Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Rats! - 12/23/08


Got some *good* news today from Florida.  The real estate agent who manages my condo down there sent a cleaning crew in this week to get ready for the Snow Bird coming in January 1st and they found evidence of a major rat infestation!  Now truly I'm sure they do not resemble in any way the cutie in the picture.  I found a picture on line of rats walking around on a white tile floor and it was just too too creepy for me to contemplate the actuality of that scenario and ever return to that place again so I've opted for Ms. Cute as a Button Rat.

The Rat Abatement Specialist said they apparently are hiding out there during the day since its been vacant for awhile and leaving at night to feast in the dumpster.  He's trapping them and removing them which is a 7-day process (remind anyone else of the Pied Piper?) after which they will seal the holes and sanitize the entire unit.  This of course means that I'll lose my renter for January and February as the initial rental was for 2 months.

I now have to write a letter to the condo board and the building management company.  Apparently the building management has not been doing the required monthly extermination or they would have seen the evidence of this bigger problem.  My agent said she was in there about a month an a half ago and everything was fine.

All I can say is EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

32 comments:

  1. And I was thinking of a trip to warmer parts...umm...I would rather sleep with the ghosts in this house than the thoughts of something crawling on me...ugghh!

    Oh now I have to write an entry just for you about what I HAD to live with as a kid...Oh wait until you read this one!!

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  2. Now she wont want to stay there for 5 years after the problem is resolved.. Great lol

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  3. Yucky! Rats! That's a tough break Cheryl :( Sorry about the loss of the renter :( But it's really a positive thing that the problem is solvable in a timely manner. :) So thumbs-up to that one! :D

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  4. I might not want to stay there anymore either LOL.

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  5. Oh I wrote my rodent story for ya!!

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  6. I have mice, you have rats. Where are cats when you need them?

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  7. My problem is with most cats they are too stupid to do anything about it. Let's see .. one time I had a black cat named Wormy and his sister Hissy (indoor feral cat) and my cat Max. I found all three of them running around together one day. When I followed them all into the bathroom to find a mouse backed up to the wall with wormy cleaning him and the others watching. Basically they were interested in chasing something but had no interest to take it out. No killer instinct there! Now on the other hand.. Scamper.. Scamper would play with it to death but that's about it.

    Speaking of that mouse they were following around and Worm was cleaning. I ended up catching that mouse in a box and letting it loose outside. About 3 hours later, I went to go somewhere and took a step out on my carport and that same mouse was there and he ran right at me and over my foot and kept on running. Kinda saying.. Yeah buddy!! You!.. I know you!! I'll be back!! lol

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  8. Um...I hope it does not remember you nor where we live either!

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  9. I had a cat Vancouver that took out an entire mouse family (have I told this before - I hope not). Anyway, I went downstairs and there were mice of different sizes all over. They were spectacularly dead. I ran upstairs screaming "Boy job boy job!!!"

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  10. Rats are clever creatures and very social too. But they dont pay rent and dont pay for the food. A lot of times cats are scared for rats. Some people love (tamed) rats. Apparently you not. So scare them away with yelling and making hard noises. They dont like that.

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  11. Grand60. Oh I'd be scaring them away with my screaming but I'm in Maryland and that place is in Florida. Must rely on the Rat Abatement Specialist. I wonder what drives people into that line of work.

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  12. Bennett, that was definitely a boy job! I had to laugh at that.

    Dave your cat was not cleaning the mouse, he was basting it. LOL

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  13. I laughed out loud again at boy job!!

    Yeah I am sure he was basting it...yummy right??

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  14. Well.. the mouse seemed to like it too... Maybe I can hope that Wormy was just leading him into a false sense of calm and relaxation before going in for the kill... Not likely.. There wasn't a mean bone in that cats body... I should know I paid for enough x-rays to prove it lol.

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  15. I'm sure the mouse was thrilled with the attention.

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  16. So basically you have rat squatters....

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  17. LOL! so do you have to take them to court to evict them?

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  18. Why yes, yes I do. I would prefer that they would just pay rent.

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  19. I'd rather deal with a rat problem then the bedbug issue I had with the condo in NY. Those nasty things stay in the tiniest crack and crevice, can live without feeding for 3 months or more and are near to impossible to get rid of. They feast on you when you are asleep, causing people to become afraid of falling asleep and they are very hard to find. I don't know about you, but a few rats nibbling around my room that wake me up and run when you yell are far less scary to me than little buggars who feed on you while you are sleeping and leave bites all over your body.

    I mean, you know, just to look on the bright side of it! lol

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  20. Yeah, but do bedbugs give you rabies? Or whatever other lovely little rat diseases there are?

    Personally, I'd rather do without both. lol

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  21. Hmm, not sure if they carry disease or not. Fleas carried the bubonic plague, though.

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  22. At least 27 agents of human disease have been found in bed bugs, including viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and parasitic worms. None of these agents reproduce or multiply within bed bugs, and very few survive for any length of time inside a bed bug. There is no evidence that bed bugs are involved in the transmission (via bite or infected feces) of any disease agent, including hepatitis B virus and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

    Well, there you have it. Don't you just love the net??

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  23. Sorry Bennett, didn't mean to cause insomnia!

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  24. Don't believe her for a minute, Bennett....she is 62% evil! The test said so!

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  25. And my husband tried to get me to believe there are tiny mites and live between my eyelashes and I don't believe him for a second either.
    Laughing.

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  26. Oh no, those are real. I heard about them on Oprah.

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  27. My Granddaughter had a solution for the rat problem. She said we'll just knock down the building.

    Why do my eyes itch now LOL.

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  28. Well, Jenny, that's true, it did say that. But I was so literally honest on that test that I think I skewed the numbers a bit. Lol!

    S'ok Bennet, want me to sing a lullaby? You will be up all night for sure if I do that!!

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