Today I ended a mammal's life.....I've been putting this off for as long as I could, opting instead to try out more humane preventive measures, but in the end, it had to be done. The rat was putting a screeching halt to all my gardening ventures.....my newly-sprouted chilli plants were all consumed by the ravenous little critter.....the tender shoots of baby kangkung.........all gnawed without the slightest inhibition. Garlic didn't work, sulphur powder failed to deter visits, lemongrass spray failed. So last night, I set up a glue trap (a wooden plank with industrial-strength glue, bought from a hypermarket somewhere), with jicama (sengkuang) and honeydew as bait. This morning, the gullible rat was all stuck to the plank, it looked like it had been roiling around in the glue. Its grey fur was all gooey and wet with glue. It was not a pretty sight.
It was still struggling when I found it gripped in the jaws of glue this morning. Still valiantly attempting to escape. Suffice to say, I had to put it to sleep through a concoction of noxious gases made from household cleaning agents. Again, it was not a pretty sight.
Hubby had the unenviable task of getting rid of the body......after much hemming and hawing, and feet dragging, he finally lifted and chucked the entire mess into the bin. He is squeamish that way. I hope the little cretin does not have any relatives, I certainly do not look forward to repeating this rodent homicide. For now, may my kangkung grow abundantly and may Stuart Little RIP (I hope!).
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