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myurbandreamWe have rats in our apartment.
Last weekend hubby and I went to Wisconsin to visit my mom and sister (and various other relatives), and I think that four-day absence is what invited our visitors' presence in our home. When we got back from vacation, the dust on the shelves of the tv stand had tiny little ratty footprints in it, and there was a raggedy hole in the baseboard by the dishwasher which I suspect is our squatters' front door.
We've never laid eyes on them, but in hindsight I realise I've swept up after them a time or two, probably as they were making their entrance - little bits of wood detritus kept appearing on the kitchen floor by the dishwasher, mystifying me every time I swept the kitchen.
I hadn't particularly minded our little guests this past week, as they weren't causing any particular heartache for me - until last night. It's been raining (finally, thank God) so when I changed the trash in the kitchen for a new bag, I left the full one by the door instead of walking it out to the dumpster in the downpour, assuming I'd just take it out when the rain stopped, like I always do. Well, that moment never arrived, and later in the evening Jim found holes chewed into the bottom of the bag and bits of trash on the floor. Not too much of a mess, but starting to get bothersome, right?
And then they woke me up this morning, rustling around in the kitchen.
Well, maybe the rain and thunder woke me up, but it was the rats that got me out of bed, to scare them off.
I have mixed emotions about our friend Allison's adventures in apartment pests - she, too, had a rat problem in her old apartment, which she discovered when one of them got caught on a bit of splintered baseboard and killed itself in messy glory on her bedroom floor. She went through various tricks and traps to catch them or kill them, with results in varying degrees of gruesome. It all makes a hilarious story, but I don't really want to add my own chapter to that book, you know? I'd just as soon buy a pet cage and transfer them from living under our dishwasher to living on my desk in the office, but I don't think Jim (or the rats, for that matter) will be pleased with that idea.
ETA: http://jen-chan13.livejournal.com/289512.html
And also, why are lj tags now at the bottom of the post instead of the top? Hugely annoying.
Last weekend hubby and I went to Wisconsin to visit my mom and sister (and various other relatives), and I think that four-day absence is what invited our visitors' presence in our home. When we got back from vacation, the dust on the shelves of the tv stand had tiny little ratty footprints in it, and there was a raggedy hole in the baseboard by the dishwasher which I suspect is our squatters' front door.
We've never laid eyes on them, but in hindsight I realise I've swept up after them a time or two, probably as they were making their entrance - little bits of wood detritus kept appearing on the kitchen floor by the dishwasher, mystifying me every time I swept the kitchen.
I hadn't particularly minded our little guests this past week, as they weren't causing any particular heartache for me - until last night. It's been raining (finally, thank God) so when I changed the trash in the kitchen for a new bag, I left the full one by the door instead of walking it out to the dumpster in the downpour, assuming I'd just take it out when the rain stopped, like I always do. Well, that moment never arrived, and later in the evening Jim found holes chewed into the bottom of the bag and bits of trash on the floor. Not too much of a mess, but starting to get bothersome, right?
And then they woke me up this morning, rustling around in the kitchen.
Well, maybe the rain and thunder woke me up, but it was the rats that got me out of bed, to scare them off.
I have mixed emotions about our friend Allison's adventures in apartment pests - she, too, had a rat problem in her old apartment, which she discovered when one of them got caught on a bit of splintered baseboard and killed itself in messy glory on her bedroom floor. She went through various tricks and traps to catch them or kill them, with results in varying degrees of gruesome. It all makes a hilarious story, but I don't really want to add my own chapter to that book, you know? I'd just as soon buy a pet cage and transfer them from living under our dishwasher to living on my desk in the office, but I don't think Jim (or the rats, for that matter) will be pleased with that idea.
ETA: http://jen-chan13.livejournal.com/289512.html
And also, why are lj tags now at the bottom of the post instead of the top? Hugely annoying.
