dead animal under deck?

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paulgrow Allen Park, MI(Zone 6a) Sep 30, 2009

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do with a possible dead animal under our deck. We have been getting a terrible odor under our deck for the last week. There has been a rat problem in the neighborhood for a few months, caused by nearby restaurants. The neighbors have gotten rat poison from the city, and it is totally used up in their yards. I went and got some, and there is none gone. We haven't seen a rat or mouse in years on our property, and there are no droppings anywhere. We were hoping for a remedy to get rid of the smell. I have removed two boards of the deck already, but can't see anything. Any suggestions for the smell would be gratefully accepted. Thanks so much!!!

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Sep 30, 2009

It's definitely possible that a rat/mouse could have eaten poison in your neighbor's yard and then died under your deck...that's one of the problems with poison since they don't die instantly and you can't control where they're going to go die. Unfortunately the quickest way to get rid of the smell is to find a way to get in under the deck and get it out, there's nothing that's going to do a great job of getting rid of the odor as long as the animal is under there still rotting. Or if you'd have to rip up your whole deck to find it, maybe being patient and putting up with not using the deck for a while until it finishes rotting would be easier.

I don't know how easy it would be to convince the people in your neighborhood to change how they're managing the rodent problem, but traps would probably be better than poison. That way you don't wind up with them dying under decks, inside walls, etc where they stink, and also there's no risk of accidentally poisoning someone's pet who either finds the rat poison lying around in someone's yard or takes a bite out of a rodent who's already eaten the poison.

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