This picture is so NASTY I can barely look at it!! We've been hearing 'funny noises' under the house for some time. Honestly we thought it was the cat's or the pigs or maybe even Chip. Then one afternoon I opened my garbage door under the sink IN THE KITCHEN and something RAN across the front of the doors!! EEK!! I squealed and SLAMMED the door shut. There was a chair across the front of the door before you could say Lickity split! I was on the phone to Papa just seconds after that! He laughed.. -evil eye- and I got a little bit upset. He stopped laughing. But he wouldn't come home to deal with it.. 'just leave the chair across the door and I'll deal with it later.' Not exactly what I wanted to hear let me tell you. I called my cousin.. he likes to kill things and he's home from the bush.. besides Korey did tell me he'd really rather not be the one I call next time! (AND I DON'T BLAME HIM AT ALL!! YUCK) Mr. B, the cousin I called, saw no reason to rush over either and I knew I was sunk.. I was going to have to just deal with it until Papa got home. I was hoping it was the squirrel the kids have been feeding all fall.
So when Papa got home that night he found the trap and set it and also found a way to keep the doors locked without using a chair and we waited. TWO days later...I wake up to a BANG BANG BANG!! Papa has killed the rat. As you can see he had it's head caught in the trap but these things are TOUGH and it was still very alive so Papa to his large knife handle to its head!! 3 hits!!
Here it is with J's hand!!
Now we're pretty sure this one has a friend but Papa has taken apart part of the bathroom and spray foamed a very large hole that we did not think we could get at from inside and couldn't get to from outside.. and I've not heard any more scratching or thumping or ANY more noise at all in the middle of the night. Though I have to admit the cupboard doors in the kitchen stay locked at night and in the bathroom the stool had a bucket of rice on it until just this afternoon... in front of the door that leads to the where we've seen and heard rat activity.
The kids really enjoyed the opportunity to study up on rats in our book PETERSON FIELD GUIDES MAMMALS and discussing which rat it was and why. It was a Bushy Tail Wood Rat.
Update.. There is another one!! Papa is going to set the trap under the SHOWER tomorrow!! Thankfully it cannot get into the actual house from under the shower! Papa will have to take part of the wall off to get the trap in there and then we've just got to wait for it. I think this spring we will be moving the bags of animal food PERMANENTLY away from beside the house! DUH!!! Though to give us some credit.. it did take them almost 7 years to figure it out!
