Mickey Mouse made everyone love him. He had big, cute ears, big, dark eyes, and a super long tail.
He was a rodent. And his pointy nose and long tail really point to rat-type rodent, wouldn't you say? But we all loved him; because he was so cute!
I don't mind rodents. I've had hamsters and hosted the school Guinea Pig at our house this summer. I even enjoy looking (and occasionally oohing and aahhing) at rodents in pet stores. But I draw the line when they move into my house not in a cage. You know...just move in because they like my digs. I can't, and don't, tolerate it.
You may remember me mentioning some of the times we had run ins with mice when we lived under the red tin roof. These little mice were very cute, but very irritating. Always in the food cabinets. We trapped some, sticky trapped one (never again), and then trapped some more. We even let Felix have a run at getting one out of the cabinet in the kitchen. It took him about 10 seconds. I am not exaggerating. It may not have even taken that long.
So here I am at the new house (not that it's really new anymore since we've been here three years, it's just not the Red Tin Roof) and several weeks ago I walked the family to the car as Bryan took them to school and a motion caught my eye. It was a mouse in the dog's water bucket. So, I took it outside and poured it out. The poor little guy had been treading water for quite some time and just laid their catching his breath (ie: panting hard) when I dumped him out. I then realized that this mouse was pretty big for a cute gray mouse. Then it dawned on me that his nose was a bit pointy and his tail was twice as long as his body. OK...I had a rat. And I had just let him go.
What to do??? Get Felix. So I went and got Felix and introduced him to the still panting and out of breath rat and went back inside. I peered out of the window a few times and could see Felix up to something with the rat. After an inspection later I found no rat, but Felix seemed awfully content.
So a few days later, Bryan and I noticed a rat (or two) scurrying away in the mechanical/furnace room. There are a few places where you can access the bowels of the house if you're the size of a cat, so what did we do? We went and got Felix and put him in the mechanical room.
We then went next door to visit our neighbors and have a cocktail. About 10 minutes later we got a call from Julia that there was a dead rat in the floor of the playroom. NICELY DONE, FELIX!
So for a few days, we just let Felix come and go as he pleased in the furnace room. I thought we were done. I was also wrong.
We then began noticing rats in the garage. Up on the shelf where we store the pool umbrella, on the tool table, running up the vacuum cleaner line, and even simply scaling the drywall at face level scaring poor 11 year old girls.
So...Felix got to stay outside for several nights. But I never saw a dead rat. I also didn't really see them much after several days. Then they were back. I went and bought a BEAR TRAP of a rat trap as well as a conventional snap trap for rats. A few bags of poison were also thrown around some of their favorite haunts (away from my pets). All of this before Thanksgiving, and still no dead rats.
Until yesterday.
Driving in after getting the children from school there was a rat in the process of dying from poison in Bryan's spot in the garage. So he got scooped up and slung into the marsh behind the house. Then, this morning, the bear trap rat trap had done it's job and caught one too. Get that...nothing for weeks and then two in one day.
And let me tell you, even though they are in the bowels of my house and garage (luckily no evidence of them anywhere else), and even though I don't, let me repeat, DON"T want them in my house, I still feel awful when I see them dead or dying. Why...because I love animals. And because they are so danged cute. Seriously...see....
