There has been a rodent infestation problem in my parent's town. Pack rats and what my dad calls squeakies tend to get up into car engines to nest and they chew on insulation and wires and filters and anything they can get their teeth into. So whenever we visit we have to open the car hoods while the cars are parked to avoid unwanted tenants. (They apparently won't take up residence if the light can get in.)
My dad has been battling a particularly elusive pack rat that moved into his truck engine. The neighbor's dogs were going crazy because they couldn't reach it, and it managed to remove the bait from the live trap without getting caught one night. The bait was poisoned, so even if it didn't get caught in the trap we knew it wouldn't last long, but still... Well, Wednesday morning it was in the trap! Hah!
STOP READING NOW IF YOU'RE EASILY GROSSED OUT!
My dad was at work, so he couldn't be in on the kill, but my brother, Dennis, knew he'd want to share in the triumph, so he decapitated the rat and put it's head on a spike in front of the truck. The body of the rat was carried away by a really cute weasel that watched us during the decapitation. I tried to get a picture of the weasel too, but missed my chance.
I was there Tuesday night and forgot to open my hood. I realized it Wednesday morning, and hoped it wasn't too late. Alas, it was. As I was getting ready to come home Wednesday afternoon, I heard some scuttling when I closed the hood, but couldn't see anything. I also caught a whiff of animal musk, and my brother pointed out the rodent footprints in the dust on flat surfaces in my engine. Grrrr! I hoped that being in close proximity to the engine would kill whatever it was during the hour-long drive back home. It could have been that or it could have been that the poisoned bait was shared out among all of the pack rats when the one got away and it eventually succumbed. In any case, on Friday morning it apparently fell out of my car into my driveway when I was leaving for work.
FAIR WARNING - THE NEXT PART IS EVEN MORE DISGUSTING!
When I got home around 12:30 I was pulling in and not paying much attention, but one of the lumps I took for a rock appeared to have had a long tail. It didn't register in my brain until it was too late to prevent my running over it, and boy was it messy! I don't know how long it had been dead, but the colors were pretty vivid after the car went over it. I wish I had taken a picture right then, but I didn't. The guts were bright green and the bees almost immediately started drinking the blood. Eeww! The colors were not nearly as vivid when I did eventually get around to taking a picture.
Scroll down if you want to see the pictures...
Here's a view of the the rat-head on a spike in relation to the truck, and a closer view of the head that I texted to my dad so he could triumph over winning the battle.
And here's the dead rat in my driveway. It has now been removed to the bushes by the side of the driveway since my landlord (and cousin-in-law) got home last night. I would have moved it eventually, honest I would.
7 comments:
ok I have to admit!!! that was disgusting!!!!
haha, yeah that is pretty gross! Rem and I were sad for a minute that it was the squirrel that lives in the shed in front of us.... glad it wasn't!
Okay please refer to "my brother" as Dennis in this particular blog, because I am dang proud of what I did.
Ok, Dennis, I've edited it to include your name.
erp. i think i just threw up a little in my mouth.
Sick! You were right! Sick Sick Sick! And quite funny I might add! :) Thanks for all the gorey details too ! :)
I love you guys and I know that you did it because you felt you needed to make an example of the rat, but I have the feeling it had about as much affect as the head on pikes on London bridge. Now that kitty that hangs around your parent's house... THAT is something those rodents understand. Kind of gross though guys. Love you just the same. ;-)
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