Saturday 8 October 2011

Rat's End


End August 2011

 
The final episodes (we hope) in the Rat Saga were yet to be played out. 

We had managed to obtain a Rodent Repeller from the UK which plugged in and sent inaudible sonic signals through the van and electrical pulses through the wiring.  It took only a night or so and the rats left – or so we thought.

We arrived back after our week away in the boat to a strange smell in the camper van.  It seemed a bit musty.  The next morning it was stronger, but we couldn’t locate it.  By evening Dave was starting to feel sick.  (As a lifeboatman he’d handled some pretty nasty situations, and this was getting reminiscent.  He has livelier nasal membranes than me, it seems.)

The next morning we thought to look in the sealed off cab.  A forgotten glue trap behind the passenger seat was clearly the source of the stink.  I’ve never seen maggots so big!  Nearly the size of cocktail sausages.  Eugh!  Dave disposed of the body and I cleaned away the remaining rogue maggots and bleached out the area.

We assume the rat got trapped just before the Repeller kicked in and sat there festering in the heat for at least a week.  Yummy! 

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