War of Attrition

Our rat has not succumbed to any of our traps. He has not eaten any of the bright blue poison balls. He has not given in to the temptation of treats hanging inside a metal trap. And he has actually moved glue traps out of his way rather than step on them.

So we seem to have engaged in a War of Attrition - and our side has much greater resources.

We have removed all free foods. The bowl of fruit sits vacant and lonely on the kitchen table, while the refrigerator is full of chilled produce. The sack of flour rests neatly inside a Ziploc bag. Loaves of bread are stored in the oven. And bags of corn flour and chocolate squares rest inside an airtight box.

Every food in this house rests inside at least one air-tight container.

We rinse the dishes after dinner, and we take out the trash twice a day.

Unless he is eating the plaster in the walls of the stuffing in the couch, this rat must be slowly starving to death.

But the powers that be saw the starvation diet as too slow, and notched up our military strategy.

The heat has gone out in our home. Although the taps all run hot water, and the stove displays lovely blue flames, our radiators all sit cold. The outside temperature is 41, and the inside temperature can not be much higher than 55. We're cooking dinner now, which keeps me warm. And we've got thick blankets on our beds for later. We can stand the cold until the landlord deems it appropriate to send someone to repair the radiators (as a sidenote - I would expect immediately to be the appropriate time).

I just hope I'm not the one to stumble across a frozen, emaciated rat.