Someone Reassure Me...

[ArizonaGirl]

DH just talked to the pest control guy and he believes that we have a RAT in our garage. :eek:

I am mortified and just want to just die right now, we aren't unclean, honest. I do the best I can to keep the house (inside and out) clean. We live in the city (large metropolitan area). We do live next to the park and greenbelt in our neighborhood and the large freight train line in and out of town is just beyond that.

Reassure me I didn't do anything wrong did I?

Does this happen to other neat, reasonably uncluttered people?

I am shuddering inside (how do they know it is just one)?

How do I keep it from happening again?

How do I clean the garage up?

:cry:

[bekahjean]

This time of year, it happens. The little critters are looking for a warm winter home. If they can get in, they will. You caught it early, which is good. Keep on top of it (bait traps, glue traps, whatever seems to be working) and you will get rid of them.

We just found out that we have mice in the garage. The bottom of our garage doors aren't airtight, so it's hard to keep them out. It sucks, but it happens. :/

[mom3boys]

If there are any types of critters outside, they sometimes get inside, it happens.

DH is super anal-retentive and clean. However, we used to get ants all the time, certain times of year, in the house. We had some work done to our house that made it more secure and now we have fewer, but we still get them. One year we had mice, in the kitchen and basement. (our neighbors too, we live in attached homes). And squirrels got into our eaves, too. Oh, I forgot about the newborn feral kittens born under my next door neighbors' porch.

We are moving to a house on over an acre, near a somewhat wooded area, and the inspector found evidence of mice the garage. We are just going to get a pest control service on contract to try to prevent it (and get a cat).

Plus a rat, I mean, it could even have been a pet rat that escaped, or the offspring of a pet rat. I know rats are associated with being so dirty and such, but, really, how different is it than a squirrel seeking out refuge there? I

[Smillow]

We only ever saw mice in our current home when a very dilapidated house down the street was extensively renovated.
My parents had rat issues in their garage after hurricane Wilma...

[ArizonaGirl]

My parents live fairly close to us in the house that I grew up in and they have had mice a handful of times, but it was always when they were building around them (the houses were all built in that area when we moved in). But I have never had any experience with rats, excepts for roof rats, but that is a problem in other areas of town mostly with a lot of citrus trees, of which we have none and neither do our neighbors.

Ugh, double ugh.

[elliput]

Rodents aren't discriminatory. And you have done nothing wrong. :hug:

[ahisma]

We had rats in the backyard this summer, it was super stressful. We only avoided in them in the house because we knew that we were at risk. We knew that the woman behind us was a hoarder (her DD was a classmate / friend of my DD's so we'd been in there - it was TV worthy). She moved out, family emptied the house and bamn - rats running amuk! We had exterminators our through the summer to keep the suckers out, it was a huge hassle.

Meanwhile, we had squirrels in the attic and had no clue. That was fun. Somehow our new roof had far more gaps than the 100 year old original roof (with layers and layers on top of it) did.

My girlfriend recently dealt with rats too, from the sewer pipes. She is immaculate.

It happens. It sucks. It's not you. It's the darn rodents!

[alexsmommy]

The only thing you did "wrong" was have a sheltered living environment available on a cold night that the rat happened to be passing.
Don't feel bad it could happen to anyone.

So sorry. I'd be freaking out too as mice in our garage had me send DH for the industrial size bag of rodent poison.

[wellyes]

The only thing you did "wrong" was have a sheltered living environment available on a cold night that the rat happened to be passing.
Don't feel bad it could happen to anyone.:yeahthat:

[ArizonaGirl]

Thank you guys, I feel less "ashamed" now. We have had sticky traps out now for a couple of days and haven't caught anything.

Could the rat have moved on?

[123LuckyMom]

I'm glad you feel better!!! The rat COULD have moved on, but I would continue to be vigilant.