Before I sat down, I heard a noise coming from the toilet, as I looked down I saw a big furry rat in the bowl. Ahhhhh ahhhhhh as I ran stumbling over my pants. Well, that’s the way my mother-in-law told the story. That was four days ago and it has become such an interesting story that I decided to post it.
My mother and father in-laws have a place in Englewood Florida on Manasota Key. Manasota Key is a narrow island only 400-600 feet wide. On the Northeast side is Lemon Bay and on the Southwest is the Gulf of Mexico, great fishing. There are lots of palm trees and now, palm rats. What is a palm rat? A palm rat’s natural habitat is subtropical or tropical forests and mangroves and they are 6-8 inches long. They’re the number one pest in south Florida.
Day 1- Day one began with the bathroom incident as described above. Then, Mother and father-in-law purchase sticky pads to catch Mr. Palm Rat. They placed them all around the area and slept in the sunroom away from rat.
Day 2- Mr. Palm Rat gets caught on sticky pad, but Mr. Palm Rat is strong. Mr. Palm Rat, now named Arnold SchwarzenRAT, extricates itself from the sticky pad and becomes so angry he eats the commode top. Mother and Father-in-law purchase rat traps and place them in the area loaded with peanut butter and fruit along with the sticky pads. They again, sleep in the sunroom.
Day 3- New rat name, Harry HoudiniRat because the rat eats the food out of the traps without setting them off. Also, he‘s leaving lots of little packages around. Now, Mother and Father-in-law purchased XXX rat poison and placed it in the area along with rat traps, sticky pads and sleep in the sunroom. At Night, Mother-in-law goes into area and steps on rat trap then falls on sticky pads..........Just kidding
Day 4- Finally, Harry HoudiniRat eats some of the XXX rat poison. More XXX rat poison is put out. Mother and Father-in-law sleep in sunroom hopefully for the last time.
Stay tuned for Day 5!