rats and lizards

Everyone who has traveled and lived overseas has their own nasty creature stories to share. We have started collecting our own, and so I thought I would take time to share a good one with you.

Even before we moved here we were aware that small lizards regularly appear inside homes. After a few days we quickly realized that there were at least two small lizards living inside our house. We were not all that concerned since they seemed to mostly hang out on the walls and were not all that scary. However, a few days later we started to realize that little poo pellets were showing up on our couch and bed in the extra bedroom during the night. We immediately assumed that these pellets were from the lizards, and became a little agitated. Mary did some research on the internet to try and decide if we should get rid of the little buggers since we did not want them defecating on our furniture. We decided against the idea of eradication since they are known to kill bugs and the poo pellets were quite small and easy to dispose of.

After a few more days we realized that during the night something was getting into our fruits and vegetables in the kitchen. Again we suspected a lizard since there were more poo pellets on our kitchen counter. At this point we decided that while the small lizards in the other rooms of the house were ok, there must be a big one living in the kitchen since things were quite disturbed in there each morning. Mary read on the internet that these lizards are very territorial and so we figured that we just had to deal with the BIG ONE that seemed to be living in, and feasting on the goods in our kitchen.

After a few more days it suddenly became clear that we were not dealing with a big lizard. Occasionally at night we would walk into the kitchen and see what we thought was lizard scurrying away. Usually the thing would run for the oven and hide in the holes in the back of it. It was not until earlier this week that I finally got a good view of this fast moving thing and realized that it was not a large lizard, but rather a rat about 6 or 7 inches long. The threat level in our house quickly jumped from orange to bright red.

After seeing the rat behind the stove I quickly left the kitchen and sealed it off from the rest of the house. After consulting with Mary I decided to head for the local bazaar and search for something that would kill the thing. I looked around in a few places and finally settled on the most vicious, metal toothed mouse/rat trap that I have ever seen. The store keeper proudly showed me how the thing worked, I however was not so excited since I foresaw the probability of this poorly crafted metal trap seriously wounding a couple of my fingers as pretty high.

Having bought the trap for 50 cents I made my way home. I showed Mary the trap and we began trying to prepare it for the kill. However after only a few minutes of preparing the trap the thing broke and was rendered useless. So at that point I decided to go into the danger zone and see the rat another time. I decided to climb up on the counter next to the stove and try to get a good look behind the thing since that was were I expected the rat to be. After looking for a stretch and not seeing anything, I got a stick from outside and began beating the oven incessantly since I thought that would drive him out from the holes in the back of it. After hitting the thing enough times and not getting any results, I got down from the counter and began open and closing the doors on the oven very cautiously. Finally, I turned the thing around a few times, looked in the holes, and determined that the rat must be some where else.

At this point I realized that there was a massive hole in the bottom left corner of the screen to one of our kitchen windows. I had seen this hole before but did not think anything of it since we never opened that window. However, after closer inspection it became clear that through the window next to it, which we always keep open, a rat could find a way to the hole in the screen. Thankfully, during my time away at the bazaar the rat must have left the kitchen. Now we no longer open either of the windows at night, and since making this move we have had no more disturbances in the kitchen or random pellet droppings around the house. Good Times!!!!