Saturday, November 1, 2008

A visitor in the house

Last weekend we went out for a few hours and left the back door open so that Westley could go in and out while we were away. Shortly after we got home, we heard a strange noise from under the stove. It was clear that something had snuck in through the door while we were out. There was no activity for a few nights, but finally there was the evidence of a partially eaten apple. It would be nice to think it's a mouse, but if you have rats, you don't have mice.

The following night I set some traps but had no luck. But there was evidence that the visitor had been in Kate's room. I wasn't ok with having a rat around before that, but when I knew it was going in Kate's room, it was really, really not ok.

Last night we blocked the space under Kate's door so that it couldn't get in there, and instead I was woken up many times by the awful creature making noises in our room or the kitchen. Kate slept really well, but the rat kept me up instead. Tonight, there is no food out at all (last night it destroyed a cantaloupe I forgot to put away) but reset traps with some new bait. Ad we'll be blocking our door as well. If this doesn't work, we're going to have to think of something else. I don't want to resort to poison, but I also don't want a rat in our house.

Gross.

The house is sealed against pests. This one only got in because we left the door open. Which means it also can't get out. This isn't going to end well for the rat.

3 comments:

Ama x four said...

I'm with you, Beth! I hate it when rats get in our house. We haven't had one in a while, but I have pretty good luck with those huge traps and crunchy peanut butter. We had some at the condo in Corpus and that is how we got rid of them.

Good luck...
joan

Karen said...

Congratulations on getting the rat. I hope you have a good sleep tonight as a result.

sheilar said...

Living on Shoal Creek has is down side - rats. We finally hired someone to seal the house. Caught 6 rats and a frog. Sorry about the frog.
s