Oh Rats! part three

The guy from Cascade Pest Control returned this morning to check the traps. I had everything ready for him, crawl space closet entrance cleaned out, and the route to the attic clear. I was having VERY mixed feelings about the whole thing. On the one hand, I'm a wimp when it comes to furry animals, so a small portion of me was hoping the traps hadn't caught anything. But a bigger portion remembered the rat poop in the garage (which hubby-Eric, the most wonderful guy in the world, cleaned up for me (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU)). I also remembered spotting the rat climbing the curtain and moving like lightning. I wanted it GONE.

Pest Control Guy (PCG?) went into the attic first, wearing a gas mask, I noticed. I heard him exclaim while up there, but I don't know what he said. He came back down with a large plastic bag containing something that I didn't look too closely at. Then he went into the crawl space. Another exclamation. This one sounded a bit different. When he came out, he told me that he'd caught two rats in the attic, and one in the crawl space. I felt my stomach turn in horror. He continued, telling me that he'd found a nest of moisture ants in the crawl space. My heart sank, remembering the moisture ant nest in the wall. He continued, explaining that as part of the service, he would spray them. Whew. He went back down in his Darth Vader-sounding gas mask and a scary-looking spray can and dealt with that. He also said he reset all the traps.

He then checked the traps in the garage, which were empty (I've been checking them every other day or so, so I knew they hadn't caught anything). Then he went out to patch the hole he noticed on his last visit, and to spray for spiders. YAY! Spider reduction is happening! He told me that spiders are impossible to get rid of, and I told him that I understood, and that we're realistic people who would be happy for a slight reduction in spider population. He said the spray will get rid of up to 50% of them. That's more than enough for me. I don't mind a few spiders, anymore, but I can't handle a lot of spiders. This house has, at times, had a lot of spiders.

As a last note, he told me that we might hear movement in the attic/garage/crawl space over the next couple of days. Until they find the traps. If we continue to hear movement, or worse, see the critters, we should call back. Otherwise, we're good until the first of our bi-monthly visits, sometime in June.

So, now he's left. My stomach keeps turning over and over. I did manage to get an unfortunately good look at his plastic bag of dead rats, and the image is seared into my eyes. I keep imagining sounds in the attic. I keep thinking about how lucky we are that he found the new moisture ant nest, and how much I hope the spray takes care of it. I haven't had breakfast yet, and I'm really glad. I may have to wait awhile.