Unwanted House Tenants

Last September after being away from Katsi for almost 7 weeks, I returned to Katsi expecting… some unwanted guest. I was aware, that leaving my house unattended could lead to creatures thinking it was their home. Once after coming home after being away only a week, there were three bats who thought it was their home…

So I came prepared, I begged my PCV friend Whitney, Snake killer extraordinaire to come with me to Katsi. I lured her with promises of fried chicken and boxed wine, afternoons swimming in rivers, and a nice relaxing week with me.  None of that happened…

Upon getting to my house, we realized it needed a DEEP clean, so we decide to start with my bedroom, sweeping and dusting and such. As we move the bed, a GIANT rat flies about from behind it and zips to the kitchen. I swallow my panic, look for it, and quickly come to the happy conclusion that it had escaped, out of sight, out of mind. We kept cleaning, moved to the living room, cautious for more rodents, luckily we found none. We started in the kitchen, washing dishes, cleaning the counters. Whitney, a much better, more thorough cleaner than I, decides to lift my counter top  gas stove to clean under it, at which point RATS START SWARMING ALL OVER HER FEET. I screamed. She screamed. The stove was dropped. Hot mess.

I ran down to get my neighbor, who laughed, came up with a broom, and when Whitney lifted the stove again, he started whacking them. After about 5 minutes there were 3 dead baby rats, the rest of the nest had gotten away. It was disgusting. But it didn’t end there.  When we lifted under the stove to finish cleaning we found three more waiting, Whitney handled it. I realized that I’m useless when it comes to rats. (picture me having a panic attack while my friend and neighbor swiftly massacre a family of nasty rats.)

I’ve since gotten rid of them… I think! Took about three weeks but I haven’t seen any, or traces of them in a few months.

What else did I find in my house? Two different sets of bees making their hives inside my home, one in my bedroom! And ants also wanted to grow their larva in a box in my bathroom… guess I have a welcoming home party!

It’s not much, it may have lots of unwanted tenants at times, but it’s home. It’s the Pacio Palacio.

So what’s the lesson learned? 1 – Whitney can kill anything, and she can also stay calm and convince me to stay calm, even when she knows its nasty as hell. 2 – I’m not meant for hand to hand rodent combat, my style is and always will be letting poison do the dirty work for me. (Poison or Whitney)

Tips for rodent control:

Poison is best.

Probably best to avoid sticky traps as they require you to dispose of whatever you catch.

Befriend Whitney

Don’t leave ANY food outside of plastic boxes if you live in the campo.