likes to have political discussions with his Facebook friends or put up pictures of his kids.  But, this was random.  I had to know what was going on, so I sent him a message.

“Is this a real rat or a political rat?  LOL”

“Very funny,” came back his reply.

Now, my curiosity was piqued.  What on earth was he talking about?  I decided to email him instead.  “Who asks that kind of question?  How long does a dead rat smell?”

He replied pretty quickly.  “I’m serious.  I need to know how long a dead rat smells.  We had some rats in the garage and I set out some poison, and now I’m stuck with this nasty smell, and I want to know how long I’m going to have to deal with it.  Any ideas?”

Unfortunately, I did have a good idea, since I’d dealt with that same thing a few years ago.  My son was poking around the attic one day and apparently found a dead rat.  From what I understand, he’d gotten my work gloves out, put the dead rat in a box, and carried it down to his room with thoughts of using it for a science project.  He got distracted with something else, the dead rat box got shoved under his bed, and two days later the entire family had to search the entire house in an attempt to discover the source of an awful stench.  Eventually, my son remembered the dead rat from the attic.  The box was retrieved and his room was cleaned and sanitized.  So, how long does a dead rat smell?  At least two days, and probably a lot longer than that!

This wasn’t the answer my brother needed, though.  It was summer, and if the dead rat was in the garage, it would probably decompose fairly quickly, with a lot of flies and stench involved.  My brother and his wife had taken to parking their cars outside instead of using their nice, big garage for its intended purpose, just to avoid having to smell the dead rat.  Letting it decompose on its own, then, was really not a good solution.  They had to get rid of the dead rat.  His Facebook friends all agreed.

I suggested a good rodent removal company, and he got them out there pretty quickly.  Good thing he did, too, because it turned out he had more than one dead rat rotting in his garage.  There had been an entire rat nest.  They found it in one of the boxes containing Halloween decorations.  Appropriate, don’t you think?  The whole box got tossed and rat traps were set.  My brother’s family could go back to actually using their garage and my brother went back to his Facebook political discussions.  We never did find out the answer to that question, though.  How long does a dead rat smell?  The answer is, no one wants to deal with the dead rat long enough to find out.

Rodent Removal Service

Working for a rodent removal service, I’ve heard it all.  I say I’ve heard it all, because my job is not removing rodents.  I work in the office as support staff.  I handle the incoming calls from people desperate for rodent removal service, I make appointments, I cut paychecks.  I’m essentially a one-woman show keeping the operation running smoothly so my guys can focus on their jobs, getting rid of rats, trapping mice, and removing all kinds of other rodents from people’s properties.

I get all the great and awful stories, though.  People who need rodent removal service tell me what’s been going on at their home, office or property.  The technicians tell me horror stories of rat swarms, mice nests, and all kinds of other critters.

One day, though, I got to see it all for myself, and really learned just how valuable rodent removal service is to our community.

A call came in from a woman who runs a small farm with her husband.  She told me, like most farmers in the area, rat problems come with the territory.  They’ve trapped rats, killed rats, poisoned rats and gotten rid of rats for as long as they’ve operated the farm.  But, this year the rat population just seemed to be exploding and they were overrun with rats.  They were desperate for our rodent removal services so they could spend more time on farm production and less on rodent removal.

The only technician we had available at the time couldn’t drive.  It was silly, really, because he’d forgotten to renew his license and let it expire, but until he got it renewed, he couldn’t drive out to the property.  It was at the end of the day, and I volunteered to drive him out there.

We pulled up, and the woman came out to show us where the biggest rat infestation was.  I was curious, because I’d never actually seen our technicians at work, so I hopped out of the truck and joined the two of them as they approached the large barn.  She led us to a back door, where they usually stored extra bags of feed and some tools.  She told us that’s where they needed rodent removal service the most, and then she high-tailed it back to the house, leaving us to open the door ourselves.  I was starting to get a little nervous, and my friend instructed me to stand off to the side of the door as he opened it.

When that door opened, it was like a scene from a nightmare.  Have you ever seen a cloud of gnats or an anthill that’s been disturbed?  Try multiplying that a hundred times and making it rats, and then you’ll have an idea of what I saw.  They literally poured out of the barn, running over each other, leaping, biting, scattering like roaches.  I couldn’t breathe as they swarmed over my boots before they ran off into the farmyard, seeking out any hole, door or ditch they could find.  No sound came out of my mouth, but inside I was screaming.  Eventually the rat flow slowed and I looked up at my friend, wondering how on earth he was going to get rid of these rats.  Even he looked shocked, and he admitted he’d never seen anything like this before.

I retreated to the truck and called some of our other technicians, making them promise to come out to the farm to help out just as soon as they were finished with their current appointments.  More than ever, I was proud I worked for a rodent removal service, proud of what we did for our community, proud that we were the ones people could call for help.

Dead Rodent Removal

rat removal

I should have listened to my brother, who told me that dead rodent removal would be more difficult than setting rat traps and getting rid of the trapped rats.

I’m living in my first apartment after moving out on my own at the ripe old age of eighteen.  I was so excited to get my own place, finally, and I chose a small, but nice apartment.  I now live only five minutes away from my work and ten minutes away from school, and even though the place is tiny, it’s perfect for me.  Sure, the sink’s in the bathtub and my bedroom is also my living room and kitchen, but for a first apartment, it’s awesome.

I found out one reason why it’s so cheap, though.  Rats in the walls.  I found some rat poop scattered on the little table that serves as my kitchen counter, and I’ve been hearing noises in the wall at night.  So, I did what I always do when I’m in trouble.  I called my big brother.

He gave me a bad time about choosing such a rat-infested apartment, but I really know he’s proud that I’m making it on my own, without making Mom and Dad pay for school or anything.  He suggested I set out rat traps, but I hated the thought of waking up in the middle of the night to a “SNAP!”, and then having to get rid of the dead rats in the morning before heading off to a long day of school and work.  So, I did the worst thing I could do.  I ignored my brother’s advice.

I bought some rat poison and set it out.  The rats eat the poisoned food, and since it takes them a while to feel the effects, they keep eating the poisoned food and then head off to their nest or wherever it is rats go.  I figured the rats would leave, go somewhere to die, and my rat problem would go away.

I didn’t figure on the rats dying in the walls.  They ate the poison, all right, and disappeared into the walls of my apartment, where they died.  Now, I have to deal with dead rodent removal.  I’d love to just ignore it, but, trust me, you cannot ignore the smell of dead rats in the walls.  There’s an awful stench of death, and my apartment is tiny and not well-ventilated.  There is only one small window, which doesn’t let in a lot of air.

One more problem.  Flies.  Stench of dead rats and the flies they attracted.  My apartment just got a whole lot worse!  The one good thing about flies is they show me where the bodies are.  So, now I’m spending my one day off, doing dead rodent removal.  I can think of a whole lot of other things I’d rather be doing this weekend.  I even tried to get my brother’s help getting rid of the dead rats, but he just said I should’ve listened to him in the first place.  Lesson learned.