Death to the rat

I have dealt with the rat..the evil dirty rat that thought that it would be auk to move in with me and share my food and even my bed! Here in Nigeria...rats seem to be a different breed and sometimes are difficult to catch, but luckily this rat was only a baby still. Actually there are advantages and disadvantages of small rats. (Not that there are really any true advantages...but when trying to make a bad situation look better, I looked for advantages.) Here are the advantages vs. disadvantages...compared to a large rat.

Small Rats 

Disadvantages

1. They are too quick to catch

2. They can squeeze into a hole 1/4 the size of their body

3. They aren't detected as quickly

Advantages

1. They don't wreak as many things as big rats

2. They have small poop

3. They don't look quite as disgusting

So I went to the little store near my house and bought some rat gum (gum here refers to glue) and it was just a piece of plastic basically with glue all over it so that when the rat steps onto it, it becomes stuck. The girls selling it were telling me that Naija rats were different and were hoping that this type of rat gum would work and I assured them that I would let them know and thought it would since it was just a baby rat. 

As I got home, I immediately opened the rat gum and set it up behind my garbage. I admit, that I kept checking the rat gum every 10 min or so just to see if I had caught the rat...but no luck. Soon though, I saw something suck on the gum...but it wasn't the rat, it was my little gecko friend who has been in my house since I moved in and it's so tiny that I love seeing it and seeing if I can hold it. I felt terrible..how could I kill my gecko? I picked the gum up and tried to peel the gecko off but it was completely stuck and if I kept pulling I was going to rip its body and limbs apart. 

Being the genius that I am, I poured some liquid soap around its body and limbs and let it sit for a while. After a few minutes I put ran some water over the soap and again tried to peel its body off...and phew...it worked. My friend was so scared that once I had him off he just sat on my hand...his little heart beating furiously and didn't move for a while. I thought that maybe I would keep it...and did for a day in a jar, but I just couldn't keep it in a small prison and released it in my home to roam free. 

So after being bummed that I didn't catch anything I went to bed and was laying there almost asleep when I heard some rustling coming from the kitchen and some high pitched squealing...and I KNEW I had caught the bugger! I crept into the kitchen and sure enough, the rat lay there on the gum and as soon as it saw me...it only tried to get away, but doing that only allowed for its body to become more stuck to the gum. I took a broom and was about to bash it and end its miserable life when it just stopped moving and looked at me..its little heart beating so fast, and gave a little whimper. I just couldn't do it...I actually felt bad for the little creature...so instead I just covered it with an empty container that I was throwing out and walked away hoping it might somehow be dead in the morning. 

It wasn't dead...and as soon as I peeked...it just struggled again. So on my way out to work I took it down to the gate man and walked away as he bashed it to death...but as I left, I didn't feel bad...I felt good that I had my house back!

Now...so that I don't get anymore unwanted guests, I am going to put rat gum in various places around my house...No rat can ever mess with me again...I have come to far for that...so rats...you better beware!!!