OK so I was expecting it. I have cotched one ickle mouse but I knew there was something bigger as things still got knocked off the dressing table even with the sticky mats on it. So I had a huge wooden-framed sticky sticky on the chest of drawers where THEY go run run behind the wardrobes. And I heard it trying - oh shut up. It was horrid. But even after all this time I am on seizure watch and I thought it was little Tikva. B"H it was not. And unlike the last time when I put the sticky sticky in the kitchen bin [OK it was a regular sticky sticky] when IT jumped out and bit me, I got a large polybag and carefully put the sticky thing in it. AND THAT BDOOLY RAT HAD COTCHED AND BIT ME AS I WAS PUTTING IT IN. I mustard mit that I then had to do a nasty to dead it, but what could do? It then went into not just one but three strong rubbish bags, thinking I could tie them and put in the strong black bag in my wheelie bin that had gone in last evening - but that had already been emptied. At 5am? I am hoping that it bled enough to get rid of poison. And that the tetanus shot I had the last time will still be OK. Well, over some hours later it has stopped bleeding, and an emergency doctor is due here in an hour because no way am I going back to that ****ing hospital.
Emergency doctor been. They do take their time. Cut open where I had been bitten and eeked out more blood. Sloshed Poviodine over it, bandaged it, charged me - DO NOT LAUGH - £4 -said just wash it and slosh Poviodine over it for a couple of day
My OH is always saying that old age is not for the faint hearted, but you do seem to be having to endure more than the average. This vermin problem sounds too big for just one person to deal with, would it be possible for a group of you join together and consult a specialist firm? The previous batch of bait will have gone by now, it needs replenishing over a period of several weeks to eliminate the colony. I don't know your political set up, but is there a local councillor you could turn to?
Carole, I have no idea what or where anyone is, and my neighbour is still AWOL. And the local authority is way way way down the road which is why I cannot even contact my "new" social worker. If she exists. I just do not know who to contact. I was just at the macolet and my hand was spewing blood everywhere because I knocked it. People screaming go to the hospital. Oh yeah? And just who was going to take me and then bring me home again? And do you honestly think I am going to leave Tikva, having lost my beloved Pereg and then Baby Ziva a month later after having had her for only 11 days? No way, even more so that my neighbour has gone AWOL.
I hope your hand is OK, but you do have medical experience, and know what to look out for. I wouldn't be leaving my dogs overnight either - especially after your previous ghastly incident. I would need to know they were secure, and being supervised by someone I really trusted, but I might be persuaded to visit A&E for an AB injection.
Carole - last time I went to the ER for a rat bite, there was just one patient in a cubicle. Nobody waiting. I was eventually stuck on BP machine and left after it had been beeping non-stop to say it was done. No doctor, no nurse, nobody. So I undid the BP machine, slid somehow off the gurney [the ambulance guys actually let me take my crutches] and somehow got myself to the desk where the doctor and nurses were playing games on a computer. Yeah - one nurse said something to the doctor who said tetanus shot and 10 tabs of antibiotics, not even having checked that I am allergic to most. And you think I want to go back there? That stupid I am not.
I know I have already answered you, but do you know how much the ER charge? Forget about the money for an ambulance to go 15 minutes - and if you turn up in a taxi you can forget about being seen, even if the waiting room is empty and there is maybe one person in the ER cubicles. Luckily I do have medical experience but something like sepsis can set in so quickly. So I am going to stay up as long as I can, and keep checking my BP. Something I am supposed to do weekly but usually forget. Any sudden change I will press my button again but it is now gone 10pm and the gates will be closed at 11pm. And I cannot find my bottle of Poviodine. BUGGRIT
Still alive but with a rather swollen and very painful top joint of the index finger on my left hand - and as any touch-typist will know, that is a finger used more than any others! And you cannot really type with a Bandaid on that finger-tip. And I still cannot find either the bottle of Poviodine or the iodine jar I know I have. Had. Oh, and I heard something fall at 4.45am - got a torch from under my pillow but could not see anything on a sticky thing or on the floor - whatever it was had knocked something off the vanity unit in my en-suite. I do not know whether to laugh or cry now.
Never. I have nothing in England, no rights, no home there, and if you think I will leave the Country which has been my home for 31 years the answer is no way. There are worse things than rats there.
Just thinking - why would I want to "retire" - I am 74 years old and long retired. I also live in an admittedly rather old detached bungalow in a very quiet place - well OK there is traffic, although not much, during the day, but once the macolet closes at ~8pm there is even less traffic. And as the gates are closed at, I think, 11pm there is virtually no noise at all. Children can play outside after school, and although the school year started on 1 September, schools start early and end early. And of course on Shabbat and all Holy Days there are no vehicles allowed as the gates are closed so it is so peaceful. Also I have a contract for life at £219.50/month which cannot be changed, nor can the family who own the plot on which this bungalow and my neighbour's bungalow are, be sold off unless they all agree. Which is 100% unlikely ever to happen. Can you get a two bedroomed bungalow in England for that? In anycase, as I say, I no longer have any rights in England. I am sitting here now, at just gone 7pm, with the door partially open as it always is from when I surface until it is time for bed. Unless it is bucketing down with rain during the winter. Tikki is outside on her tether, and I can see out and watch the world, however much of it there is here, go by. Peace. Go back to England where I would have nothing and leave here where I have everything I need? Just because of a few little rats?
