Murderer

I have become a cold-blooded killer. No, it wasn’t a mercy killing of Lucy. She’s still pitiful, but today she was up and moving when I got out to take care of all the girls and pecked at some popcorn, so there’s still hope for Lucy.

This was a rat.

I have been hearing rats in the house again and they weren’t going for any of my traps. I balled up some straw and shoved it into the hole they are using to gain access to my home, so I could tell when they went out foraging last night. Before I went to bed, I went out and checked- sure enough, straw gone. I plugged to hole with a brick and went off to bed.

Early this morning, I was awakened by something, but I didn’t know what. When I went out to take care of the girls and had put the chicklets (My next new baby girls are going to be named Chicklet and Juicy Fruit.) in their run- which is beside the house, I noticed the black plastic snap trap over by the fence. When I went to pick it up, I noticed a rat tail in the tap. I cringed and released the tail, then noticed the rat, who was attached to the tail, looking at me. Apparently, she had backed into the trap while trying to move the brick. Reflex- put the trap back on the tail. I didn’t want the rat to escape. We glared at each other for a while before I remembered the BB gun. Ah, I thought, more humane than having her sit there waiting to die of thirst and hunger. The BB gun is defective- no really- it wasn’t my aim. No BB’s would come out of it.

You have to understand that the rat, while trying to rid itself of the trap had run through the chain link fence, thought better of that and ran back through a different hole several times and eventually tied its tail in a strong knot onto a piece of the link.

I had to go mull over a solution for a while. Several hours later, I thought I had it figured out. When I went back out, the rat looked to be doing a yoga head stand. I prepared a bucket with water, intending to finagle the rat into a plastic can, hold it in place with the lid, while I untangled its tail, then dump the rat into the bucket and cover the top. Her tail was tied too tight in the fence and I really didn’t want to cut its tail off, causing more pain and horror for the rat, so I had to come up with another solution.

I figured it out pretty quick. Out to the garage I went, picking up my trusty shovel. It wasn’t pretty. I covered my shoes and the bottom of my pants with a feed sack, figuring this was going to be bloody. I wanted to close my eyes, but knew my aim would probably be off if I did. I was groaning. The first thrust of the shovel, the rat squealed and writhed. I had to do it one more time before she succumbed.  She is buried in my garden with many apologies.

There is still another rat in the attic, so the brick has been removed again, more straw inserted in the hole, trap back in place. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.