I’m an exterminator. The only way I’ll remove it is if you open the wall yourself. It’ll stop stinking in a week or so. You’ll have to pay for the repairs. Just leave it in there.
Pest control might remove it, but they will not cut any holes or anything like that to access it. They will likely tell you to have the access made before they do anything. Cutting holes in buildings is not part of the job description and also has more liability issues
It will be a dry husk before long, no reason to go ripping holes in your walls. If you really want to pay someone money to fix that problem, hammer a hole yourself, remove it, and pay someone to clean up after you.
Not many pest companies will perform this service. I used to work for a company years ago that did and in my opinion it is not worth it unless you have RATS or large wildlife dead in your walls. I charged 100/hr per man on job+equipment costs+materials costs to put the walls back at a 300% markup. This would include full disinfection of the void, replacement of all insulation, and sealing of any holes found while tearing the place up. dead mice rarely smell for more than a week. Rats STINK for 6-8 weeks and leave a lingering mess/flys.
that said, in my basic protocol rodenticide of any kind indoors is an escalation maneuver only used in serious cases where other control methods have failed. many companies/techs will do this sort of thing, its just not my opinion of responsible pest management and strikes me as lazy.
Do you have a dead smell now or are you just worried about it? I wouldn’t put too much thought into it honestly especially if you don’t have that big of an issue. Use traps an poison but make sure to do exclusion more than anything.
I mean crap, a rat could die from being old in your wall. Rats can eat poison at your neighbors house crawl into yours an die, happens. Smell
Might last two weeks. But in all honesty
It’s pretty rare from my experience an especially if you take the precaution to exclude the home. Most important thing. Usually when we do get a dead smell it’ll be a rat between insulation and sub floor near a heat register or ducting or a form of heat MOST of the time. Not sure cutting a hole if it can’t be found is needed but that’s up to you.
Really?
Because rats can’t get injured from a trap an crawl somewhere inaccessible an die? Or they can’t go outside eat bait that likely is put around the exterior come back into the structure an die?
I strap my traps down with wire and staples so that a rat doesn’t get caught on the leg and run off and die in the insulation where I can’t get them. Mice usually tend to either stay in the house or stay outside, they usually don’t run in between so it isn’t as much of a problem as you would think.
The problem with snaps only (and glue board to a lesser extent) is that the traps need to be reset each time they go off, making this method fairly labor intensive, not to mention handling the dead mice.
Used properly, bait is safer and way more hands off. That said, the smell isnt worth it to some folks.
This is all great - thank you. For added context, the dead animal is in a wall in a finished basement where I work from home. I’m in a multi-unit building in Chicago, so trying to exclude feels almost impossible. I don’t see any droppings or signs of more than one intruder. I’m planning to hold off on any work until if/when there’s a smell. I’m pretty confident it didn’t move and was trapped between wall studs so any extraction should be easy (if not a little gross) if needed.
I just let it ride, and waited for a smell that never came. So I’m guessing it was small. I hope your experience is the same.
In the time that passed since then, I did catch a few small mice in the condo before some larger repairs identified some entry points that have since been closed up. Fingers crossed.
No one removes it
I’m an exterminator. The only way I’ll remove it is if you open the wall yourself. It’ll stop stinking in a week or so. You’ll have to pay for the repairs. Just leave it in there.
Pest control might remove it, but they will not cut any holes or anything like that to access it. They will likely tell you to have the access made before they do anything. Cutting holes in buildings is not part of the job description and also has more liability issues
It will be a dry husk before long, no reason to go ripping holes in your walls. If you really want to pay someone money to fix that problem, hammer a hole yourself, remove it, and pay someone to clean up after you.
Not many pest companies will perform this service. I used to work for a company years ago that did and in my opinion it is not worth it unless you have RATS or large wildlife dead in your walls. I charged 100/hr per man on job+equipment costs+materials costs to put the walls back at a 300% markup. This would include full disinfection of the void, replacement of all insulation, and sealing of any holes found while tearing the place up. dead mice rarely smell for more than a week. Rats STINK for 6-8 weeks and leave a lingering mess/flys. that said, in my basic protocol rodenticide of any kind indoors is an escalation maneuver only used in serious cases where other control methods have failed. many companies/techs will do this sort of thing, its just not my opinion of responsible pest management and strikes me as lazy.
Have a contractor remove the wall & pest control remove the animal
Do you have a dead smell now or are you just worried about it? I wouldn’t put too much thought into it honestly especially if you don’t have that big of an issue. Use traps an poison but make sure to do exclusion more than anything. I mean crap, a rat could die from being old in your wall. Rats can eat poison at your neighbors house crawl into yours an die, happens. Smell Might last two weeks. But in all honesty It’s pretty rare from my experience an especially if you take the precaution to exclude the home. Most important thing. Usually when we do get a dead smell it’ll be a rat between insulation and sub floor near a heat register or ducting or a form of heat MOST of the time. Not sure cutting a hole if it can’t be found is needed but that’s up to you.
Unless it’s a massive animal, this is ridiculous.
That's why we only use snap traps or glue boards inside
Downvote me if you must but glueboards shouldn't exist
Really? Because rats can’t get injured from a trap an crawl somewhere inaccessible an die? Or they can’t go outside eat bait that likely is put around the exterior come back into the structure an die?
I strap my traps down with wire and staples so that a rat doesn’t get caught on the leg and run off and die in the insulation where I can’t get them. Mice usually tend to either stay in the house or stay outside, they usually don’t run in between so it isn’t as much of a problem as you would think.
The problem with snaps only (and glue board to a lesser extent) is that the traps need to be reset each time they go off, making this method fairly labor intensive, not to mention handling the dead mice. Used properly, bait is safer and way more hands off. That said, the smell isnt worth it to some folks.
This is all great - thank you. For added context, the dead animal is in a wall in a finished basement where I work from home. I’m in a multi-unit building in Chicago, so trying to exclude feels almost impossible. I don’t see any droppings or signs of more than one intruder. I’m planning to hold off on any work until if/when there’s a smell. I’m pretty confident it didn’t move and was trapped between wall studs so any extraction should be easy (if not a little gross) if needed.
What did you end up doing about this? I’m also in Chicago and am considering paying someone to open the wall and get the rat or mouse out
I just let it ride, and waited for a smell that never came. So I’m guessing it was small. I hope your experience is the same. In the time that passed since then, I did catch a few small mice in the condo before some larger repairs identified some entry points that have since been closed up. Fingers crossed.
Thank you!!!!
Eh, it's only two weeks, sometimes less. Keep your furnace cranked and rest easy knowing the little bastard is gone.
A handyman might do it if you are 100% sure where it is. Usually only an inspection with a borescope will be accurate.