We don't like looking under the kitchen sink. It is pretty gross. This is a very old house, and as soon as our new kitchen is done (soon maybe?) we will have to tear up and replace the floor of the old kitchen, as it is pretty rotten. Especially under the sink, where old drips have rotted the floor. A favorite hiding place for mice that the cat brings in and releases, and occasionally even a slug manages to crawl up there from the outside. So it is all in all pretty disgusting. But last week we started to hear really loud noises. One evening I was in the next room and I thought the cat was chasing a mouse somehow inside the drawer where we keep all the plastic containers. But the cat was upstairs. Then I heard noises in the computer room (or under it?) as well. Then gnawing noises under the sink. So I pulled everything out from under the sink. Usually we keep a compost bucket just under the sink. When I pulled everything out, there were some old cat dishes stacked in the back, with a half an avocado sitting in the top one. I pulled them out, pulled the compost bucket out, and everything else. Shining a flashlight back there revealed a gnawed hole in the floor next to the wall. I swear at one point I caught a glimpse of a little nose sticking up through it briefly. Then we went for a walk and left everything sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. When we got back from the walk, the avocado and a slice of tomato out of the compost were back under the sink next to the hole. Rich thought it was just a mouse. He said maybe a very big mouse. And a very noisy one. I was skeptical. But he set a mousetrap. Didn't catch anything. Then we went away for the weekend. Sunday night when we got home, he set a big live trap. He put chocolate, doritos, and a few other things in there. But we didn't catch anything. Last night, he set a regular rat trap, with chocolate and cheese. This morning? Chocolate and cheese gone, rat trap standing on end by the hole. Funny thing is, there are NO droppings anywhere. Wouldn't a rat leave great big droppings all over the kitchen? It has been going all the way across the kitchen floor to eat the dry cat food every night, making the cat yell at us all in the wee hours of the morning because she is hungry. So this is our big mystery. I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Noises in the Kitchen
We don't like looking under the kitchen sink. It is pretty gross. This is a very old house, and as soon as our new kitchen is done (soon maybe?) we will have to tear up and replace the floor of the old kitchen, as it is pretty rotten. Especially under the sink, where old drips have rotted the floor. A favorite hiding place for mice that the cat brings in and releases, and occasionally even a slug manages to crawl up there from the outside. So it is all in all pretty disgusting. But last week we started to hear really loud noises. One evening I was in the next room and I thought the cat was chasing a mouse somehow inside the drawer where we keep all the plastic containers. But the cat was upstairs. Then I heard noises in the computer room (or under it?) as well. Then gnawing noises under the sink. So I pulled everything out from under the sink. Usually we keep a compost bucket just under the sink. When I pulled everything out, there were some old cat dishes stacked in the back, with a half an avocado sitting in the top one. I pulled them out, pulled the compost bucket out, and everything else. Shining a flashlight back there revealed a gnawed hole in the floor next to the wall. I swear at one point I caught a glimpse of a little nose sticking up through it briefly. Then we went for a walk and left everything sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. When we got back from the walk, the avocado and a slice of tomato out of the compost were back under the sink next to the hole. Rich thought it was just a mouse. He said maybe a very big mouse. And a very noisy one. I was skeptical. But he set a mousetrap. Didn't catch anything. Then we went away for the weekend. Sunday night when we got home, he set a big live trap. He put chocolate, doritos, and a few other things in there. But we didn't catch anything. Last night, he set a regular rat trap, with chocolate and cheese. This morning? Chocolate and cheese gone, rat trap standing on end by the hole. Funny thing is, there are NO droppings anywhere. Wouldn't a rat leave great big droppings all over the kitchen? It has been going all the way across the kitchen floor to eat the dry cat food every night, making the cat yell at us all in the wee hours of the morning because she is hungry. So this is our big mystery. I'll keep you posted.
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2 comments:
It´s a rat. A short fat one. I saw it in the bathroom about 3:00 in the morning. It was running back and forth trying to hide from me. Rich even thinks this might be the critter making the noise in the wall upstairs. He thinks it has been in the house for months... Getting fatter and fatter on dry cat food. So we're going to keep trying the rat traps. Bought 2 more tonight.
A talented rat! Hell, if the little bastard was savvy enough to make guacamole out of your compost, I'd say you should have made him some frijoles with cheese, a chile relleno and Spanish rice and bought him a little sombrero and poncho. And get some mariachi instruments for your little mice.
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