I rent from a friend of mine who once had several pet boas and to save money on rats, raised them himself.

How we got onto the story I'm about to submit is this: My phone headset, which is a light plastic one, fell from its retainer one night and hit a thermos while I was sleeping. Thinking this was a rat that knocked something over, I hid under my covers like a little kid but mostly because I was too lazy to get up and turn on the light. When it was light, I saw what really happened and it was too funny not to relay.

I relayed the story to Karl, the person I rent from (as well as a very good friend), who beamed from ear to ear to tell me this story: He fills me in on how he had 5 or 6 quite well grown pet boas, which ate 2 or more rats per week. At 5 bucks each from the pet store, he realized there was a better way: raise them.

Not being aware of how fast rats procreated, it was not long before he had up to 1,000 on hand at any given moment. He fed them dog food and also had bedding for them. Sales of these critters to others who needed them to feed snakes more than covered the expenses of breeding them.

Well, these were not wild rats so when one got loose it was not catastrophic but was an annoyance. While Karl was asleep, the rat would sometimes run over his head and wake him up. Once he woke up because the whiskers were against his face. Well, this had to come to an end.

Karl also collects swords and to hand was a beautiful steel replica of a samurai sword. He sharpened it up to get even.

One night, the opportunity arrived: There was the rat, a noise awakened him and it was within striking distance. The rat, being much faster, moved in time and instead of piercing the rat, Karl instead pierced the shroud of one of the heating lamps for a snake terrarium.

The sword penetrated the bulb as well, shattering it and making contact with the tungsten wiring which holds the lighting element. He didn't know why he wasn't shocked and I think this is because the tungsten supports carry away too much current, dissipating it as heat. Of course, being in bed with wooden posts insulating one from the floor, he wasn't grounded either.

At any rate, Karl survived and had he not I'd be short a very good friend. He also has 2 wonderful children, a great wife and another critter (human) on the way.

He did catch it, realizing that releasing a snake to get it could result in it hiding in the walls and he'd never find it. The rat, having higher metabolism, needs to eat more often so setting a trap did the trick and he fed the offending critter to one of his snakes.

I got to thinking: How long was the rat loose prior to being caught? This was before Karl was married and I'm thinking the rat probably procreated first. At least it seems it was the cleverer of the adversaries, to a point. Eventually, evolution's highest creation, Man, solved the problem of the loose rat but I'm thinking to this day, the rat has great-great grandchildren telling the story of how the deceased put up one hell of a struggle.

Well, there you go. As there was not a hazard, per se, due to either insulation or the fact that any damaging current was already drawn off by the element supports in the bulb, this may not qualify but it is great reading still.

Submitted on 03/29/2008

Submitted by: Mike Durthaler
Reference: None -- PA from a friend

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Quite a detailed and humorous story. Samurai swords are definitely NOT meant for rat control, and I'm glad he quickly gave it up for plain old rat traps. He's also pretty darned lucky that he just shattered the terrarium bulb and not the power cord for the bulb or the story might have ended a different way. Thanks, Mike!

James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
I suppose the next time, he might use an elephant gun! :-) A very amusing tale, Mike! Thanks!