Stories from the Banks

by Amy

Let me preface this by saying, I don’t like rats.  At all.  Ever.  Upon moving into my new temporary house, I realized one night that I had an uninvited roommate.  I went to my “landlord” to ask about traps.  He brought me two: a humane trap (wire mesh box with a door) and a regular trap (larger version of a mouse trap).  So we set them both up in my house with peanut butter for bait (I know, it’s precious, but rats like it and a I really wanted to catch him!).  After finding the humane trap sprung but not containing a rat two mornings in a row, I was beginning to think this rat was too smart for our measly human ploys to catch him.

One night though, while wearing my ear plugs, I heard a loud commotion.  I knew the rat was never that loud before, so I just figured he was caught in the humane trap and was trying to get out.  So I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep.  To no avail.  The commotion continued and seemed to be getting closer to my bed.  So I got up, removed my earplugs, and walked around the table to check it out.  What I found was a little surprising.  The rat was caught…in the regular trap.  It had only caught his leg and he was dragging it around trying to get free again.  I didn’t want to touch it, so I leaned out my door trying to locate a puss cat to come eat him, put him out of his misery.  Alas, there were none to be found.  So, after pacing, I picked up one of my trusty red swim buckets and put it over top of him.  (As I put the bucket over him and the trap, I couldn’t keep a little scream from escaping.  Silly, huh?)

That morning, after the sun came up, I found my landlord and told him about the successful catch.  I told him the rat was under the bucket and probably not dead.  As he lifted the bucket, the rat bolted across the room and began to climb the wall in a feeble attempt to escape.  (The bucket had not only kept him from being scared, but also had giving him the chance to free himself, though I don’t know how.  He still had all his limbs.)  So my landlord grabbed the empty trap and chased the rat to a corner.  He then used the trap (I’ll spare you the details) to kill him, while muttering “Yu mas ded!  Yu mas ded!”

I can report that the rat is no longer with us and is not bothering me in my house anymore (he had been eating my food!).  However, I think he had a replacement lined up in the event something ever happened to him…the other night, I heard what I think was another rat.