It all began with mouse poop that started showing up on my floor throughout my house. For those that don't know, I did my best to close my house from the outside world but there's still a huge gap of several inches between the wall and roof, space under the door, and a 2" tube near the floor that is there in case there's a flood. With that said, mouse-proofing from the start was a bit of a challenge.
My original solution was OK until something showed up in search of those mice...
I went into a bit of a panic, in both the short term, and longer term. What the hell mice? What do you see in my house? I proceeded to remove any temptations such as hiding spots, treats, etc. for mice and, at the same time, for cockroaches, scorpions, bullet ants, etc. that I've seen scurrying about my house. I covered both trash cans, put food in 5 gallon buckets with lids, separated my bookshelves a distance from the walls, and sprayed Raid on all the legs of furniture that touched the floor, cleaned my house from top to bottom, and took several other preventative measures.
I was fine for a bit, and then the poop continued. Besides the late night snack in my bed, which I am very careful to clean up, and meals I eat at my desk, and never make a mess of, I felt there was no reason for their return. I was baffled for some time and did all I could which was to continue sweeping up their mess. (I also realize now that I forgot to mention that I set traps but the cockroaches kept eating whatever I set out before the rats arrived.)
I observed one day, after I'd been out of my house for some time, that all the poop was collecting in one corner. I couldn't find evidence of a home and didn't push further. It wasn't until a day or two later that I awoke to the chirping of the birds that also live in my roof (they're cool though) and observed something scurrying along the space between the wall and roof above the poop. I jumped out of bed to observe the rat in action but I looked close and realized it was in fact a bat. The chirping I'd assumed for MONTHS was a family of birds was actually bats.
I immediately grabbed what I had left of the Raid and started spraying it in the space, of course that quickly ran out. What also quickly ran out and then took off flying was a family of bats. Bastards flew out though, circled back, and tried to hide again in my roof. With the liberal use of bug spray, I finally got them to head off in search of a new home.
It's been almost two weeks since that happened. Was it the end of the war or just another battle in which we’d live to fight another day? Only time will tell.
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