Rats!

I’m fighting a rat war again! One morning I found that they had eaten some of the dinner I had out on the bench defrosting. So I got into action and set up the rat trap, but the next morning, they had eaten some of the food but not set off the trap!

Last time I had rats, the poison worked for me, so I went out and bought more rat poison. I also set up the trap a second night. This time it went off, but somehow didn’t have a rat in it.

Then today – what an adventure! I was in the sitting room with my laptop and had not long started a video call with my Mum and Dad on Skype, when I saw a rat on the floor in the dining room. Mum and Dad got to hear me scream!

Well this rat was not looking in very good shape – it convulsed and flopped and then lay on its side. Of course I had to show Mum and Dad, so I carried my laptop over to it and they got to see it too, whether they wanted to or not!

After a minute or two the rat got off its side and sat in a sitting position, but didn’t move anywhere. Mum and Dad, sharing this experience over Skype, said to get a bucket and put it over it. I found the biggest bucket I had and put it over it. It was pretty scary getting that close to it, but it didn’t move.

Unfortunately I wasn’t brave enough to get my camera out and take a photo of it to show everyone. It was still half alive, so I didn’t want to risk it running over my foot! It was a big rat and its eyes were the biggest eyes I’ve seen on a rat, reminded me a bit of a cuscus (they have big eyes too). It also had a long tail.

After connection problems stopped us from chatting on Skype, I needed a bit of a ‘hire a hubby’ service to get rid of the rat as I still wasn’t brave enough to deal with a half living rat. After 3 phone calls, I finally managed to get hold of a man who lives nearby and he came with some cardboard to slide under the bucket, took the rat outside and disposed of it. He said that he could feel the rat moving a little, so I’m glad that he did it, although it’s not his favourite job in the world either!

My next door neighbour (same building) said that it sounded like the rats were having a party up in the roof one night, so there are probably a few more rats to die still. I hope they don’t decide to spend their dying moments inside the house where I can see them and have to dispose of them!

Things that move

At both Alotau and Hagita, I have encountered various things that move. Creepy crawlies isn't quite the right term and I can't think of a general term that covers rats, frogs, ants and crabs.

We saw a rat in the toilet block on our first night at Hagita and screamed because of the sudden movement of it running fast. We haven't seen a rat there since though. Maybe we scared it away too with our scream! Nearly every night, there are frogs there too, but fortunately they have kept out of the toilet stalls and not scared us too much.

We don't have frogs or rats at the Alotau Centre, but I have seen little crabs, very small ones, but I don't like them running around inside. They look a bit like spiders.

I am also fighting an ant war at both places!! There were ants on my toothbrush, inside my toothbrush holder, so now I am keeping it in a zip-lock bag. I had ants among the cereal and milk powder that I left at the Alotau Centre for eating when I am there on the weekends. Ants are always hard to keep on top of everywhere. When I'm in Ukarumpa, I have the occasional ant crawling in and out of my computer, which is a bit of a worry!