Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Rats
We live in the country and have a problem with a rat or rats that have got into the house. I've been trying to persuade them to leave with an electric / magnetic pulse thing(useless) and trying to catch them in a humane trap so they can be released elsewhere (again, no luck). We have three cats, but they're worse than useless; I think they may have "imported" the rats in the first place: they're for ever catching things, bringing them in, and then releasing them in the house. After being confronted by a monstrous rat beastie at breakfast this morning, and botching an attempt to catch it, we're now getting the rat killing people in to kill them.
I feel pretty bad about paying someone to kill another life. So much for not harming any living being. It's pretty easy not to harm other living beings so long they're not bothering you, after all. Against which, this rat / these rats have already gnawed one electric cable, and their urine which they leave around does presumably pose a health risk (viles disease etc) to us and the children, quite apart from smelling foul. Any thoughts, or even inspired suggestions as to how to get rid of them?
Martin.
I feel pretty bad about paying someone to kill another life. So much for not harming any living being. It's pretty easy not to harm other living beings so long they're not bothering you, after all. Against which, this rat / these rats have already gnawed one electric cable, and their urine which they leave around does presumably pose a health risk (viles disease etc) to us and the children, quite apart from smelling foul. Any thoughts, or even inspired suggestions as to how to get rid of them?
Martin.
0
Comments
And in did come the strangest figure!
His queer long coat from heel to head
Was half of yellow and half of red,
And he himself was tall and thin,
With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
But lips where smile went out and in;
There was no guessing his kith and kin:
And nobody could enough admire
The tall man and his quaint attire
(And here they noticed round his neck
A scarf of red and yellow stripe,
To match with his coat of the self-same cheque;
And at the scarf's end hung a pipe;
And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying
As if impatient to be playing
I've got the same problem with mice Martin. In the beginning when the cold weather started and we saw one or two running around, I left food on the floor for them so they didn't have to climb up and pee and poo all over my work surfaces. I thought this might be a compassionate response but as was pointed out to me, mice have brains the size of a pinhead and don't work things out too well.
However, one of them decided to join me in my bed the other night while I was reading and then we saw one on the kitchen table .... I adore them, they have every right to live, they are cute and sweet and they HAVE TO GO.
I won't poison them in case they are eaten by owls before they die - the owl then gets poisoned. Catching them and releasing them is no good as they come straight back in. So I have had to say - harm none but I am protecting my family's health and I'm very sorry and I will probably come back as a mouse but they are now faced with traps.
It is also, by the way, highly illegal to feed live food to snakes, in the UK. Not to mention risky....
You might be interested to know that a Buddhist Monastery, which provided accommodation for travellers, as a hostel, but also ran retreats and seminars, was over-run by cockroaches. At first, the monks laughed it off, and tried to live peaceably next to their 'little Brothers'... But the situation soon became intolerable, and a severe health hazzard... visitors wrer beginning to be really put off...
The Monks contacted the Mother Monastery in Nepal, I believe, and after much debate anguish and questioning, they reluctantly called in the exterminators... they made offerrings and practised meditation for good karma and more favourable re-births for their dead 'little Brothers'.....
Sometimes, however hard it might be, you have to look at the bigger picture.
First, you have to get your own house in order. It's not like you invited them in to murder them. What about viruses and bacteria, should we count them as sentient beings? I think not.
At the end of the day, religious practice is cultural, and culture entails at least some common denominators. Chief of these would be enough compatibility to share the same space amicably enough, so that one party could be the willing host and the other the invited guest, for an occasion.
And if you can't even get the derned vermin to wash their hands and come meet with you, they should not be accounted as having any standing in the rights of guests.
When it comes to our homes, let us decide for ourselves what we think is wholesome and good. We should have faith in ourselves, and not have to second-guess. "What-If" would be a nice name for a spook, not for a human being.
Religion = Culture = Ability to Share Some Common Values (however few).
I am obviously not speaking about sorting through CODES. Codification of rules is something made for our benefit, not for our enslavement. Someone once said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." I salute that Holy Man.
I think having exhausted all alternatives, you've done the right thing. After all, it was the Buddha who also said "Never sacrifice your own well being for that of another". To live with the threat of disease in order to avoid killing would simply be foolish, would it not? I think you can give yourself permission now to stop suffering over it. I don't think anyone else could have done any better than you did.
With sympathy,
Brigid
Martin.
Come and sit with me Martin and we can have a quiet mope together over a cup of tea. I've just been out and bought some new traps. I don't feel good about it but I know that I have to - The Old Feller has enough serious health problems without introducing rodent-bourne disease.
Thanks all of you for your contributions - Nirvana I love the idea of the wee critters washing their hands before coming to meet us, if only they would! LOL.
The decision is made, I can live with myself, it's up to the Karmic Despatch Department now.
It having been a living creature I didn't want it lying in a crumpled heap amongst the yoghurt pots so my pagan side kicked in and each one has had a mini (mouse-sized) Viking's Funeral.
We have a wood stove here and I sent them to Mouse Valhalla with my apologies and best wishes for a speedy return and the hope that we could be friends next time (ie they would return without the desire to shit in my food).
It may not have done anything for the mice but it made this sentimental old witch feel better. And made me realise that respect does count - even for mice.