I smell another rat

Well, I caught another rat last night. Now don't go thinking that I live in some kind of run down shack or something. Just ask Charlene! She's been here and knows I don't live in a dump! My husband was the first to notice the tell tail signs (get it!) that there was another mouse in the house. So, I ran out and stocked up on the super size stickey traps and we began to lay them out at night. The first morning, we cautiously approached the the kitchen only to find the invading maurader had skipped out on us. Well, actually, he gnawed his way out of the trap leaving bits of fluff behind. I continued to diligently leave the traps out at night, but would come down to an empty kitchen every morning. Well, I thought. The mouse has flown the coop, (caution! mixing metaphors!) So, seeing as my husband was leaving town for the week, and that I didn't especially want to "deal" with the mouse issue this time AGAIN, all by my little ol' self, I collected all four sticky traps onto a sheet of newspaper and slid them into a corner in the dining room. I wanted to get them out of the way because I knew, just knew, that flaunting them would only excite my youngest and make him want to stick his fingers into the traps...just 'cause! Well, in fact this happened. He came into my office with a sheepish kind of look on his face. I looked at him up and down and then asked...you stuck your finger in the trap didn't you...he kind of hung his head looking very guilty and fessed up to the nasty deed. Then with morbid fascination he pleaded with me, to pleeeeaaaase, let him have a look at the mouse after it has been caught. Big yuck! I thought. There is no way I am going to hold on to a dead mouse so that my seven year old can take a peek at it.

So, a day or so went by. The traps sat in the dining room in the corner....that is until this morning. I came down stairs at 6:15 in the morning and started my coffee brewing. And then, I peeked into the dining room, just to make sure there was no wild life running around in there. Much to my horror there was the big old hairy mousey rat stuck in the middle of a trap that was now close to the middle of the dining room. It had more or less run into all the traps, but the third one was the one that finally nabbed him. Quite the strong ferocious little rodent. Must be well stocked up on steroids back at the nest. To make matters worse, the thing was still twitching and trying to get out of its predicament.

At that point, I had a decision to make. Should I run upstairs and get Kyle out of bed so that he could view this sight. Well, of course I did! He came down the stairs all bleary eyed and full of unbridled curiosity. He then proceeded to sneak ever closer trying to get a better look. He watched as I ungracefully attempted to remove the thing and put it into a garbage bag, only to be halted at a crucial moment when Kyle cried "Wait!" "Wait? Wait for what?", I cried back, as I looked over at him. There he was all big eyes and biting his lower lip, "But, can't we keep him as a pet. We can put him in the old turtle cage!"

Oh dear! I think I need to re-evaluate this whole pet/dog thing. The fish just aren't cutting it any more, if my son now wants to keep a rat for a pet, and one that has been stuck in a sticky trap over night, none-the-less!