Unwelcome Animals in the House

I have come to think that when we spot an unwelcome animal in the house, the first question we ought to ask ourselves is, "What is it eating?" Then we should use the answer to that question to assess whether the animal poses a threat to our health and property. If it does pose a threat, we should get rid of it as soon as possible.

About six years ago, there was a time when my room used to have quite a number of mosquitoes. The mosquitoes loved hiding in the clothes hanging on a metal rod in my room. Whenever I shook a hanging shirt or a pull-over, they would buzz off, fly around, all the while looking for somewhere else to settle.

Aware that mosquitoes spread such deadly diseases as malaria, I asked my father if mosquitoes survive on something else apart from human blood. When he told me that they survive on human blood alone, I couldn't believe the numerous mosquitoes in my room were relying on my blood for survival.

My fears were later on allayed when I saw oodles of mosquitoes on the walls of a home latrine that I hadn't visited for some time because I had been using our indoor toilet. Seeing the mosquitoes in the latrine where a few home-mates went for a short time led me to conclude that mosquitoes feed on other things apart from human blood.

Besides mosquitoes, there are other unwelcome animals I have seen in our house. Chief among them are rats. Even though they don't spread diseases like mosquitoes, rats can be annoying because they chew books, magazines and newspapers. My father has had several of his reading materials destroyed by rats.

More destructive than rats are termites which chew books more thoroughly than rats do. About four years ago, I came across at home a picture book about the life and times of Nelson Mandela, one of my heroes. I'd have loved to read that picture book but you know what? It had been reduced to pieces by termites. How annoying those termites are!

As annoying as termites are sugar-ants, some tiny animals which invade our house at certain times of the year. My father believes that when sugar-ants come into our mansion, it's a sign that the rainy season is near. Though they don't bite, sugar-ants are annoying in the way they enter into left-over food in large numbers. And they like sugary stuff; that must be the reason why they were named "sugar-ants".

Then there are the cockroaches which I used to see often in our sooty kitchen. I remember, albeit vaguely, looking forward to feasting on a left-over meal, only to be confronted with the revolting sight of a cockroach stuck in the soup of the meal. And I will never forget the Sunday I invited a friend of mine called Jeremiah at home. When I offered Jeremiah a plate of chicken stew, his first concern was whether it had a cockroach.

Equally revolting is the sight of a housefly stranded in a cup of tea. I once heard a relative of mine advise that when a housefly gets into a cup of tea, we should chuck the tea away and have another helping. A month ago when I saw two dead houseflies in a cup of porridge I had prepared, I disregarded the relative's advice by spooning out the houseflies and drinking the porridge. Houseflies don't frighten me that much.

For me, the most frightening of all unwelcome animals in the house are snakes. One evening last year, I spotted a snake slithering on the floor of our mansion. Though the snake was small, it petrified me. Luckily, our then farmhand was near when I spotted the snake. He helped me kill it. And he informed me that when killing a snake, we just need to focus on its head.

Last Saturday, our current farmhand - a feckless fellow named Wambugu - found a big snake in his timber-walled room. He didn't manage to slay it but he found its eggs in his room, meaning it had taken up abode in the room for some time. The thought of a snake staying in his room scared the living daylights out of Wambugu so much that he opted to sleep in our sooty kitchen on the night of last Saturday.

The only unwelcome animal that pleases me is the lizard. Unlike snakes which freak me out, lizards are lovely and congenial. They don't bite us. Neither do they spread diseases. They are also quiet and don't tamper with our property such as books and foodstuff. Lizards are in fact beneficial since they eat those pesky insects that invade our house. God be thanked for creating lizards!

My beloved reader, I am sure you do also spot in your house such unwelcome animals as snails and spiders. Next time you find a strange one in your room, ask yourself, "What is it eating?" Then use the answer to that question to assess whether the animal is beneficial or harmful. If it is harmful, do away with it before it causes more harm. Have a nice day!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on unwelcome animals in the house, you might also enjoy another one on "How Animals are Better Than Us" that I wrote a few years ago.