Beady Eyes in the Dark - [SS2019] - writer

I saw the two beady eyes in the dark.
Then, they were gone.
There was no sound.
Then things started turning up missing.
A hat, a glove, just random things.
Then I saw those beady eyes again one night.
Weeks later I learned the unimaginable havoc of a “pack rat”.

A pack-rat. Is that some sort of rodent that hordes things?

Great recount of your experiences.

bally

a reply to: bally001

A pack-rat. Is that some sort of rodent that hordes things?

Yes, perhaps the most destructive critter ever to roam this planet! The havoc one of these things can wreak is just unimaginable!

This is no chit...I had one of those buggers fill up a wall cavity in the garage, from floor to ceiling, along the entire length of the garage wall. I had a bunch of plywood laying up against the wall and that bastage got in behind there and piled everything imaginable in the stud spaces (and those are 6" exterior studs too). It was unbelievable. I must have cleaned about 700 pounds of 'stash' out of the empire that thing built. There were hats, and gloves, and small pieces of lumber, feed galore (stuff which was stored in a building 300' away), hay, straw, sticks, thousands of weeds (just one kind though which was weird), dog bones, dog toys, pieces of paper, rope, empty feed bags, plastic bags, it was just endless. There was also big stuff like cut off 2x4's and other items which I would have thought were too big for this thing to move. This bastage had even stolen one of my extension cords...the whole freaking cord with a drop light at the end! I'd driven myself insane looking for that light, thinking I'd misplaced it somewhere. I freaking used that light all the time, and one day it was just gone.

I had another one get inside the engine compartment of one of our old trucks. I am absolutely not kidding you when I say, this thing filled up the engine bay, from side to side, and from top to bottom, with stuff it collected. It was just jammed so full in there that when I popped the hood the hood actually popped up from all the junk in there. Plus it chewed up every single wire and hose in there. It took like 3 days to get all the crap out of that truck, and I had to pressure wash it about 7 times in the process. It's just unbelievable what these things will do!

Just pray you never get one of these things! Pack rats are a ROYAL PITA!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Crikey! mate. Sounds horrendous. Makes Aussie animals sound like snowflakes.

WTG I like real life stories ! S&f

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

They are horrible are they not?

We have the little bastards up here too and they are incredibly destructive.

When we go camping (we just use a 3/4 ton truck and a bumper pull camper) we have to get to where we want to go and then open the hood of the truck for the time we want to stay there because once we camped out for a week in a spot with no cell reception and when we went to go home the truck ran but on... 3 cylinders?

Popped the hood and a bunch of crap (including stuff from inside the camper?) was jammed into the air filter box, on top of the motor and the evil little thing had eaten off the plug wires on one side of the engine.

I had to walk a few miles to get one bar on the phone to call a friend for parts...

A good read and thanks for bringing that memory back...