Bag o' Rats

Warning, readers: This post does not refer to our sweet little pet rats.

Last night as Tim and I were enjoying our post-kid bedtime quiet, we heard a not-so-quiet noise in the attic. After several frozen moments of listening, we confirmed the scraping was indeed coming from   the ceiling. Quickly we both whacked on the ceiling and walls a few times to scare off whatever was exploring up there. The noise quieted for a moment and then started right back up. Bad news. We hypothesized the dragging sound was a wounded something that was caught in a trap. (The back story on this is that we already have had set rat traps in the attic since February when they last attempted to move in.)

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of climbing up into our attic crawl space to verify the theory. I found the now-dead rat that we had heard struggling last night. And he was not alone. 3 of 4 other traps had also been sprung in the recent weeks since I was up there for Halloween decorations. Once the kids caught wind of what I was doing, they were like insatiable hounds begging at the opening below the attic. They both desperately wanted to see the dead rats. Rather than parading the germ-y carcasses downstairs for an educational session, I took a cell phone picture of the cutest, most recently deceased rat. I will spare you that photo. You're welcome.

With many layers of plastic and gloves, I managed to bag up the sprung traps and their victims. We are hoping the last remaining trap up there will be enough to stave off a complete invasion before the pest control folks arrive on Tuesday. I'd say I earned my stripes in pest control today. If you need a freshly dead rat removed, or even a petrified dried old rat removed, then I am your gal. However, if your dead rat involves maggots or dripping I would recommend you call someone else. I may have PTSD from that one.