Sorry, it’s been a while. My girlfriend and I have been traveling in the south of India and Malaysia since the beginning of August. The trips were amazing and I’ll post some photos shortly.
I just moved into a beautiful new apartment my friend rented in the suburb of Mumbai called Santacruz. I will only be here a month before I fly back to the states (I’m bought my ticket, I’m coming home 20th September! Well, “home” being NYC for a few weeks), but glad to be out of my old apartment that only had running water about 2 hours a day (mostly while I was sleeping) and was very far from all of my friends (with terrible traffic). This apartment has a few things that need to be fixed: it leaks when it rains, the bathroom sink refuses to drain, and the airvent in the kitchen is broken. The last thing seems to be in the most urgent need of fixing. The fan will not spin and there is a rodent sized hole in the cover.
We had been finding rat feces scattered about the kitchen since we moved in, but had never encountered one of them (and I have only been here since Wednesday). Thursday we came home to a pot full of water mysteriously fallen off the counter, sitting on the floor in a puddle. “The wind must have pushed it off the stove?” Amy said trying to convince herself. That night, with a loud crash, the same pot found its spot on the ground again. I turn on the light to catch sight of the creature bounding from the counter to the fridge and out the broken vent. I try to tape the vent shut, but its a poor job and the rat came back in that night when I was asleep.
We buy a metal live trap and some wire to fix the vent. With the vent securely shut, we’re still finding feces, so we hope the rat will find the trap. That evening we find the trap on top of the refrigerator caught its intended prey. I reach my hand up to grab the trap and…the little bugger bursts through the spring door, jumps to the counter and then behind the fridge.
I reset the trap and put it on the floor, hoping the rat is dumb enough to get caught in the same trap twice. Luckily, when I woke up I found him curled up in the cage. I put the door against the wall and went back to bed.
As I prepared to dispose of the rat I thought, I can’t not take a photo of this occasion. So I pulled out two flashes and went to town. He was a real trooper.
i am kind of obsessed with rats. they're just so interesting.