Weapons of Mouse Destruction

Back when we lived in an apartment at the Yap Cooperative Association, we would sometimes flip a coin to see who had to take the trash out at night. The dumpster wasn’t very far away, and it’s not like it was ever cold outside, but the trip there at night could be squirm-inducing due to the likelihood of running into a Norway rat digging through one of the trash cans on the way.

Exotics are a major problem throughout the Pacific, where many of the endemic species evolved in isolation and without competition, and thus are easily overrun by highly adaptable species introduced from the mainland. Norway rats arrived as stowaways. They are, like many exotics, adaptable to various living environments. Here in Yap that adaptability has allowed them to develop a talent for leaping headlong out of a dark trash can as you approach, likely scaring the pants off of you and making you wish they had never been kicked out of Scandinavia in the first place.

We bring this up because, as it turns out, a Norway rat may have been built into one of the interior walls of our house. How, you may ask, could anything be dumb enough to be built into a wall? Perhaps Jimmy Hoffa could give us some answers. In any event, the rat has to go, and this week we spent some time shoving rat poison into every conceivable rat hole in the joint.


We also put up tiny "No Trespassing" signs all over the place, although we were unable to find any that were translated into Norwegian. We haven’t heard any noises in the past few days, so we’re hopeful that the rats have been scared off, either by threat of death or legal action.

On Sunday, we borrowed a kayak from a friend and headed out to see some of the mangrove swamps that line the fringes of the islands of Yap Proper. Getting to the mangroves was a tough slog – close to two miles of open-water paddling in each direction. We stayed well inside the reef, of course, but neither of us has very much, ok any, experience in a kayak. We had high hopes that we would fare better than during our most recent paddling experience, in the Royal Gorge last summer (yes, that’s our guide on the left, unexpectedly exiting the raft in the midst of a monster rapid:


Followed by the unsurprising result of said unexpected exit):


Dealing with the rolling waves, wind, and current made for a difficult paddle to the mangroves, but once we got there it was worth it. It’s a peaceful environment, with smooth water and interesting plant life.


Navigation can be a little tricky when you get back into some of the smaller channels, but it’s fun to poke around in places that are less-traveled.


As it turns out, that may be why we’re here in the first place