House rats are a common problem especially for old houses. I moved to our old home last year for my sister to have her own bedroom. During the first few months, wala namang problem. Then I started hearing rats scratching my ceiling. Minsan, ginagalaw pa nga nila ung light bulbs. As in parang exorcist! My lightbulbs would tilt in different directions overnight. Iskeri. Ok lang naman kasi di ko naman sila nakikita pero after a while di na sila nahihiyang magpakita even when the lights are on.
I tried rat repellent sprays and Baygon sticky fly traps. Whenever I see a mouse, I immediately catch them using the fly trap, even if walang bait. I just put the fly traps on the corners of my room na di masyado nagagalaw. Or dun sa mga lugar na nafi-feel ko na lagi nilang dinadaanan. I think I have a calling in pest control. Did I mention that I have an unbroken streak of slapping flies in one hit? I wasn’t really that aggressive catching them. (Nakakaguilty kaya pag nakakahuli ako. Sana di ako ma-reincarnate as a daga.) This was the case until two months ago.
The mice sightings became so frequent that I had to outsource my dad’s services. I bought this harmless mouse trap from Shopee. Harmless kasi di masasaktan ‘yung daga pag nahuli siya. Unlike the fly trap na masakit ‘yata sa balahibo niya. Or the traditional mouse trap in Tom and Jerry. Oops nakaka-tanda.
So ayun, may trap na, and the next thing we had to prepare was the bait. According to my Internet research (char), peanut butter is the best bait. Buti na lang may expired kaming Skippy! My dad would make the peanut butter pandesal sandwiches tapos ilalagay sa trap.
We would carefully place the trap in a dark area pati kung saan ko sila last spotted. I believe that like us rats are routine people animals. Well, like any science experiment, one should note the controllable and uncontrollable variables. When a certain set-up works, why change it right? So far it has been working. I haven’t caught a rat for two weeks straight. Hopefully wala na, puhleasee!
PS. As the rate of my success rate slows down, palaki din palaki ang daga na nahuhuli. I guess sila ang parents. Someone introduce birth control pills to house rats!