I hate rats

Recently we sublet our attic to a couple of rats. We named them Dick and Cheney. They were in our attic for about 2 weeks or so when they started venturing out at night and discovered a path into our kitchen. We’re still not sure how they got in the kitchen but they left us a few mementos to let us know they were there; “thank you notes” of a sort. We tried everything to get rid of them. The old school traps, glue traps and even a water trap device I crafted but I tell you they were smart.

These rats started getting to me. I found great solace in visiting youtube and watching people set up elaborate traps in their house and filming the rat dying a formidable death. My favorite one is embedded below...it's not very gruesome but DO NOT WATCH if you are some sort of "people for the protection of rodents" person. Turn up the volume!



I never thought I'd get so giddy over a dead rat. It's quite cathartic.

So, none of our traps were working. For about ten days Laura and I would set up traps all around the house and nothing worked. Dick and Cheney were two smart rats! Finally, we succumbed to poisoning them. The only risk was that they would die somewhere in the house between walls or in the attic and we wouldn't be able to find them. We knew one of them died (probably Dick) because we could smell the rotting corpse above the music room. Luckily, Cheney appeard out of nowhere; our nephew Ethan spotted him.


Ain't he cute?

So lessons learned.
1) Inspect your roof and make sure there is no place available for a rat to sneak in. They do not like the cold so they'll come looking for shelter in the evening.
2) A mouse can squeeze through a hold the size of a penny, a rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter (half inch or so). Sounds crazy but it's true.
3) If you use traps, make sure they are set up to be very sensitive.

In conclusion I'd like to say that rats suck! Kill them any way you can, don't think twice about it.

Goodbye Dick and Cheney.