Rats

When Sheldon (my oldest son) was 1 we moved into a big beautiful house downtown. It was brand new, bigger than we knew what to do with, full of huge bay windows, and even had a big yard with an apple tree. It was everything I wanted. The only downside was it was right next to the hospital. After his 2nd birthday, the entire street underwent sewer line maintenance to upgrade the hospital's sewer lines. One night, after Steve went to work, I was watching TV next to a sleeping Sheldon in our living room. Suddenly I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked, but it was gone. I keep looking. Sure enough, a gigantic rat came out from behind my living room table. It was a foot long, not including the ropey tail, all brown with a white chest and black beady eyes. Creepy! When it saw me jump up, it ran. We had been having issues with our floor sinking due to needing a floor jack in the basement on top of the sewer line change. Because of this, the gap underneath my basement door had become large enough for this rat to come up and look for food. I'm not going to say I put on my husband's steel toed boots, put on gangster rap and then walked around with a metal bat for about 3 hours searching for that monster - but that is exactly what happened. When I didn't find him? Her? I set traps and found babies. It was breeding. We moved right after. As the book explains, once a rat breeds, you'll need a professional exterminator, preferably with lots of experience. Possibly a young priest and an old priest, too. To say I was disgusted with the entire situation would be an extraordinary understatement. This began my weird fascination with rats. Vile, dirty, intelligent, resourceful, and have been infesting New York since the 1700's. I watched tons of YouTube videos, read first hand accounts, and obviously needed this book. This book ruled. I absolutely loved it. Because of this book I now know my rat was a Norway Rattus Norvegicus. The author covered everything you could want to know about rats, from breeding, to catching, to their every day activities. Based around the time of the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001, this book is timeless. Absolutely recommend!

10/10