Chieftat’s blog on Uninvited Guest brought back some childhood happy (horrors! i hope not) memories.
There are three types of rats. One is the mole rat, black fur, which lives underground, outside the home that go squeaking, squeaking at night. It will come into the house for some food. Another is the house rat, the grey type that we so often referred to. The third is the huge one which burrows and lives underground. Even cats are afraid of the 3rd type.
I am going to talk about the 2nd type, the house rat. Living in the kampung back then means living with rats and even snakes. (more about cobra and phyton next time). When I was smaller and my father was around, my household will have a riot whenever my older siblings spotted a rat. Father, brothers and sisters will have a piece of wood each and chased the vermin down and whacked it to hell. Me? I was too small then, about 5-6 years old.
Sometimes, we would use the mousecage, which is a metal cage that can be opened and placed with a piece of food to lure the rat. Best choice of food – dried sotong that had been roasted on the charcoal fire and it stinks. Or the cruel method is the mousetrap that we often see in cartoons. The kind where it snapped nastily. Not a good choice ‘cos death is messy and gory and it poses the danger of snapping your own fingers and toes.
Chieftat asked how to get rid of the rat caught in the metal cage. I had killed a lot of rats by strangulation. Step-by-step on Chief’s comment. I even got a scar on my middle finger to prove of the rat bite.
*sniff* After my father’s death, my siblings sort of went separate places, to work and study and there wasn’t anymore rat killing sessions where everyone ran around the house so noisily and happy. *sigh*, I was left with the duty of terminating rats on my own. Yeah, added to 5xmom titles – the rats terminator, besides the title of chicken killer.
Question? Why did not use a cat? ‘Cos cats only know how to eat and leave stinky shits around the house.
Ever kill a rat?
then there are those that can talk. i know one called mickey.
Yep – in my house in Indonesia. Blocked its way, and I was armed with a stick, and newspapers. Dressed in thick cloths, just in case, it would attack me.
Chased the poor rat behind the sofa and suddently, it didn’t move anymore. I am not sure, still, if it died of a heartattack or if I smashed its brain. When I took it out from the sofa, it didn’t look injured at all. But I was just as scared – the rat was huge.
Yeah, dulu my grandparents house in Keramat got damn big rats!! My grandpa would pasang those rat cages, everday got hasil one. Then he would fill up a big tong with water and drown the rat. Wah, can still hear the rats screeching. Damn takut woo.
I once rented the ground floor section of a townhouse. The chief tenant and his family lived upostairs. Rats (that roamed the weed infested courtyard) would come and chew right through my little cabinet where I stored my instant noodles. Thankfully, I never had to deal with it.
The bloke upstairs would fry a hotdog and bait the cage in my kitchen. Almost immediately I would hear a high pitched squeak as the cage snapped shut. The bloke just took the cage out and left the rat to its sunbathing. Death would come in an hour or so. No mess.
Percolator – Oh dear, sunbathing to death. A slow, hot death.
And Along – Drown to death also very torturing.
Plus Andreas – Whacked to death – poor rat
I think my strangulation method is still the fastest and it is pretty interesting to loop the vermin. Needs dexterity and patience.
Simon – That mouse is bearable. I can’t stand the duck, though.
Did you watch “Fear Factor: 100th Episode” last night? The contestants had to swallow blended rat meat!!! I’m not kidding! Uwwekkk!!!
didn’t know catching rats could be so much fun.
i was waiting if somebody would mention this method but none so far. What my mom would do was boil water and siram the rat nicely all over. Horrible horrible act…..but my mom REALLY HATE rats coz she was once bitten by 1. The last episode I had with a rat, it jumped to its death from 7th floor.
Actually don’t need to use a cat also, i have even seen dogs kill a rat before. And i didn’t know that there are so many kinds of rat in this world. so complicated.
Mr Kiasu – I hope my posting and comments have not frighten you. LOL!
Chrissy – Eh, eh, dasyatnya….Poor rat get steam bath. And the other one committed suicide?
Chief – Ya, this is like 100 ways to kill a rat.
Halian – You know what? I hate Fear Factor, cannot even bear to listen to it. ‘Cos I am scared of maggots and worms. I am hoping one day, someone get hurt and they kena sue until close shop. Uweekkkk indeed.
Btw, lynx can handle type 3 rats. Fearsome cat, even dog will run away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_%28cat%29
In KL, You will notic type 3 rats are commonly around those sewage. With tail, some can measure up to 2 feets.
YYeeeehh! Killing rats! I remember once our house was flooded with rats family. There is this ‘father rat’ which is very huge. We managed to catch the smaller ones with the metal cage, but the big ones are difficult. We finally chose the glue, which succesfully caught one fat ‘father rat’ in it one night. It was so strong that it pulled itself away. When I saw that, it was already at the edge of the board. Dad with his blur blur state, accidentally touched the rat rather than the board. Wow! The bite was terrible. It refused to let go until we hit its head for so many times. Dad’s finger needed so many stiches! I still find it scary thinking back.
lzbone – Wah, so scary ah? I heard it is very dirty to be bitten by rats ‘cos they got a lot of bacterias/viruses. I got bitten before too.
moo_t – Lynx? That’s not a domesticated pet, right? Anyway, I don’t have rats problem. It would be fun if they come, so many of us chasing the rats around. We only have 2-3 friendly cicaks.
nope..
but this lil rat is dying of overworking..
kweee kweee kwee
scary post for a rat you see ^_^
how are ya kak?
Sham! Khabar baik….Tapi kenapa engkau dah tak blog? I visit on and off tengok tak ada update. Rajin-rajin blog ya. Overwork pun boleh release stress with blogging.
aiyerrr…. someone with the chinese zodiac of rat year must’ve pissed off lilian.. poor fella…. hehehe.
I’ve never personally killed a rat before but I can tell you how I catch them.
1st attempt was when I live in a shop house where I could see the roof of the neighbour below and rats always climb on it.
I use a fishing rod, put some cheese/food on the hook, then let them dumb shits come for it. I’ve caught 2 rats this way, one hooked in the inner of it’s lip, and another hooked on it’s ass when I just pulled for fun. I missed it when it attempted to bite the bait but the hook happened to graze and clamp on to it’s butt. I’ve caught 2 rats this way with my fishing rod (which i never had any luck with fishes). The killing job was done by my dad who used a brick on it’s skull. The 2nd one I let go afterwards.
The 3rd rat I caught in my life was 2 years ago, with a typical mouse cage which I bought for 7 ringgit. Then I walked a few kilometers to a field and let it off there, it never came back of course. Personally have never killed a 4 legged creature or a mammal before.
I give them diving lessons (without the scuba gear) in a longkang, complete with the cage.
One can block the holes of mice and rats with the following component: 1 part of the cement, 1 part of the sand and 1 part of the pounded glass. Even rats will not be able to gnaw through such putty.
http://www.traps.net.ru/en/page-3.htm