Getting rid of dead rat smell

July 12, 2020 1:41 AM

Unfortunately a rat seems to have died in our roof cavity or wall. How can we manage the smell? Is this any kind of health risk to me, my partner and our newborn?

This has happened once before. Both this time and last time, the smell seems to mainly be wafting out of the built in wardrobe. The rat is definitely not in the wardrobe, I think it just happens that this is a place which allows the smell to drift from wherever the dead rat is. Last time this happened we tried looking for the body, but couldn't find it. So assume that finding and removing the body is not an option to take care of the smell.

Things I have done so far:
* Put bowls of coffee beans in the wardrobe
* Put bowls of bicarb soda in the wardrobe
* Turned the ceiling fan on
* Opened the window a crack
* Closed the bedroom door to try to stop the smell from wafting out too much further

We will most likely be camping out in the living room until the smell goes away. Is there anything else we can do to help with the smell in the meantime, since it does drift a little bit into areas just outside the bedroom. It's also impregnating things in the wardrobe (all of my clothes, some linens)

Questions:
* What else could we do to mitigate the smell?
* Do we have to be worried about being exposed to this? Particularly the baby
* Once the smell goes away, do I just need to air out anything that was exposed, or should I wash everything?

posted by kinddieserzeit to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Response by poster: I just remembered that I have a bottle of Nilodor. Am considering putting a drop on a cotton ball and placing in the wardrobe and a drop on a cotton ball and placing in the roof cavity. If this takes care of the smell, can we safely sleep in the bedroom?
posted by kinddieserzeit at 2:20 AM on July 12, 2020

My experience with dead critters in the attic is they decompose to zero smell fairly quickly. You should worry about making repairs so animals can't get in again.
posted by tmdonahue at 4:44 AM on July 12, 2020 [7 favorites]

there is a risk of mites migrating. keep an eye on your skin esp when you wake up in the morning.
posted by fingersandtoes at 6:30 AM on July 12, 2020

This Bad Air Sponge dealt well with persistent adolescent boy miasma. It smells a bit when you first open it but stops after a few hours. There are many other odor neutralizers on Amazon to choose from. An air purifier is a more expensive choice.
posted by firstdrop at 8:03 AM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I had this happen in Florida and fixed it using a process broadly documented in http://www.wildlife-removal.com/dead-rat.html

I also sealed the attic/wall and crawlspace/wall joins with small lumber bits, chicken wire, and spray foam as appropriate.

You are probably able to perform all of these repairs yourself with a minimum of skills.
posted by pdoege at 9:31 AM on July 12, 2020

This happened to us pretty regularly in our old house. No health risk, it just reeks for a week or so. Sorry for your inconvenience, I know how gross it it. Re: mites, I wouldn't freak out necessarily; the majority of parasites on other animals 1) can't move through walls (!?) or very far, and 2) more importantly they don't care for humans, they are adapted to rats, or cats etc etc.
posted by smoke at 5:20 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

This happened fairly often in my childhood home. We just waited. If it's really confined to the wardrobe (or even just the bedroom), consider putting gaffer's tape, or any tape that won't take off the paint, over the door seams and lighting some incense. A box fan in the window when you're not in the room might help.
posted by eotvos at 12:46 PM on July 13, 2020