ACCOUNTANT BY DAY

PIPPIN IS ALIVE SOMEPLACE IN THE COUCH

Last night I took all the cushions off the couch again and left a dish of water and a spoon with some peanut butter and some broccoli and pellets and it was ALL GONE except for a few seeds and a little trail leading back to the inside of the couch. Thankfully none of it is anything that can stink up inside the couch, so if we just vacuum thoroughly and spray some Febreeze later it should be okay. But my rat is alive! Hope is renewed! I still have to figure out how to catch him, but my mind is much more at ease now, because he’s at least had food and water and I have signs of recent activity, as in, this morning sometime. I woke up at 4:00 AM and tiptoed out there to check and saw no change, so between then and 9:30 he was up and about getting some food and water.

Tonight I’m going to make two traps for him, set them on the couch, and hope I get lucky. Trap 1 will be the humane trap, and I’m going to bait it so tantalizingly that he won’t be able to resist. Trap 2 will be one of our aquariums with a small ladder leading up to it, and I plan to make it his only source of water, or something like that. I’ll think on it today. God, I feel so much better knowing at least that he’s alive. What a naughty little rat! I hope we can catch him soon.