The Adventures of Rat
May. 3rd, 2011 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neverspentMy cat and I spent a good ten minutes this evening watching our Rat friend forage on the balcony. It wasn't quite dark, though the dark clouds made it a little greyer. Rattie licked up rainwater from the balcony boards, sniffed all around the plant pots and found a few stray birdseeds from among the dead pine needles. He walked boldly right by the glass door, confident that the pouncing cat behind it held no danger. I'm sure he must have heard my cat's head bump the door.
I say "he." This is quite possibly the same rat I photographed a couple of months ago, but whereas before I had a tiny bit of doubt about the rat/mouse identification based on size, now there is no doubt it's a rat. And it's male. He's grown! And his tail seems so much longer than the tails of the domestic rats I used to have as pets.
A bit of history of what has happened since my last rat post. In my apartment, on one end of the tiny kitchen is a door that opens to an unfinished closet holding the gas heating unit and the hot water tank. This is also where I store my pet food and birdseed—in sealed plastic containers due to previous experiences with a squirrel. The closet has various holes in the ceiling and walls that open to the attic area, which leads to the outdoor shed, which also has holes. You can bet we hear things walking in the ceiling often during the winter.
About a month ago, I discovered droppings on the cat food container, and a couple of days later there was a large hole chewed through the lid of the dog food tub. I totally don't blame the rat for taking advantage of the delicious bounty available to it, but I couldn't just let it continue, for financial and health reasons. So, reluctantly, I called the apartment management and they sent a fellow who set up glue traps and taped up the dog food container with some kind of metal tape. I didn't feel good about this, but... I wasn't sure how else to proceed.
The result of all this was that Rattie showed himself to be cleverer than the traps. He avoided the glue trap, chewed right through the metal tape, and got himself back into the dog food. Inside, I was kind of cheering him, I admit. I cleared everything else out of the closet, washed it all, got a new dog food bin and replaced the food, and now... I guess we're just living a compromise? No, not a compromise. I have simply ceded the closet to Rat. As long as he doesn't come into the apartment proper, we live and let live.
Upon hearing that the glue traps had failed, the apartment manager suggested that I fill the hole with steel wool; the rat would eat the steel wool and die. (Horribly, I assume.) I just can't do it. I would really like to have use of that closet again, because in my little apartment I don't actually have a good place to store these tubs of pet chow. But at this point I think I'd rather be inconvenienced than kill a cute, innocent animal inhumanely. When I have time, I may research humane/live traps. We'll see.
In the meantime, I salute you, Rat!
I say "he." This is quite possibly the same rat I photographed a couple of months ago, but whereas before I had a tiny bit of doubt about the rat/mouse identification based on size, now there is no doubt it's a rat. And it's male. He's grown! And his tail seems so much longer than the tails of the domestic rats I used to have as pets.
A bit of history of what has happened since my last rat post. In my apartment, on one end of the tiny kitchen is a door that opens to an unfinished closet holding the gas heating unit and the hot water tank. This is also where I store my pet food and birdseed—in sealed plastic containers due to previous experiences with a squirrel. The closet has various holes in the ceiling and walls that open to the attic area, which leads to the outdoor shed, which also has holes. You can bet we hear things walking in the ceiling often during the winter.
About a month ago, I discovered droppings on the cat food container, and a couple of days later there was a large hole chewed through the lid of the dog food tub. I totally don't blame the rat for taking advantage of the delicious bounty available to it, but I couldn't just let it continue, for financial and health reasons. So, reluctantly, I called the apartment management and they sent a fellow who set up glue traps and taped up the dog food container with some kind of metal tape. I didn't feel good about this, but... I wasn't sure how else to proceed.
The result of all this was that Rattie showed himself to be cleverer than the traps. He avoided the glue trap, chewed right through the metal tape, and got himself back into the dog food. Inside, I was kind of cheering him, I admit. I cleared everything else out of the closet, washed it all, got a new dog food bin and replaced the food, and now... I guess we're just living a compromise? No, not a compromise. I have simply ceded the closet to Rat. As long as he doesn't come into the apartment proper, we live and let live.
Upon hearing that the glue traps had failed, the apartment manager suggested that I fill the hole with steel wool; the rat would eat the steel wool and die. (Horribly, I assume.) I just can't do it. I would really like to have use of that closet again, because in my little apartment I don't actually have a good place to store these tubs of pet chow. But at this point I think I'd rather be inconvenienced than kill a cute, innocent animal inhumanely. When I have time, I may research humane/live traps. We'll see.
In the meantime, I salute you, Rat!