"There was lots of things that mighta done 'im in, I guess. Being a no good squatter, not respecting other's property, he didn't have no thumbs...or a gun. Mighta been any of those things but it weren't none of 'em. It was me. And I did it for the love of a woman. I ain't never killed for no woman before. Thinking 'bout 'im as a rat instead of a man made it easier to pull the trigger. Cuz that what he was...a low-down, no good, stinkin' rat."- from Last Stand at Packrat Gulch
About a week ago we discovered a packrat had begun nesting under the hood of the wife's Traverse. Little bastard tore most of the fiberglass insulation from the firewall and carried in about 10 pounds of grass, twigs and leaves to build a nest. We tried all the non-lethal methods we could find or think of to get rid of him. Then I tried to flush him out to the Terriers. He decided there was no way he was gonna leave the relative safety of the inside of the engine, even while being sprayed unmercifully with a hose, for certain death in the jaws of 3 yard sharks. At that point I was afraid the Terriers were gonna dismantle the entire car, piece by piece, in their quest to kill the rat. So, nothing worked, and I couldn't flush him out. Then, this morning, I found he'd started chewing on the tape around a wiring harness and I decided enough is enough. Last thing I need is a big repair bill on the wiring of her car. Wife pretty much gave me the "if you can't take care of a rat, what good are you?" look.

I started looking around inside the engine compartment and finally found him. He was under the plastic engine cover, right on top of the block. Good, solid backstop, no hoses, no wires, no plastic to damage. I loaded up some .22 shotshells in my little revolver and ended the threat. One shot, one kill. I generally don't like to kill animals...even mice and rats. But woodpeckers drilling holes in the house and packrats eating the car are pretty much where I draw the line.