Mississippi, private property
A Dead Animal in Your Crawl Space in Mississippi
A crawl space under a raised house is dark, sheltered and easy for animals to enter through a loose vent or a gap in the skirting. When one dies there, the smell often comes up through the floor.
Can a dead animal be taken out of a crawl space without opening the floor?
Usually, if the crawl space has an access door or another existing opening. An independent operator, where one covers your address, can go in through that opening, find the carcass and remove it. Nothing is cut.
Before you call anyone. Find the crawl-space access and note how big it is and whether it is blocked. Do not crawl in yourself to handle the animal; the State Department of Health advises against handling wild animals that can carry rabies.
Cases this page is for
- A carcass inside a crawl space reached through the access door.
- A carcass near a vent or a gap in the skirting.
- A carcass on a vapor barrier or bare soil under the house.
What falls outside it
Cutting the floor, skirting or vapor barrier. Replacing insulation or barrier material. Sealing vents or gaps. Spraying disinfectant, deodorizer or insecticide. None of these is offered through this site.
Tell the operator how high the crawl space is, whether there is standing water, and whether ducts or pipes block the way. That decides whether it can be reached.
Odor from a crawl space depends on the animal's size, the temperature, humidity and airflow under the house. Removing the carcass takes away the source.
From call to removal
- Call or send the form with a description of the crawl-space access and which town you are in.
- Say where the smell is strongest inside the house.
- Where an independent operator covers your address, it agrees the price and timing with you.
- The carcass is removed through the existing access and taken for disposal.
About this situation
Will the floor have to be opened?
Not through this site. Operators work through the crawl-space door or another existing opening.
Can the insulation or vapor barrier be replaced?
That is building work, not part of removal through this site.
Is it safe to go in myself?
The Mississippi State Department of Health advises against handling wild animals that can carry rabies, alive or dead. A crawl space can also hold other hazards.
What if the crawl space is flooded?
Say so on the call. Standing water changes whether and when the space can be entered.
By animal
- OpossumOpossums shelter under houses and in attics, and a dead one is usually found by smell. Mississippi classes them as fur-bearing animals.
- RaccoonRaccoons often die in crawl spaces, attics and under decks. The State Department of Health says not to handle or touch one, alive or dead.
- SkunkA dead skunk brings two problems at once, the carcass and the smell. The Department of Health lists skunks among animals that can carry rabies.
Whose job is it? Who picks up dead animals Β· Deer carcass and CWD rules Β· How to dispose of a dead animal
By area: Jackson Β· Madison County Β· DeSoto County Β· Gulfport and Biloxi Β· Hattiesburg