I was not offended in the slightest Carole and apologise if I worded things badly. I know that you meant it kindly and was very appreciated that you care enough to have suggested it. Please forgive me. Regarding Tina, I am getting very worried now but have no way to contact her. Maybe Azz could send her an email as I assume he has the email address that she joined with. Not that he could email me now as IIRC I am registered under a dogseymail.com address and that does not exist any more. The same with Janet - I am not sure of the user name she used for Dogsey but she used the same avatar there as she did here.
I tried adding a greeting to the last contact I had with Janet, but without response. I will try doing a search on Dogsey. We could always try doing the same thing on one of Tina's chatty/funny threads. This is where we could do with a PM service.
Cannot find Janet on Dogsey, have checked all the Janet's. Did spot that it is her birthday on the 9th.
She probably had a different user name but I am sure she used the same picture as her avatar. But even if we did have a PM service on Breedia, if neither Tina nor Janet are online or have listed an email address for notification of a PM then only Azz can email them. I feel so helpless when people just disappear and we have no way of contacting them. It also worries me. I do so miss them.
UPDATE Hai's friend [Hai from the macolet] has just been round and put pinches of I do not know what everywhere, in corners and behind things where Tikki cannot get. So, if there are any rats around they will get deaded and I will find them in the middle of the floor. He assured me that if Tikki gets near a deaded rat it will not harm her, but as she is in her crate at night and on her tether during the day, which means she does not have freedom of the bungalow, I guess I should stop worrying. I am still leaving the sticky mats down though - belt and braces mentality, and I forgot to ask him if the stuff he put down also kills mice. I do not actually mind the mice but I do not like the idea of rats in my home, especially in my bedroom. The rat man from the Local Authority never came back but all he did was put a couple of large snapback traps - well, one on top of my 6' high fridge/freezer, which snapped shut with nothing inside - no idea where he put the other one. I had not paid Tzion for last time so owed him for that also for today, and he only charged me a nominal amount. What was important was that he put pinches of whatever stuff he uses just about everywhere but no way can Tikki get near them. I do not like the idea of poison but I do not like rats, and my concerns about a deaded one hiding until it stank the place out was sort of put to rest by him. Apparently it is very fast working and any rat that had consumed any would get to the nearest open space, ie in the middle of the floor, before expiring. Then it is grab the nearest picker-upper and bin. I guess I have to trust him when he assured me that nothing [even a deaded rat] would harm her if she got near it.
I wouldn't do poison with pets but I suppose you have no choice. BTW - my last cat Pooks killed a mouse once, and the entire house smelled like rotten mouse for days and days until we found it under a couch... Worse thing ever.
Myra - I have two choices. One is to use sticky pads which does not kill rodents, just traps them - frequently ending up with upturned sticky pads on top of furniture, including the rather nice chest of drawers in my bedroom, the floor, or what has really distressed me, is the top of Tikva's crate. And I cannot get the sticky sticky sticky off anywhere. The rodents get partially stuck and then do their best to unstick themselves. Not a nice sight. The other choice is to use poison, which is quick and the dead rodent ends up in the middle of the floor. I still have a swollen finger joint and toothmarks from the rat bite I got on 15 July, which cost me a small fortune for the ambulance and ER treatment, and the last one, on the tip of my left index finger on Sunday hurts like Hades. Both those bites were from rats that were stuck to sticky pads, and both of which were in my bedroom. I was trying to add up the cost of everything smashed - perfume and stuff in my bedroom and two shelves full of special seasonings and suchlike in my kitchen, to say nothing of prescription medications and various vitamins and supplements, the plastic bottles of which had been gnawed through and were therefore useless. Do I feel guilty about using poison? Same guilt as if a rodent gets caught on a sticky trap and I have to put it in a plastic bag and smash it with a hammer. So what choice do I have?
I'm really sorry about all this, Malka. Is it sanitary or safe to even live there? It sounds terrible. I hope this newest treatment helps. In other news, I discovered this on Nigredos toe... AGAIN. The second claw is snapped clean in half. I see some dried blood and the bit you see hanging off is actually the nerve/quick. The nail is totally torn off. I never notice when he does these, but I've seen them frequently. I try to clip these claws, but the quicks are very far down the nails and they bleed easily, the claws grow MEGA FAST as they are on the sides of his hind legs and never touch anything, and he was traumatized by the groomers where they hacked into a nail, thinking they were like normal nails, and it hurt and bled, so he's difficult with these being clipped now anyway. The vet said that taking these off is too invasive and like an amputation since these are real toes with bones and tendons etc. Most double rear dewclaws are apparently attached only by skin so removal is easy, but not in Nigredos case. Hopefully this heals okay on its own. Poor fat man.
