Rats in China

I live in University Housing, with maid service 2-3 times a week. Change the sheets, mop the floor, clean the bathroom. with

Saw a rat in my kitchen last night. Life on the ground floor I guess. Went to the Bao An and they brought over a couple of sticky-pad rat traps. Nothing by morning. After morning classes, still nothing. Took a nap after lunch and still nothing. Woke at 4 and nothing. Going out at 5 to the store, I looked in and there was a rat stuck to the mat and struggling-the door was closed so I didn’t hear the squealing. I'm queasy about such stuff, but as I walked out in search of the Bao An the cleaning lady happened to be outside. She was aware of the issue. She walked in and scooped up the rat and mat.

By this time I could hear the rat's squeaking. She bought it outside and squatted on the ground near the fence. I wasn't sure what she was doing. I thought at first she was trying to release the rat back into the wild. I know this woman is a devout Buddhist because she's commented on some of the Buddhist stuff I have in my apartment when she's cleaning it. Another foreign teacher- very Alpha ride back on his bike at that moment, and I told him what had happened. After giving me a lecture about the poor construction of  the plumbing and piping system, He walked over to check what she was doing.

I had said, “This is stupid to release the rat back into the wild.” He said, “Don't worry.The cats will get it.”

But when he came back from watching her, he said, “No she's killing it humanely.”
After she had finished and left, I went to the back to find her to thank her. I found her behind the building with a shovel digging a hole, presumably for the recently demised rat.

I offered her some cash-xiao fei-for having taking carre of the problem. She refused to accept it, with an”It’s my job” excuse.

Still, I feel indebted to her for helping and also a bit guilty that she did the dirty work of finally disposing of the rat. So tomorrow  I hope to present her with one of the two sets of Tan prayer beads I have (and which she has commented on before). Hopefully she”ll accept this small token of appreciation.

Good one old34!   I don't like having to kill creatures either, so I'd rather use a trap with the metal spring, and let it do the job.

...

How does a devout Buddhist humanely kill a rat?

The best I've been able to do is drop the cage into a mop bucket, pour in some baijiu, wait a few minutes for the fumes to get the rat at least a little drunk, and then dump in enough water to drown it.

You swing the rat by the tail and hit it's neck on the edge of a hard object, like a rock or a table. Break the neck cleanly.

Don't give her a gift for this specific act but a bonus (via hongbao) for any holiday is fine.

The Mongolians are often Buddhist - and they have to eat meat to survive the harsh winter conditions. When they kill an animal, they basically thank it, and hug it whilst they cut it's Aorta - a quick and relatively humane way of killing an animal
Not sure how that works with rats...

One shot. Clean kill. Humane.

I probably should have mentioned that I've killed thousands of rats and mice. I had a business in Canada selling snakes for the pet market (then eventually rentals for movies and TV). Killing the rodents just prior to feeding the snakes is much more humane than letting the snakes do it. It's also safer for the snakes as in a confined space a rat can kill a snake. Breaking the neck of a rat was always considered the best way to kill them quickly.

I've broken a few mouse necks, but there's no way I'm grabbing a Chinese street rat by the tail.  Guess I'll stick to drunken drowning until a better option presents itself.

I was trying to encourage one to get off the bathroom windowsill a couple weeks ago.  When it decided to come in and head my way instead of leaving, I did manage to break the neck (and just about everything else).  Had to buy a new laundry poll after that.

The best kill ever was a few days earlier in the same bathroom.  An unbaited snap trap in the same windowsill not only killed one, but the rat with attached trap ended up in the toilet.  Too bad I was notified of this while sound asleep or I'd have taken a picture.

I had rats too, when I lived in a ground floor Apartment. They lived in the crawl Space  in the ceiling. I bought glue traps and waited. Only the young  and inexperienced rats got into them. Then I took the glue traps outside, closed them and jumped up and Down on them ten times shouting "Die, die die, vermin die!' then I threw them in the garbage. I thought I got them all but then we also had termites and well...vinegaroons, rats and termites meant moving. I came back to the old Apartment a month later. Found a larger rat, possibly one of the parents, starved to death. It was very satisfying jumping on those traps...

One shot. Clean kill. Humane.

depending on the baijiu.

Baijiu -
One shot. My foot. Ouch!