Vermin

We live in an open house in a tropical country and haven’t sprayed or fumigated for the last 10 months. Presently, ants sweep across the counter when anything is left out and swarm on the dishes I always leave for the maid to do in the morning. We have mourning doves in the rafters, bats living in the roof ridge and unidentified flying animals in our bedroom wall. At first I tried to get rid of them all, but now we have a peaceful coexistence. Except for the mice. When I notice they have been around, I set a trap. Mice multiply too rapidly and the cats that wander through the house to pee don’t seem to want to be bothered with doing any work.

The other night Moni told us she had seen a mouse scurry out of the oven so we set a trap and caught one teeny tiny mouse. Then the next night at dinner, another one popped up out of the burner hole. Then another one. Clearly an infestation of very bold or stupid rodents. We put a little peanut butter on the trap and tried to be quiet, which wasn’t actually necessary because as we ate our dinner, the tiny mouse licked the trap clean. It was apparently set for larger prey. We reapplied and readjusted. Waited a few moments and three mice were coming up to see what was for dinner. SNAP. One caught. The rest run away. Empty trap, reset, watch, snap. Next victim. Repeat. Total for the night – 4. I only felt fleetingly squeamish.