Thursday 3 April 2008

Ratty Is Driving Me Batty!

In my post, There's A Rat In The Kitchen (Part 2), I made the mistake of saying that the bad smell has never returned. Well that was blimmen well asking for trouble. I shouldn't have been so blase and arrogant!
Almost over night a blasted rodent has gone and died in the roof space where we cannot get at it........ yet again. How inconsiderate is that?
You know when expatmum commented that she had been tipped off by a Chicago rat catcher about a good way of killing the varmints without actually poisoning them, my son, Sam & I were cracking up with laughter for days. You see, she had been advised that if you put coke down for them to drink, they eventually EXPLODE! That is because they cannot burp or fart and the poor beasts cannot get rid of the gas.
At the time it seemed really funny, but anyone who has ever had trapped wind and knows how uncomfortable this is, will remember the pain, even though we humans can burp and fart to release it. You know I was almost feeling sorry for the little perishers, but not any more. I would gladly cause them to explode in this horrible way, if only I could get the coke to to them in the first place. They are completely contained and we cannot get at them without ripping down the ceiling and we are not doing that again. So we are at a loss as to how to do it.
We had wondered if we could hang a small can of coke under the outside vent with a straw going inside, for them to drink out of, but I guess they would need to be trained up to do that!
This time I am not going to let it get me down. We know the smell will go in a fortnight. We can open windows. The smell cannot harm us, we have been assured.
I recently saw a documentary on TV, of children in South American slums, rummaging through rubbish tips to find something that they could salvage and sell. The producer of this programme told us how bad the smell was from this tip and they had to do it every day of their lives just to survive. Eventually some terrible disease would overtake them.
Well, my life is not that bad. They would envy me with my rare two week smells and would think that my life was luxury compared to theirs. I will continue with this pep talk to myself for as long as I can.
In the meantime, Sam has found a funny video on YouTube that might lighten up the situation. Hope you find it as funny as we did!

By the way, my son Sam decided since he spent so much time helping me with my blog, that he might as well start his own - so he did! Please drop by and pester him to write something!

23 comments:

Suburbia said...

Hi Maggie
Sorry to hear about your rat problem. My cats used to bring in all sorts of rodents and let them go, loose interest and sometimes they would just die wherever the cats left them. One day when the children were small and some mums (which I had just got friendly with)came round with their children to play, I moved the sofa to make more room for toys and to my horror there was a large dead mouse underneath!! Not a great first impression!
Hope your smell diminishes soon!

San said...

I'm on my vintage laptop and can't play your video, but your blow-by-blow reportage of your ongoing rat problem is worth a thousand videos. UGH.

You are most wise, however, Maggie, to put your short-lived situation in perspective. We often blow (no pun intended regarding the Coke solution) these things out of proportion when there are so many living in terrible conditions. Thank you for reminding me to be grateful for my own many blessings.

Grit said...

one of life's eye-opening moments came to us recently when we saw some kids playing with a rat on a stick (this was not in the uk, i'll add, and i guess it was dead). the moment has however given me leverage when shark, squirrel and tiger engage in fisticuffs over the plastic lego man. i say 'what toy should i get you next? a rat on a stick?'

there you go maggie; marketing opportunity.

Maggie May said...

suburbia ........ wouldn't mind a mouse. They seem more respectable! Didn't your mouse pong. I suppose the body weight is so small in comparison.

San ........ thanks for your wise words!

grit ........ how awful that children were left to play with a dead rat.
Well I could market the little varmints on sticks if I could get to the little blighters! They are enclosed in a 3 inch gap! Completely cut off from our reach!

Preity Angel... said...

Maggie,

Thats beautiful blog you have I stopped by first time.

I enjoyed reading it very lovely post.

see you later hon

Angel

Mya said...

Have you tried sonar devices? They bleep at the rats (too high pitched for humans to hear) and they don't like it one bit. Or you could try Des O'Connor records....probably equally effective... I have a rodent problem here, they scratch away under the stairs where I can't get at them...I have found if I spray bursts of lavender scented air freshener through the cracks, they aren't too happy. Go figure.

Mya x

Maggie May said...

Thank you Angel, for stopping by & for your kind comments.

Mya...........If I could get the sonar devises in the small space where the problem is, I would certainly try them.
Well Des O'Connor might be enough to get rid of them, who could put up with him?
Might figure a way to squirt lavender at them. thanks for your help.

merry weather said...

Oh no! Yuck! I mean you're staying cool and making light of it but really it must be dreadful. Poor you.

Sam's YouTube find is cheering, it's good to laugh at stuff that gets you down!

