It's Rat Time

Can I just scream....."I dislike hate RATS!" Ok, I know I am being dramatic but I really do not like them. I am not talking about cute, little, fuzzy mice but large, ugly, wet, hairy, disgusting RATS. There are only really two things I can't cope well with and that is rats and snakes. Guess what? In Mozambique, we have an abundance of both....Ok, Lord I really don't find it funny that you have called me to RATland.

In the last few days, since it has been raining a good amount it has become apparent that we are having a rat problem. We really haven't had to deal with them in our current house or so I thought. We have woken up to a broken bottle in the kitchen and convinced ourselves that a gust of wind must of come in the window. I don't think it was the wind... We have found "deposits" on our porch but we convinced each other they were the results of geckos. We have found my bag of flour chewed along with "deposits" from our visiting critter....eeww. And yesterday, came the final straw as I was sitting in the living room visiting with someone. We looked over to see a rat trying to come in under our screen door/gate into the house. I scared it away but obviously we have a critter living IN the house and I am somewhat freaked out about it.

Rats tend to be one of those things I don't even like to think about and am quite happy to live in denial about. I actually have a misconceived notion that if I am under my mosquito net I am completely safe from critters like rats....I know, I know, my husband tells me all the time how foolish that thinking is. Like the rats here in Mozambique that have been known to chew through plastic, wood and even cement (yep, you heard me right) couldn't chew through my flimsy netting. But please, don't try to convince me otherwise I LIKE to live in my denial  peaceful place and convince myself that they would never enter into my space. Since I have my safe space (my mosquito net) I am now just trying to convince myself that if I have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom that I won't die of a heart attack if I should encounter one of these dreaded creatures on my journey. I shudder just thinking about it. But it is a pretty convincing argument for telling myself that I don't really have to go and can hold it.

My handy hubby has bought some "local" rat traps and already put them to good use. He has been able to trap one in the garage and today set a trap in the kitchen. Let's hope they continue to do their job.