I knew I had a rat in the flat

when my NICE biscuits had been chewed, along with half a banana. I don't like rats - or mice or snakes. I have had to kill two snakes before for lurking around my school but I like to leave them alone. But rats and mice frighten me. As for spiders - even red backs - I like them. They are good pets and require no looking after. You go for a holiday and they have survived your absence. I like that independence and self reliance in a pet. It shows a level of maturity that dogs and cats and gold fish don't have.
So I see this rat scurry across the floor and lurk behind Robert's stuff. I leave out gumboot glue trap and poison pellets. Then one night I went upstairs to my bedroom and I see a rat scurry up over the louvres and escape through a hole in the gauze. It comes back a bit later after lights out and was trying to get back in. I banged on the louvres and it took off but I had visions of its coming back in and gnawing by ears and toes while I was sleeping.
On Tuesday afternoon I returned home and noticed a black blob near Robert's stuff. I pulled everything out away from the wall, banging boxes as I went to frighten it to go outside so I wouldn't have it running over my feet. I lifted out the last box and trapped the rat with a rake. It must have been full of rat poison as it was hardly moving. I threw it outside by means of the rake and the dogs did the rest. Then I discovered why it liked Robert's stuff - it had eaten the bees wax out of his digeridoo. I disinfected the area to remove the rat germs. That's the second one in my time here.