what the HELL?
Dec. 15th, 2007 02:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7So it's quarter after two in the morning. I got home from Z's office Christmas party a bit drunk and feeling somewhat merry. I wasn't quite sleepy, I got to reading something on the Web, I dozed off in the 'office' rather than in bed.
I woke when Chita, who had come to roost with me, got out of the bed to go see what Z was doing, splashing around in the bathroom. Groggily I noted splashing-in-toilet sounds, assumed some sort of, you know, bowel function, but then thought, Hey, that's not quite the expected sound.
It wasn't, not to be gross-- it was like something was swimming in there.
So I got up, intending to go ask Z what the heck he was doing.
The bathroom was dark. He was not there.
I peered, trepidatiously, at the toilet. No sign of... recent activity. (It had not been flushed, audibly...)
Something rustled, as if in the garbage can beside the toilet. I recoiled in horror: my boyfriend/roommate is six feet three and does not fit into a tiny dark space in my bathroom. And I knew my cat had run kitchenward already.
Something small and gray ran out from behind the toilet, then saw me and ran back in.
I am ashamed to admit that I am so far removed from my country roots that I could not tell you whether it was a large mouse or a small rat. Hand-sized, but that is an imprecise measure.
I leapt backwards, and closed the bathroom door rather firmly.
Whatever it was scrabbled at the door.
Christ. I beat a hasty retreat in the direction of the kitchen and, attempting to be nonchalant, called the cat. She showed up immediately, curious and pleased that I should be summoning her at this hour. She had not noticed any untoward activity elsewhere: she is, perhaps, not the most astute of felines.
I woke Z, though all I did was warn him that the bathroom door was closed because of a possible sighting that I was not prepared to scientifically evaluate while still somewhat drunk at 2:15 am on a Friday after a very wearying week.
I am somewhat concerned that I may need to relieve myself at some point tonight. Let us simply hope this is not necessary until broad daylight tomorrow.
I woke when Chita, who had come to roost with me, got out of the bed to go see what Z was doing, splashing around in the bathroom. Groggily I noted splashing-in-toilet sounds, assumed some sort of, you know, bowel function, but then thought, Hey, that's not quite the expected sound.
It wasn't, not to be gross-- it was like something was swimming in there.
So I got up, intending to go ask Z what the heck he was doing.
The bathroom was dark. He was not there.
I peered, trepidatiously, at the toilet. No sign of... recent activity. (It had not been flushed, audibly...)
Something rustled, as if in the garbage can beside the toilet. I recoiled in horror: my boyfriend/roommate is six feet three and does not fit into a tiny dark space in my bathroom. And I knew my cat had run kitchenward already.
Something small and gray ran out from behind the toilet, then saw me and ran back in.
I am ashamed to admit that I am so far removed from my country roots that I could not tell you whether it was a large mouse or a small rat. Hand-sized, but that is an imprecise measure.
I leapt backwards, and closed the bathroom door rather firmly.
Whatever it was scrabbled at the door.
Christ. I beat a hasty retreat in the direction of the kitchen and, attempting to be nonchalant, called the cat. She showed up immediately, curious and pleased that I should be summoning her at this hour. She had not noticed any untoward activity elsewhere: she is, perhaps, not the most astute of felines.
I woke Z, though all I did was warn him that the bathroom door was closed because of a possible sighting that I was not prepared to scientifically evaluate while still somewhat drunk at 2:15 am on a Friday after a very wearying week.
I am somewhat concerned that I may need to relieve myself at some point tonight. Let us simply hope this is not necessary until broad daylight tomorrow.
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Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-15 02:33 pm (UTC)I have 4 live traps that I could loan you and teach you how to use. I "freed" over a dozen rats in the woods. I got rather fond of them over time. They were cute. But not cute enough to live in my backyard and eat my f---ing watermelon plants.
Cita will probably not catch them all, and I wouldn't want to leave that up to her, she might get bit badly.
For kill options, I've been told poison is the most effective, but that's not an option for you with the Chita monster. Even if you could keep the poison away from her, if she caught a rat that had eaten poison she could get sick or die.
I knew someone that used sticky traps. They said the rat ATE OFF HIS FEET and got away.
Same friend also used snap traps. She said they got out of them and left a trail of blood.
My phone# is 716-903-4237. Feel free to call, you'll probably get my voicemail (driving alot today) but I'll call you right back. Name is Jessica.
Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-15 03:53 pm (UTC)I grew up in a rural area with all kinds of rodent life-- my father once walled up a young rat in the kitchen wall, and when it finally gnawed its way out into the kitchen he beat it to death with the cleaning rod from a rifle. He also once killed a rat in my older sister's nursery with a bayonet. Our first cat while still a kitten killed a rat as big as he was. (I would've been an infant at the time.)
I heard more splashing during the night-- around 4 am, around 6 am-- and things being knocked over, things moving around, etc.-- Z didn't hear anything, but Chita and I did, and Chita was asking to be let into the bathroom to explore, but I was too scared to do it in the dark while I was so sleepy. So I didn't let her in.
This morning I carried Chita in and we explored the bathroom together. Several items had been knocked from the windowsill to the floor, but there was no other sign of occupancy, except some dirt in the toilet, which had been clean the night before.
Chita sniffed around everywhere, and I moved any furniture that was there. She showed particular interest in behind the trash can, where I heard the thing last night, and the window sill, where items had been knocked down, but she couldn't find anything and neither could I.
There are no holes in the walls, besides the heat vent which was undisturbed. No holes in the floor or ceiling except the recessed lighting, which also appeared undisturbed, and the fan that vents to the attic, which was likewise undisturbed. There are only two outlets, and they're counter height with their faceplates intact.
Z never heard it. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe it was a poltergeist!!!
I'm used to there being mice in the walls-- the walls of my childhood home were ancient lath under new drywall, and mice would gnaw in there, quite loudly, at night. But not in this house!! The walls are solid plaster. I don't know how the thing got in or where it went!
Thank you so much for your offer and if our little friend comes back I will totally call you.
Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-15 05:57 pm (UTC)Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-16 04:05 pm (UTC)Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-16 07:39 pm (UTC)I was thinking maybe the rat was trying to drink the water or something. But you're right, it would explain the dirt...
Bridget, maybe you should call an exterminator...
Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-16 09:10 pm (UTC)Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-16 09:13 pm (UTC)Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-17 05:28 pm (UTC)Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-17 05:41 pm (UTC)My distinct impression at the time was that this animal, whatever it was, had come in through the toilet, because it kept going back into the toilet-- I could hear it, on the other side of the wall, splashing around-- but, I was drunk, it was 3 am, and I have no idea whether that was true. There was no water on the floor the next morning, but there's forced-air heat and that room is very dry when there's not a shower actively going.
There wasn't a *lot* of dirt in the toilet-- more debris, and lint and floor crap. Not like an animal had come from outside.
I don't know.
And there was poop on a bottle on the windowsill-- small poop. But I don't know how small rats poop. It might be big mouse poop... I don't really want to investigate poop that closely. I don't know how to tell the difference anyway.
Oy. I hate mysteries.
Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-17 06:08 pm (UTC)Re: Welcome to Ratburbia
Date: 2007-12-18 12:11 pm (UTC)