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MiceRatsAndMickey2012

Page history last edited by jerry 12 years, 2 months ago

MiceRatsAndMickey2012

 

 


 

Introduction/Definition/etc

 

So something moved, and didn't really see anything,

no real proof, must have been a reflection in my glasses,

then more sounds, and eventually a rustling behind the door

which is also behind the mirror...  Look back behind the mirror

on the floor and nothing then a long tailed fairly big thing

making a racket...  Go out and talk to the apartment management,

they don't have anyone for a while, and then come look around...

 

Video

IMG_4217.MOV

 

Photos

 

 

 

 

 

Body

 

 

Maintenance comes with me, back to look for it,

and not where it was 20+ minutes ago, and

I don't find the arch in the floorboard with a name

on it, like a house sign, nor much of anything else...

 

Maintenance goes behind the stove, after I move

some stuff to get space to do that, and found some

previous steel wool put to plug up holes, apparently

they don't eat steel wool, picky little buggers...

 

And find one, a hole under / around the dishwasher,

which also has to be pulled out, plugged with

steel wool, and talk about the vermin some,

they left nasty tracks behind, dirty feet and all,

so he could see where it/they had walked

on a wire many times...

 

Adhesive traps (called surf boards)

are put out by maintenance, under

the dishwasher and under a heater

in the bedroom that is raised, I thought

I saw something go that way but

thought it was reflection in my glasses

some time back...

 

So can't sleep nor eat very well thinking

it's/ they are wandering about the apartment,

and all noises are the mouse/ rat stuck on

the surfboard.  So sound sensitivity even worse,

and thinking of the kids living nearby,

must have them around too, but nobody

claims anything, exterminator had said

on lower floors, but guess they have

spread...  We are near drainage,

and they like water, streams, near as I can

tell, they would need food (garbage is

disgusting and overflowed around here),

water, streams/ rain, and trying to stay

warm, when I first saw them, it was a very cold

snap at night...

 

None of my human food is appetizing to me,

when you have anything like rodents living

near/ with you, and you can't have pets,

a no pet policy, originally cats were

domesticated to help with stuff like this

more in a grain silo and agricultural societies,

than cityfried rats, big Kia sporting driving

TV commercial type rats, the types

I usually see squished on the roads,

biking through DC, in suburbs it's squirrels

that are squished on the roads,

I guess Texas Geckos, and Gieco

commercials, armadillos, skunks

and stuff in more rural areas and out

West and South.

 

And my maintenance doesn't come back when

asked and check the traps...

 

I can't get under the dishwasher, and nothing

has been done to check.  It's been almost

2 months and I don't know anything was caught,

I though he said he got it, it was hiding under

the dishwasher, but thinking back, maybe it

was just he got the hole filled up, what I originally

thought we were talking about...  All sorts

of things said originally, and wearing gloves,

latex here, in laboratories wearing chain mail

type gloves for handling lab animals

and all those things gory.

 

Later exterminator comes in for regular bimonthly

or whatever every two months treatments,

and at my request replaces the surfboard traps

with regular old school traps most might have seen,

at least in theory, spring action breaks it's neck when

rodent eats cheese on hair trigger, but he uses some

other bait injected, more like Cheese Whiz,

I guess...

 

No, no children in the home, they would

get into the traps.  And one put down where I

might step on it, but trap set opposite

direction and one time, luckily wearing

sneakers kicked it and set it off,

while doing stuff like dishes in the sink

so one trap down, other one in a corner

under stuff, and thought there was a third

in another corner but nothing seen...

 

It's a noisy place here by comparison

to my old place, which was in the end

of a dead end court further in Suburgatory

(see Hulu.com archives of cable shows

http://www.hulu.com/suburgatory ),

and I lost lots of space, square footage,

by more than a hundred square feet,

plus storage in the basement (we had a big

rat there, but it was an outside rat,

as far as I could tell) on the balcony

or burrowing underneath it and around

the bushes...

 

One bike place nearby had a mouse,

I saw something in the corner of my eye

and they thought it was cute,

tried not to have me scare it???

I thought of health problems,

plague and disease is spread by

those things, and I have enough to

deal with.

 

Check wikipedia on Mouse and Rats,

and Mouse Trap, diseases associated,

some serious,

 

We really need a better mouse trap,

it's not working.   Things are still making

noises in the night and in the day, and

I can't always tell which direction

the sounds are coming from, is it the

neighbors opening closing doors/ cabinets,

and odd sounds, or upstairs in the attic,

shifting sounds from expansion or contraction

of the attic or plywood, or birds chirping

again or squirrels in the drain spouts,

etc the attic, which needs to be checked,

it would be haven and subway system

for vermin of all sorts, and the

exterminator was excluded in his

contract, I talked months, maybe a year

ago now, after moving in, his first visit about it,

and now too late, really, already have

problems.  And the apartment ratings

on the place here had mentioned Mice/

Rats, and now well, besides the crazy

place, I though was the residents, turns

out to be the staff attitudes and behaviors

too...

 

Issues, no shortage of issues,

around here, in the Barrio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrio

(Spanish for Neighborhood)

mostly considered invisible people,

some scary, others nice, it really is a mix,

not a Melting Pot, and I'm a minority,

and times are getting interesting with

Immigration laws changing perhaps,

advocacy events in the Virginia Capital also

around MLK Day Rally,

but I've not studied up, nor heard

how it went...

 

Jokes about Ratatouille movie,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382932/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratatouille_(film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratatouille

building a better mouse trap,

Tom and Jerry (cartoon, mouse is

Jerry, and smart, but Tom is a Cat,

and dumb), I didn't watch it much

growing up,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry

or playing cat and mouse,

on computer there are cute little

cats / kittens trying to follow the mouse pointer,

and all sorts of Mrs Fisby and the Rats

of NIMH book I read as a kid,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_NIMH

and later a movie with it turns out

rumored, Michael Jackson playing a big role,

I heard later...

 

Thriller,

(  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(song)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(album)

or music video of the song )

it's probably not...

 

Like bears, I'm not sure why we

make them cute and friendly in

media, and stuffed, rats/ mice are vile

creatures I want gone, in as most pacifist

manner possible, but ASAP,

as it's a Health Code Violation

too, IMO.

 

And I've considered a snake,

if vermin's going to die anyway,

maybe it should be fed to a snake,

at least it will have had some purpose

in life...  Local animal shelter probably

doesn't rescue snakes cruelty

issues with feeding live mice

to snakes, etc...

 

 

BTW, seen dead ones in the hood,

on the curb a few days ago (still there) and

today outside the door, (pictured above)

I don't know if they drown in the rains

recently, hit crossing the street,

or got poison, or what,

but clear evidence they have been

around here, and likely still are...

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

Summary of experience or similar

 

Discussion

 

A place for feedback on the page presented

 

Page History

 

20120213 Jerry

  • spell check, add links, little fixes, check versions for what
  • only 14 hits before edit, and long download times with imbedded photos...

 

20120204 Jerry

  • Jerry created this page to ...

 

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