I was sitting in the room adjacent to the garage watching T.V. I was hoping that my new rat detector would serve me well. I set it up the day before and couldn't wait for it to alert me of the enemy's presence. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dim blue light that meant a rat had entered the garage from its hole in the attic above me. I was elated. My heart leapt and began pounding. I felt my veins surge with adrenalin as I quietly got up and picked up my rifle. I cracked the barrel open to cock it and snapped it shut before I gently pulled the door open. Once outside, I tip-toed around to garage door that stays propped open for my dog. I readied myself and then reached in and flicked the light switch. I knew the intruder wouldn't be far away from its hole as I had only given the precautious pest about thirty seconds to explore the garage so I aimed the gun about a foot away from its only escape route. Just as I had done so, a fairly large creature entered my peripheral vision on the right. I knew I didn't have enough time to switch aim, so I waited for it to pass through the spot where my rifle sight was locked. I pulled the trigger as soon as I figured its head was in my sight and watched in delight as it immediately fell to the side on top of a cardboard box and began "the dying rat shimmy." Its tail lashed wildly for ten seconds before its actions sent it careening off of the box into a fall that consisted of banging all three shelves on its way down. Dana (my dog) lunged, but I quickly grabbed her and pulled her out of the garage and closed the door. I approached the animal to find it stone cold dead, despite the fact that its whiskers continued to twitch furiously for a solid two minutes. Not to disappoint my few, but avid, fans, I pulled out the long wooden paint mixing stick and combed the rat's fur to find the wound. I went over its entire body several times before finally finding a perfectly clean circular hole in its ribs. I'm pretty sure its lung was punctured because the only blood I saw at all came from its mouth. I was sitting in the room adjacent to the garage watching T.V. I was hoping that my new rat detector would serve me well. I set it up the day before and couldn't wait for it to alert me of the enemy's presence. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dim blue light that meant a rat had entered the garage from its hole in the attic above me. I was elated. My heart leapt and began pounding. I felt my veins surge with adrenalin as I quietly got up and picked up my rifle. I cracked the barrel open to cock it and snapped it shut before I gently pulled the door open. Once outside, I tip-toed around to garage door that stays propped open for my dog. I readied myself and then reached in and flicked the light switch. I knew the intruder wouldn't be far away from its hole as I had only given the precautious pest about thirty seconds to explore the garage so I aimed the gun about a foot away from its only escape route. Just as I had done so, a fairly large creature entered my peripheral vision on the right. I knew I didn't have enough time to switch aim, so I waited for it to pass through the spot where my rifle sight was locked. I pulled the trigger as soon as I figured its head was in my sight and watched in delight as it immediately fell to the side on top of a cardboard box and began "the dying rat shimmy." Its tail lashed wildly for ten seconds before its actions sent it careening off of the box into a fall that consisted of banging all three shelves on its way down. Dana (my dog) lunged, but I quickly grabbed her and pulled her out of the garage and closed the door. I approached the animal to find it stone cold dead, despite the fact that its whiskers continued to twitch furiously for a solid two minutes. Not to disappoint my few, but avid, fans, I pulled out the long wooden paint mixing stick and combed the rat's fur to find the wound. I went over its entire body several times before finally finding a perfectly clean circular hole in its ribs. I'm pretty sure its lung was punctured because the only blood I saw at all came from its mouth.
I'm guessing it's eight inches from nose to rump (excluding tail).
Ever wanted to know where a rat's lung is? Right there!
Dana wants to play with rats but I won't let her.