Die, rat, die!

Generally, I'm quite tolerant of animals, even if I'm not what you'd call an animal lover. But I've had enough of this rat. I first woke to hear its gnawing in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. The next day, I cleaned everything from behind and around the refrigerator, including what it had dragged under there. I made sure all dry crackers, cereal and snacks were tucked into the fridge to avoid any tempations in my room.

The next night I heard it again.

So, then I got smart and realized I had to keep the door to the bathroom/kitchen closed at night. There's nothing to keep the rat(s?) from coming in the open-metalwork window; the door had to be the dividing line between outside and in. I thought that would work.

And it does, most of the time. About once a week, it manages to slip in before I get the door shut for the night and I wake to its gnawing on some unidentifed object and struggle to sleep through the noise. Several times a week, I can hear it behind the door or see it run across the floor as I go into the bathroom/kitchen.

I've gotten quite fanatical about cleaning the kitchen area each night, wiping everything down with bleach water to get rid of any traces of food or food smells. I thought it might help, but I think I was wrong.

This morning, as Audrey grabbed the soap to wash her hands, she noticed something strange about it and asked me: "Mom, what happened to the soap?" To my bewildered amusement, I realized that the stupid rat had been snacking on our soap last night. Soap! Of all things to eat, why cleansing products?!

The cruel and frustrated part of me hopes that the soap does inreparable damage to the thing. Or at least convinces it that my room should be avoided.