Pack Rats

Arizona has some pretty fascinating wildlife.  We’ve seen bobcats, coyotes, roadrunners, javelinas and hawks all from our back porch.  Some of the wildlife is amazing, like mountain lions.  Some of it is scary – like rattlesnakes or scorpions.  Some is just disgusting.  Pack rats are, in my opinion, disgusting.  Let me explain.  Every morning around 7:30 I send my boys outside to play before it gets too hot.  They jump on the trampoline, throw a ball for the dog, or just run around out there and get their wiggles out.  I take advantage of this time to do things like, load the dishwasher or the washing machine, or more often than not I am having a cup of tea and thinking about grocery lists and appointments.  One morning last week, they came in after just a few minutes telling me “Mom, it stinks out there!  I don’t want to play outside anymore!”  Being the sympathetic and believing mother that I am, I just pointed out the door and sent them back out.  They didn’t stay out – they came right back in!  This time, I thought I would investigate.  They were right – it reeked out there!  I spent an hour outside trying to locate the source of this mysterious stench.  We had just been fishing that weekend, maybe it was the trash cans.  So, I pulled those over and hosed them out and sprayed them down with cleanser.  I cleaned out the tackle box.  I scrubbed the cooler.  Finally I admitted defeat – something must have died behind our wall or something, whatever it was, it was nasty.  As I was headed back inside with the boys, I noticed the smell got worse near the dog house.  What on earth did she do now?  I leaned down and yes, the smell was very definitely coming from her house.  Maybe something died IN there?  Okay, everyone inside.  Dad will take care of this when he gets home.  Well, when he got home I went to show him the smell and we realized that it wasn’t coming from IN the dog house but outside of it.  Upon closer inspection – we had a pack rat.  Living in the space between the dog house and the patio door.  We set a humane trap, baited it with peanut butter and left it alone.  Bright and early (by that, I mean 5 am!) my oldest son comes running into our room shouting “Mom!  We caught the pack rat!  Can we keep him?  He’s so cute!”  Upon inspection, he is pretty cute.  Sort of fluffy, with a long tail and a little pink nose.  Upon closer inspection, he chewed through the dog house and stained the concrete where he was using it as his own personal bathroom.  So, cute, but not that cute.  We let the boys get a good long look at it, and then distracted them with some free computer time while Dad did away with our visitor.  The porch has been scrubbed, the dog house disinfected, and the smell is gone from the yard – giving us our playtime back.  All of this upset and chaos caused by one. Little. Pack rat.  See?  Disgusting.