Through all the years we spent lots of time in marinas in 3rd world countries, we never had a rat aboard. But coming back to the US, we knew they were around, other boats had rats aboard. Not us, we don’t “invite” them — see my post on Rat Prevention — but yesterday David noticed four tiny “droppings” in the cockpit when we woke up. Puzzling.
The brand new 44 foot catamaran on the T Dock next to us said he’d noticed a few in his cockpit too. Not good.
David borrowed rat traps from another boat in the marina who had a rat aboard last winter. We loaded them with peanut butter and put them in the cockpit where he found the “droppings” yesterday morning.
Not long after we went to bed, SNAP! Yikes. We both decided waiting until daylight was the most prudent course of action. We don’t have anything that would attract rats, except we eat dinner in the cockpit most nights. Despite it getting cleaned regularly, there may be crumbs. Luckily, there’s no way for them to get in the boat – be sure to read the Rats Prevention post.
We’ll set the trap again tonight to make sure the little critter doesn’t have any friends or family. But one down!
How gross is this? We’re in a first class marina with nice boats around us, nothing to attract rats. So after six years in Guatemala, Honduras and Panama and not a rat to be found, back here in the good ole USA, we get a rat investigating dinner crumbs in our cockpit. NOT HAPPY!!
Eek!
Not exactly what I said Tammy. I’m not a sailor for nothing!