Mouse Trap

My husband just told one of our Cambodian co-workers that he is feeling a bit "ngo-nguy-geeng" today, which translates into English as "sleepy."

The reason??

As we crawled under the bug net hanging over our bed, tucked it in at the sides, and attempted to fall into a lovely deep sleep last night at the end of a full day, we both began hearing sudden "clunk" and "thud" noises (for lack of a better description). There wasn't much mystery for us as to the cause of these bizarre noises.

Yesterday, after returning from Siem Reap with the last team, we found strewn about our room in random places (including a drawer, pants, and shirt pile) half-eaten honey flavored Halls Cough Drops. We eventually found the bag on a shelf chewed completely through.

The giver of these strategically placed gifts (which our local neighborhood ants took great delight in) are the same ones who gently knocked upon our door last night, requesting to come in, enjoy our company, and maybe half-chew through some gum packets or something.

We politely declined their request by placing a series of books against the inside of our door.
A few months ago my husband cleverly placed a duct-taped plastic strip across the outside of our door, which had done an effective job of keeping out unwanted late night party guests.

Until they chewed through it....

You may be familiar with the phrase, "Quiet as a mouse." Well, I am here to dispel the validity of such a statement after audibly experiencing a night-long series of attempted (and 1 successful) break-ins. Though, to be fair, I should say that my husband and I suspect these intruders not to be just any normal "mice," but rather otherworldly mutant rat mice (OWMRM).

That's right.

And to combat such an unstoppable force, you need an unstoppable trap.

And so I awoke at 1am to my husband sitting at our desk, wearing a head lamp and apologizing to me as he warned that things might get loud for a few minutes. Desperate times my friends call for desperate measures, we know this. So, using a former tennis ball container, a little Cambodian ingenuity, a light from his forehead, safety pins, half a water bottle, and a little gum....the weapon below was created.

The idea being that the gum would entice the OWMRM into the bottle where they would be trapped and/or punctured by a series of safety pins. Cruel? Or just incredibly creative?? Either way we feel like John McEnroe would support it. And his intimidating competitive expression can't hurt either.





















The "trap," along with some toilet paper that would be blown about by a fan to scare the OWMRM away, were all placed outside of our door.

Despite all of this noble effort, we woke up this morning to bags under our eyes (OWMRM are relentless) and an empty John McEnroe trap.

However, we all know it would take a lot more than science-fiction-worthy rodents to keep us down! So we went to the market this afternoon, unsure of the word for "rat" or "trap."

Using more of his acquired Cambodian ingenuity and innate artistic abilities, my husband attempted to communicate his desire to purchase a rat trap. When the facial expressions and mouse noises failed, he drew this.....

And for $.12 cents we purchased 2 packs of this.

And yet again my husband's ability to read Thai comes in handy (the skull and cross bones are also helpful).

Using a frisbee, some cheese, a sugary Mento, and patience, we will see if tonight yields different results for our uninvited visitors....