dragojustine: (Damaging my calm)
dragojustine ([personal profile] dragojustine) wrote2008-04-01 07:50 am

RATS. Why did it have to be rats?

So I moved into this house with a HUGE anthill in the living room. Not right by the living room or anything- actually IN the living room, coming up in the crack of the wall and the floor and spreading out. The ants are dormant this time of year, so it's just the anthill, but having hundreds or thousands of sleepings ants in one's living room isn't the most comfortable thing, especially when your little sister says things like "What if they snore? Or sleepwalk?" and you promptly have a nightmare about sleepwalking fire ants.

In addition, there were a couple dozen cricket corpses scattered about, par for the course in an unoccupied house here, but still pretty creepy (they're like THREE INCHES LONG).

There are also several wasp nests under the eaves, which dad insists are empty, since that type of wasp only uses them for one year and we haven't seen any wasps. That may be, but I haven't quite got up the courage to go knock them down yet.

So, all in all, this house has sleepwalking ants, zombie crickets, and ghost wasps. I can live with those.

Guess what we added to the menagerie? RATS. Not ghost or zombie rats- no! Real, live, scrabbling-and-skittering-in-the-attic rats. They were so loud last night that I got up to check for burglars, and when the noise lasted at a constant low level from 1 am through 7 am, I wandered about the house trying to eliminate any possible source of the sound until I opened the attic door and had to face reality.

Sleepwalking ants, zombie crickets, ghost wasps, and REAL rats. *whimper* Why couldn't we have gotten the GOOD pests? My parents' house had those pretty little yellow butterflies on the bushes, and big fuzzy bumble bees, and harmless garter snakes, and really cool salamanders, and fieldmice outside where they belonged, and ladybirds, and spiders (I like spiders. Webs are pretty with the dew on, and anything that eats mosquitoes is a friend of mine). Those are good. Instead I have RATS. SCRABBLING IN THE WALLS WHILE I SLEEP.

*shudder*
desertport: Kaneda on his bike (Default)

[personal profile] desertport 2008-04-01 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
At least you don't have scorpions. Those'll hang out under your covers, which you'd have to shake out every night before you go to bed. *vbg*

But damn. Rats freak me out too. You're calling an exterminator, right?

[identity profile] dragojustine.livejournal.com 2008-04-01 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
SCORPIONS? *shudder* My god.

The exterminator can't come till next week.
desertport: Kaneda on his bike (gasp!)

[personal profile] desertport 2008-04-01 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
My mom grew up in El Paso. She used to tell me scorpion stories.

Man. Good luck with your new roomies. :D

[identity profile] amara-m.livejournal.com 2008-04-01 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I spent 13 years in El Paso...lots of scorpions and spiders the size of your hand.

*shivers*