Deep, Dark Confessions About Rodents, Rodent Pranks, and My Own Rat Story

I have a confession to make - I HATE mice and rats! That might not seem like big news to any of you but let me explain. I always acted like I wasn't that bothered by them when I was a kid so that I wouldn't be teased. Worse yet - and I should be ashamed to admit this - but as a kid, I did my share of teasing others who were afraid of mice if I knew I could get a response. For instance, I somehow discovered (don't ask me how) that I could break pieces of a burned candle wick off and put them in a kitchen drawer and it looked exactly like mouse droppings and my mom would kind of flip out. I think if I would have realized how much extra work it made for my mom, I wouldn't have done it - maybe. I've "confessed" my little prank since I've been an adult and my mom pointed out the fact that any time she found any "droppings" in a drawer, she always emptied the whole drawer out and scrubbed and sterilized everything including the drawer itself. She did have to laugh at my incredible cleverness of "making" my own droppings though. Years later when I was in college (and obviously still a big tease) we would tease my baby sister Joy. She was about two years old at the time and had probably never seen a mouse but she she just knew from people's reactions (more on that in a minute) that a mouse was something to be greatly feared. I would wink at my younger siblings to give them the cue for our joke and then I would yell "MOUSE!" We would all run to all the chairs and pull our feet up off the floor. Poor Joy would run frantically from wherever she was and scramble up anywhere she could to get off the floor. I know it was mean and I'm sorry Joy but I can't help it, I'm sitting here chuckling now remembering it. So, as you can see, it's a pretty big confession for me to admit that I dislike them and I would flip out if one ran across my foot. In all fairness to me, my fear comes quite naturally since one of my family members was so scared of them when I was a kid that they would scream, jump up on chairs and tables, etc. if one crossed the floor. I'm not going to mention any names because I wouldn't want to embarrass my mom. :) I'll never forget the time some of my mom's family was at our house. We kids were telling them all about one of [the anonymous person's] most recent and dramatic reactions to a mouse sighting which we all found funny. My grandma said, "Nancy, you oughtta' be ashamed of yourself! A great big 'ole thing like you being scared of a tiny, little mouse!" (Obviously, my mom didn't get her fear of mice from her mother!) When my grandma realized how her comment sounded, she quickly tried to explain - to everyone's teasing - that she just meant "big compared to a mouse". By the way, just to clarify, my mom is NOT and has never been "great big". It didn't help my childhood fears that one time a mouse had gotten into some poisoning and was apparently delirious. My dad woke up in the middle of the night to the feeling of something running across his chest so he flung at it and realized it was a mouse. (It was later found dead.) You wanna' talk about the Heebie Jeebies! I wish there was more logic to my fears like with people who hate snakes or spiders. If I could be like, "I don't mind mice but I just worry when I see one that it's going to be one of the poisonous, vicious ones that could kill me" then my fears would be more reasonable and understandable. People have said ridiculous things to me before like, "Yeah, but look at how cute Mickey Mouse is" as if to imply all mice are that cute. No, I'm sorry but Mickey Mouse would NEVER chew up your belongings, leave his droppings, and he DEFINITELY wouldn't scamper across your feet with his long tail!
In Florida, we don't seem to have that many mice but there are rats. I've heard stories from others but we have not personally had a rat in our house that we know of. However, after the "stinky house" incident which we were pretty sure was caused by a dead rat up under the house, I have felt a little nervous about the possibility of a rat in the house. The other night after I had put Kaelyn to bed, Kevin and I were both sitting in the living room using our computers. I heard "the noise" from the kitchen first. It didn't really sound like gnawing or scampering - it was just a sound that you should not hear coming from an otherwise quiet kitchen. After a couple minutes, Kevin heard it too. Now I am not a screamer. As a matter of fact, when I'm kind of afraid, like on a roller coaster, I laugh. Yes, I know I'm weird but I laugh or am deathly quiet on roller coasters. I don't really freak out over things like snakes, spiders, bugs etc. though I don't particularly care for them but I quickly informed Kevin that if I saw a rat in the house I just might scream and he would see a girlie girl side of me that he probably didn't even know existed in me. He muttered something supportive like "Great". So there we sit in the living room hearing this "noise" every little bit. I finally said, "I keep hearing something out there." Well, Kevin has learned the language of "marriagese" quite well over the past few years so he interpreted my comment well. He knew it really meant, "I know I'm not saying it directly but would you please get up and go see what's out there?" So he bravely went out to the kitchen to see if he could find anything. I sat on the couch in the living room with me feet safely tucked up under me. I watched his investigation intently though so that if something scampered out at him, I could scream for him - I knew he would be appreciative. :) He never did see anything. I was in a quandary though when I had to walk out to the kitchen later that night. I wasn't sure whether to stomp my feet and sing loudly or tiptoe. Part of me thought if "it" knew I was in the kitchen, it would naturally stay hidden from the noise and clatter. The other part of me feared that it would run out trying to find a safer place or just out of pure curiosity to see what kind of crazy human lived at this house. I finally let maturity overrule my nervousness and I just walked timidly so as not to wake my daughter over my foolishness. We've never seen any other indications of having a creature in the house right now. I don't know if Kevin's brave confrontation scared something off or if [most likely] there was nothing to start with but I'm just as happy to have it that way! Oh, and by the way, I personally think that Mickey and Minnie feel slightly insulted to be in the same category as those other fearsome creatures! :)