"They were testing the fences for weaknesses systematically..."

"... They remember..."
--Jurassic Park

Those darn Rats are getting craftier by the minute. I swear, there must be some sort of Brain-Rat that is in charge of them all, because they are figuring out our strategies and getting past them.

Last week, before I left for Raleigh/Chapel Hill, we set some new sticky traps up on the crawlspace ledge, and one underneath the water heater where they've been drinking. When I came home wednesday and checked, along with my father who had been in Orlando, we saw that the traps had moved. One on the crawlspace ledge was missing-- most likely knocked back into the crawlspace by the rats, as they had done before, and the trap under the water heater had been pulled back underneath all the wood behind the heater.

Perhaps one trap simply isn't enough for these monster rats. Perhaps they are getting strong enough to pull themselves free from the glue. That's a frightening thought. Or perhaps... they know what these traps do, and now they how to get rid of them. Afterall, they watched as Fatmouse got stuck in two of them and never returned...

So yesterday, we took the last remaining sticky trap from upstairs (that had successfully caught the two hopefully-not-infected-with-hantaviruses-Deer Mice) and moved it to under the water heater. Surely that would catch a Rat. I made the placement perfect.

But not even an hour later, I went down to check on the trap and lo and behold! THAT trap had now been moved under the pile of wood too! These bastards are up to something, I just know it. The final trap that remained on the crawlspace ledge is gone as well. They're like the Velociraptors of the Rat-World. Soon they'll learn how to open up doors, and then my house is doomed.

I'm really starting to like the idea of letting snakes loose down there.
--Cbake