Pest Control

A week ago, my hubby noticed a tail poking out from under his bookshelf by the back door. Hmmm, he thought. So when he peered under the shelf, he saw a big lizard that had managed to get himself to the wild wonderful yonder of the Great Indoors, presumably when I had taken the laundry inside that morning. Well, needless to say, poor Mike hastily opened the door, found a prod, and attempted to get him back outdoors. No smell for a week. I assumed if I didn't smell something dead that I was probably OK and that he was no longer sharing our abode.

No such luck. Yesterday, my poor hubby came and woke me up in the afternoon due to a large (would you say 8-9" tip-to-tip, Ghee?) lizard who was hiding behind the toilet brush cleaner container thingyin the bathroom. Needless to say, initially I was so groggy that my first response was something like, "Oh, that's nice." Until it dawned on me.

My recommendation? Put a towel under the door so he can't escape to another room where we'll never find him, and round him into a box or something and bring him outside. Well, another wakeful session later, and my poor nervous hubby had my permission to call pest control. Of course, no one wants to come to your house in the afternoon just to rid you of a lizard. But, if you are my poor hubby and tell them that you've seen mice around outside on the patio, they're ready to hit the road and come on down! So, our pest control guy came armed with gloves to rid us of our internal pest (who turned out to be a biting Alligator Lizard) by bringing him outdoors and putting him far from the front door. And I just learned on Google that they can grow up to 12" long, so they're not our average nice little garden-variety types that like to hang out on the patio.

After that, he told us that we really don't have a mouse problem. We have a rat infestation. Nice, huh? Nothing a little mummifying, non-decay-smelling, non-cat-killing poison won't cure. I hate the idea of using poison at all when there are so many cats in the neighborhood, but the pests are in the walls and the guy assured us that they die quickly before going outside; plus, the stuff isn't supposed to harm a cat. I suppose it's better than having a larger rat problem in the long run. Cats can't catch rats when they're proliferating in the walls.

It brings Ratatoulle to mind. (For those of you who haven't seen the additional features on DVD, there is a very nice additional bonus clip involving the rats spreading to America and how it wasn't the rats' fault that the Black Plague occurred.) I have to confess that when Mike told me about the rats, the very first thing my sleepy brain thought of was the scene in Ratatoulle where the old lady shoots the attic into the main floor of the house and out run all the rodents. That's what I feel like right now, but I can't say I have the same affection for the real things as I do for the animated characters.

Now that I've been home for a bit, however, I think I'll get the courage up to go outside and get the laundry out of the dryer. Hopefully I won't see any of the little beasties.