Casdok said...

I have found lavender works on mice!

Maggie May said...

Merry weather........ it is the only way to laugh .......but I am always thinking, "What do I do?"

Casdok ...... that's two of you who suggested lavender. How do I get it in the recess though? I bet the varmints are laughing at my predicament!

Irene said...

You do have a nice way of putting everything into perspective and not letting a relatively "small" thing like that bad smell get the better of you. We once couldn't identify the source of a bad smell and it turned out to be a dead mouse under the refrigerator. I know how awful it is.

Flowerpot said...

hope this problem sorts soon Maggie - must be most unpleasant to put it mildly. I hate to think of the poor rats exploding though.

Maggie May said...

Irene ........ you should see me sometimes, tearing my hair out in desperation! Depends what mood I am in!
Methinks a mouse is a shorter term problem, being smaller.
My first encounter with a terrible smell was shortly after I was first married & I put some chicken giblets on a plate & put it on a high shelf out of reach, so as I could cook them up for the cat. I completely forgot what I did & nearly called the Council round about the smell. I eventually found the source of the problem .... a bit red faced!

Flowerpot ........ I don't like to cause pain on any creature, but when you get this problem time after time, some how or other, they are really regarded as the enemy!

Debra in France said...

Hi Maggie, although I am sorry about your rats, I couldn't stop laughing when I thought of them sipping coke and not being able to 'expel the gas'. I don't drink fizzy drinks for the same reason, well, not because I can't, but because I do - all evening!!!

MarmiteToasty said...

Mmmmmmmmm we use to have a pet rat, well one of me lads did, I eventually got use to it and it died, PRAISE THE LORD lol....

LOL@an exploding rat, sorry but that is just so funny :)

Your dead trap rat will attach flies and they will lay eggs on the decaying ratbody and then ya will be infested with bluebottles LMFAO..... I shouldnt laff but the rat seemed quite cute compared to an infestation of bluebottles.....

Ok gagging now lol....

x

Expat mum said...

OK, OK, now that everyone's had a bit of a laugh at my expense.... . I was just passing on some info that the Chicago Streets and Sanitation guy advised my neighbour to do, and she said it worked. I think they prefer their coke with ice and a slice of lemon though.
I do sympathize as that smell is really awful.
God, I haven't laughed this much in a "wee" while.

Cath said...

Oh no! Not another rat! That video was funny. And your Sam's a natural I think *wink*

Hope the smell goes soon Maggie!

Maggie May said...

Debra.............You made me laugh! Just as well you're not a rat then!

marmitetoasty .... Hope you didn't think that video used a REAL rat!
Now did you have to go on about all those flies!!!!! I am hoping that there won't be any as it is all contained! Will leave home if that happens!

Expatmum ......... oh! I thought you were on holiday!
I told you I'd make a post out of that advice! It really has helped us to laugh about a lot of things! No one suggested that the rats were yours! Only I have the reputation for having rats! (You can say anything on a blog without embarrassment!)

Crazy Cath ............ The smell is not as bad as that first time, as we had a new ceiling with thick plaster over it. My grandsons, were here when smell started & although they knew the reason, we all told the girls that the shops at the back of us were boiling up cabbage. The boys winked when they said it, being older! They are coming again this weekend, so it couldn't have been too bad. Now its warmer we can open windows!
I think Sam is amazed to get comments! Took me ages. He has a warped sense of humour & I live in fear & trepidation about what is going to unfold through his blog!

david mcmahon said...

Dunno about a rat, but I have a mouse right here beside me - all right, so it's my computer mouse!!

Thank you for the lovel comment on my Photo Hunt `Glass' post. I spent a lot of time in England between 1981-87 covering sport each summer. Love the country - and spent a lot of time in your churches.

Maggie May said...

David ........ Glad you managed to visit some of our lovely churches & cathedrals.

imac said...

Another great post, going to have a look at your sons now.

Cath said...

Congrats on making post of the day at David's with this!

Unknown said...

Maggie,

When I was growing up, we had a bad rat problem (check your son's blog, I posted it on there) and on Thanksgiving one year, the NEXT day the house smelled awful! We finally figured out a rat had made a nest in the insulation of the stove, and when my mom cooked the turkey, she cooked the babies! It was SO GROSS! This also happened to ME when I lived in Hawaii. When I got up the next day, I KNEW from the smell what it was. I called the maintenance guy (we lived on post) and he asked how I knew what it was. I told him to come over. He opened the oven, there sat a mouse, and when he pulled back the insulation, there were the cooked babies. He brought me a new stove.

So please, DON'T COOK THE BABIES! lol