Attic Dweller?

This afternoon I was finally brave enough to do two things I'd been avoiding for weeks.

1-I ascended into my attic (only halfway, really) and
2-I set two "classic" mousetraps.

A week after I moved into my new domain, I noticed a curious scratching/rattling/scraping up near my exhaust vent in my master bathroom. I told Sabrina we had houseguests, told Dad (Currently, I seem to tell him everything that happens in the house as if it's stuff that's never been encountered before...), and promptly bought two D-Con classic traps.

Since I'm a girl who is typically not scared of a whole lot of things (with exception of heights, exceptionally large and/or furry spiders, and snakes), I was kind of surprised at how much I grew to detest the thought of this task. I bought the mousetraps a month ago, but just kept putting off setting them up for no real reason other than busyness, and was planning to set them last weekend (New Year's). Then I sat down to read the headline of one of the sections in my Friday (Dec. 30) Herald-Leader: "House full of party animals?" In this article, they explain how to tell what pests you have in your house. Does it stumble in from outside around midnight like a college student and make all sorts of racket? It's probably a raccon. Does it start moving around first thing in the morning? It could be a squirrel (who is not stashing acorns, contray to popular belief, the article says).

Thank you, Herald-Leader, for putting all kinds of scary vermin in my head. And my attic. Suddenly I was having visions of big hairy, heavy, toothy racoons and evil, fast-scampering squirrels burrowing in my attic insulation. I really have no aversion to racoons except they often reside in the same sentence as the word "rabies," and there was a squirrel incident in college that I can't quite recall, but it left me increasingly suspicious of the little buggers. Mice? Ah, well, they bother me when I see them and then they disappear under something, but regardless, none of these things need to be sharing my address.

Oh, yes, and the article told about the advantages/disadvantages of each type of pest killer.

Classic traps? Messy.

Glue traps? The mouse dies a slow, horrible death.

Poison? I might end up with a dead cat. I already know Sabrina doesn't know what to do with a live mouse (she once cornered one at my boss' house and proceeded to look at the human residents of the house with a startled expression, as if to say, "Ah! Do something about it!"). But what would she do with a dead one? It's not worth the risk to me. Plus if it dies in my wall, it will smell and most everyone knows my olfactory sense is a bit too acute.

I took these considerations up with some of my friends who are more experienced homeowners (with hearts for the "exterminees"), and I was told about the "Rat Zapper." Apparently this thing electrocutes the mouse and a light comes on when there's a dead one inside. Then you just dump deceased mouse in the trash, re-set it, and carry on. Hmm, interesting method. So, being the sucker that I am for gadgets, I ordered the zapper from SkyMall (my first purchase from them, by the way). As the scratching has commenced overhead the past few nights, I told the mystery creature that its days are numbered.

Fast forward. Both nights this weekend I've been awoken by said obnoxious noise several times in the night. I discussed it briefly with a fellow choir member this morning who, after telling me how his uncle shoots squirrels with BB guns, said, "The 'mess' of a regular mousetrap is nothing compared to what's happening in your attic right now." (BIG EYES.) "OK, OK, I'll set the traps!"

All I could see in my attic was lots and lots of white, fluffy insulation. I set the traps on a stud where I could reach them and where they (I hope) won't end up snapping and landing on the attic cover. (What's worse than de-pesting the mousetrap? Having one land on you or your clothing in your closet while retrieving it.) I set one off while putting it up there. It made me jump and utter a not-so-good word. (Somehow, my "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no' " --Matt. 5:37--is not a verse that is foremost in my mind when my fingers almost get pinched by a nasty contraption designed for small vertebrate homicide.) I'm not cut out for pest control, apparently.

No doubt, if I hear those things snap during the night tonight, my eyes will pop wide open, and I'll be wondering how and when I'm going to handle the "messy" part. In the meantime, I will be anxiously awaiting my SkyMall delivery, hoping that the latter comes before the former. :-)