David and the Dancing Rats

 David lives in Northern California. He lives in a house which he almost completely remodeled. The urine soaked carpet had to be pulled up and then the underlayment sanded and Natures Miracled.  He painted ALL surfaces, ceilings, walls and the underlayment. He removed the roof, repaired rot and replaced it with metal roofing. The attic got new insulation and the gutters and vents were repaired or replaced.  After new flooring and a revamped kitchen, appliances and lighting he moved on to installing solar panels and an air source heat pump hot water heater.  Ta Da! A beautiful new sweet smelling house with modern energy!  

And then the rats moved in.  David lives on a mountain side which is for all practical purposes, a nature preserve. There are turkey and deer and raccoons and elk, yes ELK which just roam around the homes and eat flowers from his front porch.    It’s both open and wooded   Despite its filth there were no Rats in the house when he moved in. But  while David had the old roof off,  before the new metal one went on,  the Rats figured out how to get in. He started hearing them in the walls  He  crawled under the house (about 2 ft clearance) and put foam and wire mesh anywhere he thought they could get in.    The Rats were silent for a while.  And then they returned. They particularly like to tap dance   It’s never clear; is it the ceiling? In the walls? or underneath? He put cameras under the house and found new places to seal up    They’d pause then return. He put snap traps with peanut butter in the crawl space, kill rats  even caught one who left his tail behind when he escaped.   But they kept dancing!! He put the camera in the attic.  No sign of them. Ahh but could they be dancing under the new insulation!?!    After the last inspection under the house in the crawl space he concluded there was NO WAY they could get in down below.  There MUST be a roof level spot they get in and then come down to their ballroom.   

To be continued (unfortunately)

David is nothing if not persistent    But of course so are the Rats.  But I’d put my money on David figuring out their  entrance and eventually putting an end to their dancing