All Out WAR!

Okay, up until this point there were no rats in my cabinets. Now that I have seen rat scat in the cabinets, I have no more mercy for anything. "ME" That is what this is all about now. 

The cannot get into food cabinets unless they chew their way in. That has not happened. Can they open doors? However, they are in lower cabinets with no food. That means I must wash each item I remove to use.

They have probably come into the house around the water wipes or drain. That means I must take everything out from under the sink to see if they have breached the barriers I put in. That is going to be a chore with my limitations. ugh This is going to hurt.

I heard something crashing in the basement a few minutes ago. So, going down there to view the underside of the sink is going to be an adventure and maybe hazardous.

Rat poison will be in place within minutes of posting this!

This is just so disgusting. I actually think this is the most disgusting thing in my life, EVER. Okay, rats are not on the counters yet, and if that happens, I may have to abandon the place...lol. It's all out war here!

The rats did come across a bag of rice NOT in a cabinet or a secure place and were eating it. I figured if I left it, they would not get into other food. So, I am still sticking with that thought.

That rice will go to Charlie for him to use to remove moisture from electronics. See? We don't waste anything.

Your turn
Any more advice?

Dealing with Rats

I have been able to catch rats and kill them. However, another one just comes in. Today, I took a step that seems to be working. There is a set of French doors in a room where moisture has made it impossible to close the doors all the way. So, not only does a draft enter, but rats found their way in through there. Well, that was my thought.

Today, exbf used Gorilla Tape (brand of heavy black duct tape) to tape mothballs to the tiny and large cracks all the way around the door and down the middle. Then, he made sure that there was no space where the moth balls could emit odor. He stuffed moth balls into the room on the other side of that, a room I do not enter at all and will not cause the odor to come into where I live. I had to put up with mothball smell for a bit. It was so warm out that I could leave the back door open. Now, it has dissipated to a faint odor. I am going to staple plastic over that door, maybe tomorrow.

Hopefully, this faint odor is not toxic to me. Hopefully, plastic will shut out the rest of the odor.  I remember when I was in my early thirties and very cheerful elderly ladies hugged me in church, smelling of moth balls and brandy. Sometimes, they hugged me twice! In the summer these ladies were never quite so happy or odorous.

The good news, no rat noise. This is the first night with no noise since the first rat came in about three weeks ago. The sticky traps are great but expensive. I cannot force open the snap traps to set them.
Next week, he will work on the room at the front of the house, my sewing room that still has things rats can destroy. It is immediately in front of the room...never mind.

This is a better explanation. Along one side of the house are four rooms in a row. Front room--sewing room, abandoned. Second room--living room abandoned and where he stuffed moth balls into the room. Third room-- where the French doors are between third and second room. Fourth room--kitchen.

The room where I am sitting is next to third room.

Ooops, heard a rat in third room just now, right next to me. So, I will break out the sticky traps. Irish Spring in the doorways will hopefully keep any other rats at bay so that they do not consider my den a good home.

When exbf left at 6:15 pm, I was exhausted. I went to bed at 6:30 pm and  slept until 1:30 am.  This messes up my sleeping, but I could not stay awake.

Tomorrow, I make a five-gallon rat trap!

Your turn
Have you ever used moth balls and were able to contain the odor? Has it been your experience that moth balls repelled rats?

You May Hate Me

It is mine.
 Pasta costs money.
 I bought it cheaply.
 But, this was originally expensive.
 I will protect what is mine.

So, if your conscience has a problem with protecting what is yours,
GO NO FARTHER.

If you are eating or squeamish, maybe you should leave.
You have been warned.

Graphic photo ahead
written on Sunday

Tonight, I was talking to a friend. I mused that tonight is the night I get rid of the rat that has been in my house. Two nights ago, the rodent decided the kitchen was his, too.

I got up and went to the kitchen and heard him to my left. When I started picking things up, I was kicking a box to scare him away. Really, I have no desire to pick up a rat. Then, I heard scritches to my right. Then, as my skin crawled, and my breathing came more rapidly, I heard mighty scratching to my right. I kicked the box to my right.

More scritches  then cries came each time I kicked the box.  My adrenaline flowed. I was puzzled. Why didn't the rat run?
Why was he screaming?
My kicking of the box could not hurt him!

I lifted a box sitting on the box and saw the sticky trap lying on its side, just like I had wedged it into a space between boxes, a natural route since all the other boxes were too close. Plus, I had seen the rat run in that direction. My idea worked days later!

The rat was stuck on the sticky trap. I ran for the kitchen garbage can, empty and very tall. The tongs were at hand, so I grabbed those from the drawer since the last rat caught on a sticky trap tried to bite the box I put near him.

Then, I ran out the door with the screaming rat in the garbage can.

The strangest thing happened. Six squirrels ran over the fence and up the trees as I emerged with the screaming rodent. They knew a distressed fellow rodent. Grabbing the bucket that the ac drips into, I dumped the rat and sticky trap. He only struggled for thirty seconds. I assure you it was a swift death with his little lungs. I do not feel one bit guilty.

Gone

At one point this evening, I thought there were two rats. Now, I have not heard one for hours, so I got the only one. The problem now is to keep others from entering. I am on it.

Sure, I could make it my job to protect the pasta. But, the one last package was still not in rodent-proof packaging. It is now.

For the last week or two, I have stored everything in upper cabinets, the microwave, the oven, in or on top of the refrigerator. But, there are germs that I don't want to live with, not just a gnawing rat. I am not sure what has been destroyed in the way of food. Last time, he ate into a one-pound bag of rice. I did not lose much, except peace of mind.

The expensive rat trap sits untouched....sigh.

About 20-years ago in my ninth grade English class, I stomped a mouse that ran from a closet. The teacher must take the lead...lol. The next day I told the guys sitting near it to stomp the next one since I could not make it to that side of the room. A kid in work boots stomped it as hard as he could, literally scattering the mouse to all parts of the room. Most of these were country kids with no tender feelings for a mouse. Some girls wanted to catch the mice and put them outdoors. The other kids told her what would happen. I told them of the health consequences. The school exterminated them.

The garbage can is washed. Rat and trap are disposed of. Tongs will be sterilized.
My heart is still pounding.

Okay, I just heard another rat!

Your turn
Are you a bloodthirsty rat killer?