| Since I came back one thing that has been gnawing my head literally is the little visitor in my house that entered when I inadvertently left one of our patio doors open a whole night. We have two doors opening into the backyard, one is rarely opened from JSK's play area, and the other from the kitchen is what we usually open to go to the backyard. It was very hot one evening and I opened the rarely opened door and forgot to close it all night. The morning when I woke up and saw the open door I was scared of snakes inside the house! There have been snakes sighted in the neighborhood. There is construction going on behind our house. It was empty land when we bought our house with plenty of area for creatures to live. Now with the construction these creatures are making way into residential neighborhood.
I forgot about it since no snake showed up. Until one day I come down to see parathas nibbled on the sides rendering them unusable. Until then, yes, we have been lackadaisical about our food on the counter. Only parathas. Others go in closed boxes. The neighbor Aunty gives us parathas in a plate with another plate covering it. That's how we keep it so we don't have to reheat it from fridge in the morning to pack lunches.
Initially I didn't think of the open door left, and started looking for openings around the house. The dishwasher opening under the sink was a plausible location and sure enough we heard and saw something gnawing at the trash bag at some point.
We have had a rat in the garage once and thankfully FIL was there at that time and he took care of it, I didn't even bother about it. I think JSK was a newborn then.
The three weeks that I was gone, the rat replaced me. It made home even upstairs. Ugh. JSK's room. It left droppings by the stairs. I was disgusted and never wanted to be the first one to see anything in the morning. One can see how difficult that would be when one is jet lagged. DH has been getting mouse traps but this was a rat, too big for the mouse trap.
This was a reason for my depression too when I landed. Messy house with rat droppings! There is a nightmare for you! I told JSK to be very careful eating anything, always wash it nicely before eating. I was super paranoid of diseases. We have enough without the rats contributing hehe.
Until now DH wanted to capture the rat and let it go somewhere, not kill it. But even he got totally pissed, and got the master of all traps. The moment the rat come to the bait, the trap goes for the neck and snaps! Mostly death for the rat. It was gnawing at carpet and leather couch bottom. I hated the thought that some creature was always living inside tech house waiting for me to go so it can come out. All animation movies came to mind. Enough was enough!
Last night was uneventuful, I was disappointed. I read reviews where folks caught the rat within an hour of keeping the bait. Today evening DH and JSK went to gym while I lazed around in bed, milking Jetlag as much as I can before whirlwind of work hits me, and I heard a sound that seemed like it came from inside the house. Did someone enter the house? I was too sleepy to bother about it and slept off, I had dreams too. As it happens when you have too much sleep. ;--D
I wake up to sounds of DH and JSK saying 'we caught the mouse! We caught the mouse!' THAT was the noise I heard below, of the trap snapping on the rat's neck, killing it.
Instant relief spread in me. I felt happy. All I could say was 'praise the lord' ;--P
The other part of me does feel sorry for the little thing. We are encroaching its space by building more buildings where would the poor thing go? Are animals meant to live in small confined areas where we tell them to live? I do feel sorry for the little guy.
But there is another part of me that finds rodents disgusting. How do people keep rodents as pets?!
I don't know if there was more than one rat in the house, we will keep the baits for a few more days. I don't know where it was hiding and what a mess that place would be. And we need to make sure no more rats can come into the house. I have to get the cleaning lady to do spotless cleaning one more time. She did spend extra time on the couch the last time per my wishes. I hope this rat crisis ends soon! Oh the stuff we have to deal with!
Edited to add :
So DH had a pic for me to show. I take it back, it is cute, I could have it as a pet. Now I feel like a killer ;--((((
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Always leave traps in the garage and outside patio doors (basically entrances to the house). That's what our pest control guy does. We've had them in the garage and caught many. So far I don't know of any inside the house or attic, but I've heard of people having them so I'm always vigilant.