The Rat Situation

It seems as though my “friend” has finally either died or just peaced out. After a month of visiting my house every night, I am almost positive (but don’t want to try my luck) that the rat is finally gone. Thank the lord because I’m pretty sure I was close to becoming delirious from the lack of sleep. One of my PC friends in Mozambique has an ongoing rat problem . . . and I have no idea how she manages. Even after a month of dealing with the rat, I still wake up at pretty much any noise – meaning that since it has been fairly windy lately, I wake up a lot to the sound of mafura falling on my tin roof (which continues to scare the heck out of me).

During this past month I have perhaps become a bit more crazy – there was a phase when I was convinced the rat was making a nest inside of my mattress (this was due to my dad mentioning that the rat might be nesting in my house and a friend in the North who found a mouse living in her mattress). However, I’m also proud of my craftiness. Towards the end of the rat-insanity, I was very frustrated with the rat’s ongoing walks along the top of my mosquito net while I was sleeping. Because I don’t have a ceiling (just a roof) I had to attach my mosquito net to the roof beams . . . which the rat used to get into the house. So I marched over to the local hardware store (where I’m pretty sure they think I’m crazy) to buy 2x2-ish pieces of wood which I then sawed into 6 foot long pieces to create my new canopy frame. Plus, I also talked to the Padre and at some point they are going to put cement in the gaps in my ceiling (helping put a stop to any future rat problems while also helping with my ongoing war against sand/dirt/leaves). And my latest care package from my family included a bunch of sticky traps, although the only thing I’ve managed to catch so far is a small lizard – actually kind of sad.

At least one cat stayed in my house every night for about two weeks, and I’m continuing to sleep with the lights on. The cats aren’t staying in my house any more (thank goodness) and if the sticky rat trap stays empty for the next couple of days, I might even try to sleep without the lights. Big steps.