I don't have my pictures of this with me unfortunately (oh yes, there are pictures), but this post tells the story of my recent and eventually successful battle with rats. Most volunteers have to deal with this problem at one time or another, at least here in Tanzania. Many get cats for this reason. I often on my own in this one though. I did however get some help from Josh, to whom I'm grateful.
It all began in early June. I heard some noises coming from my bathroom and went in to investigate. It was dark so I was using a flashlight (remember I have no electricity). I heard something behind the door, so I peeked behind it and came face to face with a rather large rat (perhaps six or seven inches long, excluding the tail). He was climbing on the door so he was just below my eye level. We both froze and stared at each other for a second, and then he took off with impressive speed. He ran into the courtyard and made it safely to some hiding place. I didn't make too much of it since pests are a common issue here, but then he started causing problems.
The first incident was when my friend Laura came to visit. She had gone into the bathroom to brush her teeth when I heard a blood-curdling shriek. Apparently the rat, who by this time I had named Pedro, had run across her foot. Needless to say she wasn't pleased. Pedro also started making a lot of noise at night, even waking me up sometimes, but I could never catch him. Then came the last straw. Pedro moved on from trash and things and started eating my food. This was completely unacceptable. War was declared.
I bought a huge mouse trap. It looked like it was large enough to take care of even a big guy like Pedro. I baited the trap with peanut butter (rats love peanut butter) and figured Pedro's days were numbered. Unfortnately Pedro was a more worthy adversary than I thought. He managed to eat the peanut butter from the trap without setting it off. He pulled this off not once, but maybe five or six times. By this time I was going on my vacation so I figured that rat problems could wait. Pedro won that round.
By the time I got back from my vacation Pedro had established himself and apparently multiplied. There was another, smaller rat residing in my bedroom somewhere. He managed to hide in my wardrobe, I think. The worst problem though, was the kitchen. Pedro had gone nuts in there and it was quite frankly a disgusting mess. It took the better part of a Saturday to clean it up. He had chewed through plastic bags and wrappings, gotten into my rice and flour, and actually chewed through the lid of my peanut butter jar. I tell you, he loves the stuff. He'd also been kind enough to leave his droppings everywhere. The fighting had escalated. There was no longer possibility of peaceful coexistence. I went to town and bought some rat poison.
I mixed the poison in some peanut butter and left some outside for Pedro and inside for my new roommate. What I left inside disappeared the first night, but I could never find it. This concerned me a bit. However, several days later a lovely odor tipped me off. Apparently it had worked. I followed my nose to my late roomy and managed to find him.I was a bit disgusting. One rat down.
Pedro, not surprisingly, was more formidable. He seemed to have eaten some of the poison peanut butter, but it didn't kill him. He was still running around. I knew with him I'd have to be more creative. I studied the trap and thought about how he could pull off the peanut butter without setting off the trap. I realized that if he came at the bait from certain angles he would be unlikely to set it off with a pulling motion. I realized what I had to do was control the direction of his approach. With my plan ready, I set it in motion. I baited the trap and placed it against the wall. I then put buckets and other obstacles along the trap except for the one side I wanted him to come to. Then I waited. About an hour after dark I heard the sounds of my success. There was a loud snap of the trap slamming shut and a loud racket of steel (from the trap) slapping plastic (of the bucket). Pedro was snared. The metal arm of the trap and caught him right on the neck, pushing it into the steel teeth of the trap. It is a vicous device. Somehow, Pedro was still alive and trying violently to free himself. I was glad I'd had the foresight to tie the trap down. Pedro put up a long fight until it seemed that he was having trouple breathing. After an hour I went to check since it had gotten quiet and found his breathing was quite labored. I actually felt sorry for the guy until I remembered all the chewed vegetables. Pedro died shortly thereafter. I had won.
There was a brief epilogue to the battle. One night recently I heard a noise in my kitchen and thought it sounded like a rat. This surprised me because I thought all approaches to the kitchen were well sealed, and recently I've been keeping it quite clean to avoid rodents and bugs. I walked in though, and there it was, another rat. This one darted into the fireplace and up the chimney. The chimney! That was how he'd gotten in. And before you ask, yes, I live in Africa but there is a fireplace in my kitchen. I figured a good way to take care of this guy would be to, well, use the fireplace for it's intended purpose. So I built a fire. I just kept it going for awhile until I figured he's either run or asphixiate. It seemed to work. For several days he didn't come back. The next day as a precaution though I had baited the trap and put it in the fireplace. Two nights ago, the rat returned. This one set the trap off immediately. Not only was this one a lot dumber than Pedro, he was a lot smaller, so it killed him instantly. Another victory.
My battle against rodents may not be over, but I seem to be holding my own. I doubt there will ever be one who is as worthy an opponent as Pedro, but we will see. Also, I now have help in my struggle. Last night as saw an owl sitting on the edge of the roof by the courtyard. It was a big one, gray and white and quite beautiful. As I watched him he took off and seemed to be swooping toward the ground on the other side of the wall. With the owl on my side, I figure I can't lose now.
One more piece of news. I'll be arriving at Charlotte airport around 2pm on Friday, November 23. That's the day after Thanksgiving. Just over three months.
