Monday, November 13, 2006

rat in the kitchen, and I'm not talking about the UB40 song...

Okay, last night, during Boozevember, I thought I saw a mouse in the house. I told myself it was just a lizard. But this afternoon, I saw it again, in the kitchen, undisputably a mouse. Unless it was a rat. Oh this is sad. I am pleased about lizards and geckos in the house. I am waging war on Hawaii's ubiquitous insect, the roach, in all its many forms. I have defeated, for the moment, fleas. I have established a relative harmony with wild pigs, mourning doves, bulbuls and mynah birds. But mice? Rats? Nooooooooooo!

I'm waiting for email from my friend Lia, to tip me off as to where to get a "Have a Heart" trap. Because, y'know, as much as I dislike the beasts, I don't have the heart to kill them. Lia is my Buddhist friend, who used to trap the rats in her Diamond Head apartment, and release them up in the deep woods of Palolo Valley.

Not sure I'll hike that far. But I've gotta send these rats a message!

Another Makapuu pic, to cheer myself up.

5 comments:

Acornbud said...

What about those hunting poodles? Didn't they see the critter? I'm glad to hear someone has balance with the insects, heh, that's a tough one. Great pictures of Makapuu. What kind of camera do you use?

kbrow said...

I use a digital camera, an Olympus camedia model, about 7 years old. It's kinda big and clunky and slow, by today's standards, but it still works okay, so it stays.

Yup, you'd think that squirrel hunter Ella or that gecko hunter Cricket would take care of my rat problem. No go. Those dogs are just couch ornaments!

Opal said...

Ohhh no! I'm totally with you on the "Have A Heart" trap though. Another thing you could do is get a cat, but that might be kind of extreme and I don't think your other four-legged friend would be too keen on that idea.

Reya Mellicker said...

Some parts of the natural world are beautiful, like the lizards, the gekkos. Rats are not beautiful and in fact they can be dangerous, carry disease. If your Hawai'in rats are anything like DC rats, they wouldn't give a second thought to biting your couch ornaments or even you. Mice are cute, but rats? I do have it in my heart to kill them, though usually patching holes in the foundation is enough to keep them out.

When he was younger, Jake was quite a ratter. I never had one in my house, but he used to hunt them in the back yard in Takoma Park, then bring them in to present to me. (Is he a cat or a dog?) EWWWWWW!

Hope you're soon rid of the unwelcome house guest!

kbrow said...

Yeah, Ella used to bring dead rats and birds she found in through her dog door in Arlington. She had opportunity to catch rats a couple of times, but I saw the rat before she could act very quickly.