Rodent rampage – Battling the invasion
Yesterday Baby S (now a tween) spotted a rat inside our car in the basement parking area. She was going for tuition, which is just next building, but still she needed her cycle, so that she could cycle around the society or play, without letting me know 😒. But, after seeing the rat, she got so scared that she came back running and almost on the verge of crying, to say that, she saw a rat inside our car.
My first reaction was, what were you doing there? You were supposed to
go to your class.
Baby S: I was taking my cycle
Me: Why do you need the cycle to go to the next building?
Baby S: I..I…Mamma, there is a rat in our car
Me: How can there be a rat inside the car?
Baby S: Yes Mamma, I saw something moving and when I peeped in, it popped up just in front of my nose, it was on the passenger side window, I got so scared 😨
Me: Ok, I will go and see, you go for your class
I was pretty confident that she might have seen some shadow or something like that, that area is dimly lit. I was anyways getting ready to go for my dental appointment, so we both went down together and when we reached the basement, to my utter surprise, I saw the rat running around the car dashboard from one window to another; and sensing my presence, it stopped like a statue on the driver’s side window 🐀. I slowly unlocked the car, but it jumped inside and vanished. The area was so dimly lit, I couldn’t find it again!!! I asked Baby S also to check, but she said, “thank you!! bye-bye,” took her cycle and vanished…
I was clueless on what to do, was just standing there like a fool; suddenly I realized I have to inform Daddy S and for that I needed to come out of the basement to get some network. I started the car, and came out of the basement, then called Daddy S, he was in midst of some meeting, so when I said, “there is a rat in our car,” it didn’t get registered in his head and said, “what will I do, figure out something.” Reluctantly, I requested the security guards to help me search. Two security guards joined my search party; we opened all the doors, the bonnet, the dicky, but none of us could spot even the tail of the rat, after a rigorous 10-minute search, we gave up.
I thought, let me just keep the engine running for some time and drive
around so, the rat will go away if the engine is hot (I thought rats could come
only from engine area, such a fool I was). After driving around the society for
around 10 minutes, I suddenly remembered that I had to go for my dental
appointment. So, I checked with my doc, if I can come now and while I was
waiting for her to respond, I sought suggestion in our apartment group about my
rodent incident. I couldn’t check the responses; Daddy S called back, seemed like something registered in his mind. I explained the whole story again and by
that time my doctor also called, so we stopped mid-conversation.
After coming out from the doctor’s, I called him back to give him the
update on my tooth, but he started with the Rat discussion!!!, “maybe you could
take it to a nearby car shop and see if they can help.”
I just took the car and drove around a few blocks and came back. Back
home, when I checked back my messages, suggestions had already started pouring
in. From that time, I started trying all sorts of home remedies and periodically
was going down and checking whether the rat was gone or not.
Someone suggested spreading pepper corn/black pepper seeds, as
apparently rats don’t like pepper smell. I did that and after an hour, when I went
down, I saw the rat is playing on the peppers 🤣. Then people suggested calling the 24x7 helpline of the car
manufacturer, I somehow managed to get the service manager’s number from the helpline,
but the number was out of network coverage..ughhh. Someone suggested that rats
go away with tobacco and naphthalene smell, So I called Daddy S again to see if
he can bring some tobacco pouches while coming home.
Daddy S was like, “where will I get tobacco pouches now?”
Me: When you guys go out to have a puff or cup of tea, from those stalls
only you can get
Daddy S: I am not going anywhere now and none of my team members smoke….call disconnected📵
Some more suggestions poured in; rat repellent spray, rat poison, etc.
etc. but it was late, so I gave up for the day.
Baby S was like, “I don’t want to get in that car ever”
Me: Then you have to walk for 2 km every morning with your 6-kg school bag
But, in my mind I was thinking what will happen in case the rat damages some vital wire
or what if the car doesn’t start etc. etc.
When Daddy S came back, we went down again to check and saw that the rat was
happily sitting on the bed of pepper corn. Again, as soon as we opened the car,
it vanished. We searched for it everywhere, this time we also searched the stepney
area and saw that the rat had had its dinner by chewing on our seat cover, ohh
God!!!
Next day morning, I woke Baby S a little earlier than usual, in case we needed
to do something unusual. After we both got ready, we tiptoed to the parking and
saw the rat sitting on its favorite bed of pepper corns; I was wondering
whether it was sharpening its teeth on those pepper corns 😧.
As soon as I opened the car, it vanished just like last time and with
much reluctance, Baby S got in the car. I started the car and thankfully it
started normally. When we came out of the society, I looked at the clock in the
dashboard, and it was too early for Baby S’ school, so I took a detour and drove aimlessly, and
Baby S said, “Mamma gone crazy!!” After killing some time on a new “atypical”
Bangalore road, I dropped Baby S to her school and came back.
On my way home, I stopped at a local store and asked for a few tobacco
pouches; instantly I could feel heads turning towards me and gazes 👀 saying, “how
come a decent looking lady is buying tobacco pouches so early in the morning??”
I completely ignored them and bought a full packet of tobacco pouches along
with a packet of naphthalene, got into the car, and drove away.
Back home, I emptied all those pouches and made six portions and put
them in cloth pouches with one naphthalene in each pouch. I went down again and
‘strategically’ placed the pouches where I thought the rat might come.
By that time Daddy S had started making calls here and there, to the
service centers and accessories shops etc. with no solution.
Finally, one good lady shared the number of a service center, stating
that they might help. The shop was right outside our society, So, Daddy S, spoke
to the service center personnel and explained the whole story, and thank God,
he said that he knows what to do.
Again, I had to take the car there as Daddy S had to go to the office. When
I took the car to the shop, I showed them the seat cover where I saw the rat
chewed it and found that it had chewed on the tobacco pouches as well 🤣, got its morning dose of nicotine. They inspected the
whole car from outside and told me that I have to leave the car with them for a
day, they will remove the seats and keep the door open to let the rat go away
and then they will put the meshes on various entry points to prevent further
entry.
As soon as the back seat cover was removed, to my horror, a rat couple jumped
out. Thankfully, they didn’t get much time
to start their family 🤣, they only had their dinner maybe by
chewing on my seat cover and sharpened their teeth by nibbling on a few wires and
the stepney; and then had their morning dose of nicotine, courtesy me!!!
I left the car with them to clean up the whole mess, repair the wires,
and put the meshes on, will get it back tomorrow.
Have you had any such experience with these rodents??
.jpeg)
