Operasi Master Splinter

There was a viral video popped up. A rat seems to take a bath while standing biped, thus mimicking the popular Ninja Turtle’s character – the Master Splinter.

Unfortunately I’ve got a Master Splinter experience myself recently. 

It all started out on an unrelated issue with the shoddy workmanship of my living hall tiles.

It was on that cold night when it happened; it feels like an earthquake just hit our home. The tiles popped upwards one by one, crackled echoed through the house.

The ruckus was so loud that we all had scrambled outside. We were not the only one as both of our side neighbors also peeking to our yard outside of the home.

Long story short, I managed to get the contractors to fix all the tiles. But not before having to move all the furniture, getting the whole house dusty, move all the furniture back in, and lastly getting all back to the original condition.

Or so I thought.

THE SIGHTINGS

Dahlia is the first one that noticed that there was something that managed to sneak in during all the repair job had being done. It was in the wee morning when she saw something black dashed across the study room to the back of the book shelf.

Abang ada perasan tikus tak kat rumah kita?

At first I didn’t give too much attention to her uneasiness. That is until I was face to face with the vermin as I woke in the morning. It was a small black rat. 

It was more scared of me as it scurried down the stairs.

Time to take action!!!

THE TRAP

The first thing that I do is to go to the hardware store. Getting the right tool for this operation is essential. The right tool - the rat trap. I've got it under RM20.

Next, is to lay the trap. Laying it in the wrong area will waste your time. Any time wasted in this grim situation will prolong the horror. It was felt like you've being watched every time you're in the kitchen or anywhere in the living room.

The 1st place that I put the trap was in front of the store room. Big mistake. The effort didn't bear any fruit even after I had lay it overnight.

But all is not futile.

Accidentally, I had a revelation on its active favorite place while I'm taking the evening nap on the couch. I heard a rustling sound at the kitchen. 

I almost jumped up from my nap if I didn't know that we have an outside 'visitor' in our house.

The answer is beside the dustbin at the kitchen. Why didn't I thought of it before?

That night was pretty much a customary ordeal. Lay the trap, stuck the bait, and go to sleep. Sure enough, the rat was trapped. I do felt like a genius scientist with the catch.

After all that drama, we all thought the worst had been over. 

THE TWIST

Oh, how wrong we were.... Because we found out that there were two rats. 

 
I joked by telling Haziq that the other rat is the big brother. His eyes beamed with excitement when I told him that. For him, it is some sort of an adventure.

 

THE BAIT (and winning the argument with your spouse) 

Lastly, we came to the last lesson in this operation. The correct selection of the bait will contribute greatly to the success of the operation.

Earlier, I put a piece of bread into the trap. Dahlia, on the other hand disagreed heavily with my choice.

Letak roti, manala tikus nak makan.... Letak ayam ni, baru betul!!!

We faced with the sheer madness of reality in the next morning. Despite the trap being engaged, the chicken being touched, the rat was nowhere in sight. In the scrambling of the night, it managed to wriggle itself out from the trap.

We're dealing with a bad ass rat!!!

Even though I've being derided by Dahlia with my choice of the bread as bait, I found that bread have more friction compared to meat. Ripping out bread from the hook will be harder than chicken which will easily slide out.

True enough, finally the trap managed to catch the bad ass rat. Winning over your wife never felt so beautiful.

Kan saya betul Dahlia.....

THE CLOSURE

So what happened to both rats? Killing them is an option. Iqbal had told me the times when he had killed rats in his apartment by drowning them.

I still remembered his chilling words. "Masa tu kita boleh tengok macam mana rupanya bila dia mati...."

Fortunately Dahlia insisted to have both of them being released into the wild(?). I'm confidently don't consider the area near our house will be suitable, after all the hardship of catching them in the first place.

So I drove 20km away from our home, to the landfill nearby.

The actual real thing

Out you go Master Splinter (and his brother) into the wild. Never ever come back ever again!!!