Rat Huntin'

I'm going to write a book and its going to be called "Rat Hunting for Dummies"  because I am becoming an expert.  Not always successful, but I'm developing some mad rat huntin' skills!!

A friend (who lives in the same compound as me) called me this evening saying she had a rat in her kitchen again and would I come and kill it?? How and when I was elected rat-control person for my circle of friends, I don't know, but I am.  All the creepy crawlies are coming in our houses because of the rain and I get all the "kill it!!!!" calls. 

But this time, this was the epic rat story (only out done but the time we found the rat we had been hunting for days in the couch and our housemate screamed bloody murder and brought every guard to our house because they thought someone had died, as we were trying to beat the rat out of the couch on the balcony). 

So my friend Kimberly called, she had a rat trapped in her kitchen and she wanted me to get rid of it.  I'm still at a bit of a loss when we can actually SEE the rat.  If you know there is a rat around, you set the trap and hope it gets it.  But when you have the rat cornered?? What do you do, bludgeon it???  Stomp on it?? Herd it towards the trap??

So my friend is hiding in her room.  I get the trap ready and went into her kitchen and shut myself in. The goal was to get the trap set on her porch and then scare the rat out there and shut the door.  Not a bad plan- but the EXECUTION of said plan left a lot to be desired. 

I went into the kitchen with my big rubber rain boots on and the trap in my hand.  I saw the rat (and this is not a small rat) sitting on top of her fridge, behind some stuff.  But when I walked past it, I herd it drop to the ground behind the fridge.  So far, all is going according to plan.  I got the trap out on the porch and I go back into the kitchen to scare the rat (who is now on the floor) into the porch.  I move the fridge.  I move the stove. I move every single thing on her counters and bang on the doors and sides of the appliances.  The rat is MIA.  I KNOW I heard it fall but I checked under the fridge, behind the fridge, inside the back compartment of the fridge.  Nowhere. 

I moved everything, but this rat had hunkered down and was hiding somewhere in that kitchen.  I looked for 30+ minutes but we couldn't find it.  I said we should just go, let things quiet down and he'd come out again.  But she had guests coming over and needed to bake something so I stayed with her and she cooked- standing on a chair- and I stood guard.  No sign of the rat for another 20 minutes.

Until she opened the stove door.  The rat ran out from under the oven (still not sure how he made it over there).  Kimberly ran for the door- screaming.  The rat ran for the door too.  Its running all over her feet and she is wearing a long skirt so the skirt is sort of herding the rat along with her- and that just makes her scream louder!  She got out the door and the rat ran into the corner.  My friend is still screaming, so I leave to quiet her down before all the guards and neighbors come running.  And then I ran back into the kitchen.  I heard rustling in the garbage can and I think he got in there so I tied it up and threw it out!  But after the bag was tied up and on the porch, it didn't rustle any more so we weren't SURE it was gone. I moved all her appliances again but no luck.  So we called it a night and I went home and her guests were starting to arrive. 

I had left my apartment in a hurry and my housemate was home so I didn't bother to grab my keys or my phone.  I got back to my place and found it locked up tight.  That's no good.  My housemate was out.  And I didn't have a phone to call her.  So I had to run back up to my friend Kimberly's to have her call (down 3 flights, up 5 more).  But her phone battery is dead. She only has a car charger and her fiance has her car up country.  One of her guests arrived and had a car, so we borrow her keys, run down stairs and try to charge Kimberly's phone in Katia's car- and I try to call Julia and see if she can come home and let me in.  Thankfully, she was 5 minutes away and not halfway across town. 

So I am back in my apartment, Kimberly is hopefully rat free (I'm sure I'll hear the screams if the rat thwarted us again...)  and we all had a good laugh (well at least I did!!)