Healthiest Rat in Samoa

Healthiest Rat in Samoa

They are always on the walls and ceilings,
love seeing these guys around.

Some of my favorite sounds of Samoa is at night when it is peaceful and the majority of the village is sleeping. I love hearing my own breath as I start to fall asleep, the ocean crashing and tumbling, the sound of my toilet flushing meaning I have running water that day and the best sound is the lizards chirping in my room. My least favorite sounds are the misquotes piercing my ears with their buzzing, dogs that go crazy at night barking nonstop for sometimes over an hour and the least favorite is the rats scurrying around! Yup, rats. They live in the ceilings and the walls. When I first moved here I lived in a small beach fale and did not have much of a roof so rats were never a problem. My PC friend however lived in a house and I was weirded out at first hearing them move about the ceilings. Now- sadly the noise is something I am used to, although still hate it.
So- I know they are here but only by sound until one day...
I have an emergency bag with clothes and food in case I have to hurry and flea from a cyclone or tsunami. I was going through the bag and I noticed the noodles were scattered all over and cracker crumbs were everywhere. I had heard the rats under my table awhile ago but I just ignored the noise, pretending they did not exist but now I have seen some proof! Went from the level to hearing and now seeing evidence. Lesson learned- Okay Madi, do NOT leave food out and eventually they will go away.
I dumbly kept forgetting, once I saw bite marks in some guavas I left on the table in my room and another time a peanut container with a small chewed up hole in the lid. It was either the rats would eat my food or leave it in the kitchen and my family would eat my food... I decided I would rather my family then to have a new family of rodents living in my room. I usually go to sleep around 1-2 every night and one night around 11 pm I was actually tired early! Getting ready for bed and excited to get a full nights rest I heard those nasty buggers under my bed and I looked! Why oh why did I look I do not know! It looked at me and we made eye contact! It's just a rat, I know it is more scared of me but for some reason I jumped back, my heart started racing and I totally wigged out for over an hour. I could not sleep! It's not like it is going to attack my face, however it took me awhile to calm down.

My new friend!

I got better and better and eventually stopped leaving food in my room and even put out some poison for them to eat hoping they would go away and die.

These things are bigger than my hand.

Hadn't seen any proof for awhile that they were around and I even heard them less and less in the walls. Did not think I had much of a rat problem until they stopped coming around.
Most things are packed up in suitcases or bags because of the creatures, critters and bugs. I have a "backup bag," with things like extra toothbrushes, shampoo, razors, contact solution and a zip-lock bag full of vitamins. SOME of my vitamins I put into a container and the extra is left in the backup bag.

*&(*#&$^&*   !!!

As I was looking in my backup bag I noticed some vitamin shells were next to the bag with some ants... then I realized it was missing! Somehow a rat carried the bag out of my room! Whether it ate the entire thing including the zip-lock bag or somehow dragged it out of my room I do not know but what I do know is that little @*&(*^*&W$)(@ ate ALL my vitamins!! I can not even FIND those vitamins here in Samoa and my Dad sent them to me!!! It was an expensive find for that little *&^*&!!! Healthiest rat in Samoa! UUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!
I was SO MAD!! Today I was reading on my bed and I heard the rats in the walls, I sat very quietly until it came into my room thinking I was gone. It was walking across my room and I picked up my running shoe, threw it as hard as I could and BAM!! Knocked it out cold!!
My host mom heard the thud/ me yell/ the rat scream (ya it totally screamed) and ran into my room. She was so freaked out and I was so ampted up but did not want to touch it. We got my sister, by the time we grabbed her there were already ants headed its way onto the rat. Things need to be cleaned up quick here!
I constantly kill bugs (all sorts of sizes), I killed a chicken and now a rat. What's next Samoa?! Bring it on!