A rat, wow. What a story! I hope it found its freedom too and that you have a less exciting week next week.
Also, this post was a balm for the current state of affairs. Thank you.
A couple of months ago one of our dogs brought a live squirrel into the house. At 2am, and woke up our son with all her growling. It was stunned (we thought it was dead) and were able to get it outside into the compost bin before it came too. It wasn’t there in the morning. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like if it had gotten away in our house!
I'm glad it was a balm! It feels weird to write about little daily things like this in the midst of the insanity.
A squirrel in the house would be really crazy!! And I sure hope the rat is gone and not dying in our walls ... these little creatures sure cause all kinds of mischief.
I do not like wild rats in the house, even though my sister had pet rats for years, as did my daughter. We keep our cats indoors, but still occasionally have mice in the house. Years ago, we had a cat, Britt, who was a good mouser and preferred to kill them by exhausting them. One night, my daughter asked if Britt had a squeaky toy. Britt had found a mouse in the basement, came and dropped it at my feet, unharmed. It immediately dove under the recliner. Britt continued to play with it (Kitmo is a great description), as the mouse tired. Then, as Britt sat on her haunches and patted at the mouse, it jumped on the base of her tail! It managed to stay on for two revolutions! Mouse rodeo. I'm glad my daughter saw it, too, or no one would have believed me. Later on, we weren't watching, but we heard Britt cry in pain. We looked over and saw her FINALLY kill the mouse. We assume it had bit her. I'm glad that that mouse was not going to reproduce!
PS - We have an ongoing rat issue ourselves - Rick just shot a rat out in our chicken coop with the pellet gun he bought specifically for this purpose as he had tried all other manner of traps but those little guys are so smart and learn quickly. I do feel bad but know that they will multiply quickly if not mitigated.
Wow, and here I thought we were going full-on Rat Patrol! Must be hard to shoot such little things that move so fast. They really are smart! I've caught mice before in live traps, but the rat didn't go near ANY of the traps.
What bait did you use? Rick had success with a small piece of Snickers bar in snap traps - once even caught 2 juveniles in one trap. But, eventually they caught on and he had to go hard core.
Peanut butter and dry cat food, because we knew one mouse was eating the cat food. Mice are much easier to catch than rats, though! I even tried some Parmesan cheese for the rat, but it wouldn't go for it.
I'm reminded of Fantastic Planet, an animated gem from the 70s. Humans are the "pet rats" for a hyper-intelligent race of aliens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYnyiiyPBPY
One alien's pet is another human's human. Or something. Definitely worth watching.
Beautiful as always, Rosana. I had mice in my kitchen for quite some time this winter. But they appear to have moved on now that the weather is warmer.
Thank you, Adam! That sounds like a problem for a cat — but at least they weren't rats. Seriously, I once lent a cat out to a friend who had mice: problem fixed.
I liked that little essay of "caring for small things" in the middle of the crazy big turmoil we are living. It made sense all the questions you raised an being to upfront and honest with yourself, not afraid to question yourself, doubt, being critical even about your own wishes and desires! Keep it on beautiful Rosana! Evelyne
Yeah my cat Pearl used to catch chipmunks and release them into the house so he could torture them in his little kitty Guantanamo, or Kitmo for short.
Kitmo! 🤣 Seriously, though, chipmunks would be worse. Good thing we don't have them here in North Oakland.
A rat, wow. What a story! I hope it found its freedom too and that you have a less exciting week next week.
Also, this post was a balm for the current state of affairs. Thank you.
A couple of months ago one of our dogs brought a live squirrel into the house. At 2am, and woke up our son with all her growling. It was stunned (we thought it was dead) and were able to get it outside into the compost bin before it came too. It wasn’t there in the morning. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like if it had gotten away in our house!
I'm glad it was a balm! It feels weird to write about little daily things like this in the midst of the insanity.
A squirrel in the house would be really crazy!! And I sure hope the rat is gone and not dying in our walls ... these little creatures sure cause all kinds of mischief.
I do not like wild rats in the house, even though my sister had pet rats for years, as did my daughter. We keep our cats indoors, but still occasionally have mice in the house. Years ago, we had a cat, Britt, who was a good mouser and preferred to kill them by exhausting them. One night, my daughter asked if Britt had a squeaky toy. Britt had found a mouse in the basement, came and dropped it at my feet, unharmed. It immediately dove under the recliner. Britt continued to play with it (Kitmo is a great description), as the mouse tired. Then, as Britt sat on her haunches and patted at the mouse, it jumped on the base of her tail! It managed to stay on for two revolutions! Mouse rodeo. I'm glad my daughter saw it, too, or no one would have believed me. Later on, we weren't watching, but we heard Britt cry in pain. We looked over and saw her FINALLY kill the mouse. We assume it had bit her. I'm glad that that mouse was not going to reproduce!
These little creatures provide so much entertainment! It's just crazy when they bring the critters in the house.
This made me laugh out loud. Thanks, Ro.
PS - We have an ongoing rat issue ourselves - Rick just shot a rat out in our chicken coop with the pellet gun he bought specifically for this purpose as he had tried all other manner of traps but those little guys are so smart and learn quickly. I do feel bad but know that they will multiply quickly if not mitigated.
Wow, and here I thought we were going full-on Rat Patrol! Must be hard to shoot such little things that move so fast. They really are smart! I've caught mice before in live traps, but the rat didn't go near ANY of the traps.
What bait did you use? Rick had success with a small piece of Snickers bar in snap traps - once even caught 2 juveniles in one trap. But, eventually they caught on and he had to go hard core.
Peanut butter and dry cat food, because we knew one mouse was eating the cat food. Mice are much easier to catch than rats, though! I even tried some Parmesan cheese for the rat, but it wouldn't go for it.
I'm reminded of Fantastic Planet, an animated gem from the 70s. Humans are the "pet rats" for a hyper-intelligent race of aliens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYnyiiyPBPY
One alien's pet is another human's human. Or something. Definitely worth watching.
Beautiful as always, Rosana. I had mice in my kitchen for quite some time this winter. But they appear to have moved on now that the weather is warmer.
Thank you, Adam! That sounds like a problem for a cat — but at least they weren't rats. Seriously, I once lent a cat out to a friend who had mice: problem fixed.
I liked that little essay of "caring for small things" in the middle of the crazy big turmoil we are living. It made sense all the questions you raised an being to upfront and honest with yourself, not afraid to question yourself, doubt, being critical even about your own wishes and desires! Keep it on beautiful Rosana! Evelyne