Rat seller in Thailand. Photo Credit: Chris James White Photography. All rights reserved.
We've had unwanted residents in our house. Hopefully, only one. A rat. And just in case you're wondering, it was much, much larger than the one pictured here.
Let me just start by saying this: I hate rats. Hate them. In fact, I hate all rodents. They completely and totally gross me out. They're disease infested, nasty creatures. Should I feel some sympathy for another mammal? My husband says I should; yet, I do not. Not at all.
We're hygienic. Our house is clean. The kitchen especially...especially because, yes: I hate rodents. I don't like seeing little visitors.
The day my daughter and I arrived in Yangon, and for a couple weeks after, I saw evidence of rodents. I saw droppings. Come on, though. Let's just say what it is: POO! I saw rodent POO.
The husband's then-boss - even the husband himself - tried convincing me it was just gecko poo. Problem: gecko poo is black (same shape as rat poo) with a little bit of white on the end.
Well, these little black poo bits had no white on the ends. Trying to appease me, I was told, "The white bit probably just broke off." YEAH, RIGHT! I was pretty sure I wasn't seeing gecko poo. I mean, why would a sticky gecko want to be in our kitchen drawers? I'm no fool.
Late one night last week, the husband and I heard a loud clanging noise in the kitchen. I was startled and I'm sure he recognized my panicked look. The husband had a fairly reasonable explanation, but I took notice that neither of us checked the kitchen.
The morning after: RAT evidence!
- Soup stock cubes dumped onto the counter, chewed with large fang-like teeth marks scouring the cardboard box and the cubes themselves.
- POO (black, no white bits!) on the floor.
- POO in the kitchen drawers.
- Sandwich bag box gnawed...with...yep! POO!
NASTY!
Well, I kept seeing little shit pellets from that little shit rat throughout the weekend. Fewer, though.
Once, I was walking into the kitchen. I heard clang CLANG CLANGING again; this time, it was under a cabinet (we don't use any of the cabinets under the counters because they're just so gross anyway. Note: kitchens in Yangon are pretty yucky anyway).
"You have rats," D, the housekeeper, informed me yesterday. The pesky thing(s) even ate through some coconut milk, stuck its teeth into plastic Tupperware lids (WHY?), and just, well, wrecked havoc as far as I'm concerned.
We caught one last night within 30 minutes of putting the glue-sticky-traps down. Those things work. Though, the rat struggled. At first, only its tail got stuck. It managed to get unstuck, then promptly flopped itself onto another glue-sticky-trap thing.
Stupid rodent.
Hopefully, there will be rats no more!
Hope you've got the last of them... :)
ReplyDeleteLove ya dad
We had a rat at one of the clinics in the Philippines. I hated that thing. It had no, I mean NO fear of humans. It would saunter through the place as if he owned it. One day I flipped out and chased it around with a spray bottle full of bleach. Not one of my prouder moments. I didn't kill him, but I did thoroughly disinfect him. Well, at least on the outside. I am with you Becky. NASTY creatures!!!
ReplyDeleteLove you Becky! :)
~Gen
Dad - I hope so, too!
ReplyDeleteGen, yuck! I know that they can have no fear sometimes! There was a rat in Nairobi, when we used to live there, that Chris saw just hanging out on the top of the fridge. It didn't move one inch when Chris appeared and he says it stared at him as if to say, "What are YOU doing in here?" Cheeky!
I LOVE that you sprayed tons of bleach on that rat! LOL
Love you + miss you lots, Gen! <3
I'm with you, Becky-rodents are just gross! We're out on the 'country' and when we moved, I KNEW we'd have to deal with mice. So, after the fiance tried sticky traps and electronic rodent repellers, we got the cat. I LOVE that there are no more mice in the house and the moles in the front yard have also left!
ReplyDelete(I've never dealt with a rat; I'm positive I would freak out. My sister had a 'pet rat' a few years ago, I never even looked at the damn thing!)
~Kristy Sloon
PS-I can't remember any of my passwords to sign in with, sorry about being 'anonymous'! :P
WHAT?!!! A PET RAT?! No way. I want pictures. ((shaking head.))
DeleteI, too, would've refused to look at it.
Super happy to hear the moles and the mice are all gone. Hmm...maybe I should get a cat!