Dead Animal in the Pool

There is nothing worse than going out to your pool and finding a dead animal on the bottom. Well, maybe finding one in the skimmer is equally unpleasant.

This is probably the most unpleasant part of my job. But animals fall into a pool and I am left to take care of it. So my list includes rats, mice, lizards, birds, a skunk, gofers and this Possum in the video above. All in a days work as they say.

These are the steps I follow whenever I find a dead animal in the pool. I super chlorinate the pool, run it for one cycle and close it for 24-48 hours or until the chlorine drops down to 5 ppm or less.

Liquid chlorine or Clorox bleach are the best - Sodium Hypochlorite is proven to kill bacteria and virus.

If the pool already was at 2. ppm technically you are fine. But I always like to bring the chlorine up to 10 -20 ppm just to be on the safe side.  It just feels better to have the chlorine blazing high so everything is killed without a doubt.

I run the pool for one complete cycle- all the water passing from the pool to the filter and back into the pool again. This will circulate the chlorine and kill the bacteria.

You can also disinfect your leaf rake or skimmer by setting it in the pool for 30 minutes. Nothing has to be done with the skimmer basket if you find a dead animal in that - water will pass through it and disinfect it while the pool is running.

Not very complicated and easy to do.

If you go to the CDC website the only animal they list as a potential danger is a raccoon since it might be carrying a worm that is transferable to humans - Baylisascaris.

Other then that if your pool is sanitized it will be safe to swim in again once the chlorine level drops down. So it is an unpleasant site for sure but nothing to get too concerned about.

If you are tired of pulling dead critters  out of your skimmer, try this skimmer basket. It has a handle and a push button trigger that open the bottom.

Dead Gofer stuck in the PoolCleaner  Limited Edition

I suppose the only thing worse then finding a dead animal on the pool bottom is finding one in an automatic cleaner like the photo below. Happens often out on my route. A great way to start the day.
Living the dream out here, living the dream...