- Joined
- Nov 27, 2004
- Messages
- 409
Something had been keeping me up at night. What is was, I didnt know. All that I knew was that I had to discover what the creature scratching and clawing its way around in the attic from 10pm-3am every night was, and then evict it.
Since I am currently staying at my parents place, I informed them of our unwelcome guest. My mom called an exterminator who told us it would be about $600 to "get the job done". Maybe it is just me, but I have seen enough episodes of Billy the Exterminator to know that catching a random Rat Creature (the name that I decided to give the mystery beast.) isnt exactly rocket science, and so, I volunteered my dad and myself for the job.
Our mission? Find Rat Creature, capture Him/Her and remove him/her from the attic.
Since Billy the Exterminator wears ridiculous costumes to do his job, I figured that must be a key component in the fine art of exterminating. Unfortunately since I shower regularly I was already at somewhat of a disadvantage. Undiscouraged, I put together the best outfit I could find for the job.
Rubber gloves, plastic bags to prevent insulation from getting into my shoes, some kind of scarf thing to help reduce the amount of junk I was breathing in....I know I look like a pro, but I swear this was my first time!
My dad also dressed up. He looks less like an exterminator and more like a cowboy-bandit-terrorist (they are the worst kind).
We got our tools ready: peanut butter, crackers and then set up the traps. (Ignore the hammer, it was only there in case something attacked me first.)
Then we left the traps and waited until morning to see if we had captured anything.
That night, as I lay in bed I heard the familiar scuffle of Rat Creature above me. I silently willed him to investigate the traps filled with delicious goodies. After about 5 minutes of shuffling sounds from above, all was quiet, and I fell into a restful nights sleep.
The next morning when I woke up, I immediately wanted to see if Rat Creature had been caught. I figured that if he had in fact been lured into the trap and been caught he would be thirsty from all that peanut butter and crackers (this is the kind of nice person I am)...
Up into the attic my dad went....
"Did we catch anything?!"
"Yep, we got something..."
Now, part of me really did want this thing to be a vicious, ugly, red eyed, sewer rat- it would have made the story that much better. Then we could have dropped some F-bombs and said things like "AAAAHHHH! IT GOTS ME!"...that didnt happen. Why? Because this is what we found.
I swear this guy was so adorable it took all my will power not to stick my fingers in there, scoop him out, and snuggle him to death- that and the fact that it is a Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)- and they can carry wonderful things like Hantavirus and Lyme Disease.
Anyways, since I am not a fan of killing adorable mice (even if they keep me up for nights on end, and can be vectors for disease...), my mom and I took him to a nicely wooded area not far from our house and released him next to a stream
Part of me still cant help but feel like a big meanie though for pulling him out of his nice warm attic and throwing him out into the big, mean, cold world! Now that we are rid of him, and we filled up the cracks that he could have snuck into the attic through, hopefully my nights will continued to be filled with silence and not the sound of Rat Creatures from above.
Since I am currently staying at my parents place, I informed them of our unwelcome guest. My mom called an exterminator who told us it would be about $600 to "get the job done". Maybe it is just me, but I have seen enough episodes of Billy the Exterminator to know that catching a random Rat Creature (the name that I decided to give the mystery beast.) isnt exactly rocket science, and so, I volunteered my dad and myself for the job.
Our mission? Find Rat Creature, capture Him/Her and remove him/her from the attic.
Since Billy the Exterminator wears ridiculous costumes to do his job, I figured that must be a key component in the fine art of exterminating. Unfortunately since I shower regularly I was already at somewhat of a disadvantage. Undiscouraged, I put together the best outfit I could find for the job.
Rubber gloves, plastic bags to prevent insulation from getting into my shoes, some kind of scarf thing to help reduce the amount of junk I was breathing in....I know I look like a pro, but I swear this was my first time!
My dad also dressed up. He looks less like an exterminator and more like a cowboy-bandit-terrorist (they are the worst kind).
We got our tools ready: peanut butter, crackers and then set up the traps. (Ignore the hammer, it was only there in case something attacked me first.)
Then we left the traps and waited until morning to see if we had captured anything.
That night, as I lay in bed I heard the familiar scuffle of Rat Creature above me. I silently willed him to investigate the traps filled with delicious goodies. After about 5 minutes of shuffling sounds from above, all was quiet, and I fell into a restful nights sleep.
The next morning when I woke up, I immediately wanted to see if Rat Creature had been caught. I figured that if he had in fact been lured into the trap and been caught he would be thirsty from all that peanut butter and crackers (this is the kind of nice person I am)...
Up into the attic my dad went....
"Did we catch anything?!"
"Yep, we got something..."
Now, part of me really did want this thing to be a vicious, ugly, red eyed, sewer rat- it would have made the story that much better. Then we could have dropped some F-bombs and said things like "AAAAHHHH! IT GOTS ME!"...that didnt happen. Why? Because this is what we found.
I swear this guy was so adorable it took all my will power not to stick my fingers in there, scoop him out, and snuggle him to death- that and the fact that it is a Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)- and they can carry wonderful things like Hantavirus and Lyme Disease.
Anyways, since I am not a fan of killing adorable mice (even if they keep me up for nights on end, and can be vectors for disease...), my mom and I took him to a nicely wooded area not far from our house and released him next to a stream
Part of me still cant help but feel like a big meanie though for pulling him out of his nice warm attic and throwing him out into the big, mean, cold world! Now that we are rid of him, and we filled up the cracks that he could have snuck into the attic through, hopefully my nights will continued to be filled with silence and not the sound of Rat Creatures from above.
