Wildlife at Home

When we first bought our home way back in the ‘80s, I never expected that there will be so many uninvited guests. The very first one was the slithery kind which I accidentally stepped on it when I was clearing the front yard of the overgrown lalang grass. Since the lalang grass was really long I couldn’t see what I was stepping on as I move along cutting the grass with a very blunt sickle. I was moving backwards and I felt I was stepping on something soft and I quickly turn around to see what it was as I was only wearing my kind of slippers. To my surprise I saw a section of a python at least more than 8 inches across where I had my foot on earlier. Whew!!! I was lucky it did not turn around and attack me ……. maybe the lalang was too long for it to turn around or it was busy feeding. Anyway it was nowhere to be found the next day when I went to look for it.
After we moved in there were the odd one or two mice which we could easily deal with until some very inconsiderate people move in a couple of houses away and set up a bean curd processing factory illegally. They just discharge their liquid waste into the drains and dump the solids around their house causing much of a stench in the neighbourhood. To make matter worst their irresponsible behaviour attracted lots of rats of various sizes. We can see large rats taking a stroll past our backyard and smaller ones dashing across towards their paradise. Luckily the authorities took action after some complaints were lodge and they were shut down. The rats remained for awhile and we had to invest in 3 traps to get rid of them.
Then there were the pigeons which thought that building their nest in our roof is cool.  Looking around the neighbourhood I can still see some kind of pigeon house ruins that remain standing in some of the houses. Well your guess is as good as mine; they must be abandoned by previous residents or even current ones. Getting rid of them was really difficult because they chose the apex of the roof to make their home. One day home minister saw a long thick furry thingy hanging down from the top of the bedroom window at night and I guess that really freak her out. At that time I was still working in KL and was only home on weekends. After some investigation it was confirmed that a “musang” had taken up residence in the roof and the piegons evicted.
A homemade trap ….. I made it off course ☺…… was setup in the attic and managed to trap two very young juveniles. I was in Kuala Lumpur at that time so home minister called the “bomba” or fire brigade to dispose of the trapped intruders with ma musang (aka ma mu) watching very protectively over them. There was no response from “perhilitan” or wildlife department when she called them before calling “bomba”. After a brief show of aggression between the “bomba” and ma mu, ma mu decide that she was outnumbered and left into the darkness with her one remaining offspring. The “bomba” also left with the juvenile “musangs” together my Bosch variable speed power drill. At that time I was still transforming the attic into The Penthouse.
The next intruder was a lone monkey that was making a nuisance of itself on the roof and again “bomba” was called in. A group of them came and started making monkey faces at the monkey …… don’t ask me I have no idea why and moreover I wasn’t there that time too. The monkey moved to the back of the house and the group of “monkeys” on the ground follow suit back and forth displaying their herd mentality or no mentality. One of them even tried using our gardening hose to spray water at the monkey and I guessed the monkey had a real good laugh. Eventually the monkey left.
A couple of years later, another ma mu came to make our roof her home and had her brood of four. One day ma mu did not return to feed her brood and they came wandering out of their safe house due to hunger. She could had suffered an accident or was caught by somebody somewhere else. I was constructing the penthouse at that time and saw them coming out from a hole which leads to the apex of my room ceiling. I managed to catch three of them and the fourth managed to get away from our house into the darkness.
Then came the “burung tiong” or myna birds taking over the safe house where the “musangs” were. They would bring whatever kind of rubbish to make their nest in the roof. They stayed for a couple of years until recently when another ma mu decided to make my house roof a training ground for bird hunting for her three offsprings. Ma mu was not able to get into the area between the roof and the ceiling because I had sealed off all possible entry point after the last experience. Since mama mu cannot get in she sent her young ones in to do the job because they are smaller and is able to get in through the smaller openings. They sure made a lot of noise jumping around attacking their prey. I noticed some bird feathers on the ground every morning.
This time since “perhilitan” had set up their web-site, I made a e-complaint and one of the condition mentioned is that they will at take least 3 days to respond. Instead of waiting I decided to get a trap and try to trap them myself. OK got the trap and set it up just outside princess room.
The “perhilitan” people did come with their trap but did not set it up because I already had my own. They recommended some different baits from what I am using to be more effective because three days had passed with no result. Then early next morning two juveniles were caught in the trap while the third juvenile was circling the trap with ma mu looking for a way to release the two in the trap. When I got closer to the trap ma mu and the remaining offspring decided to leave knowing there is nothing else they could do.
Got the “perhilitan” to come and take the two trapped juveniles away. One of them got its freedom due to the carelessness of the “perhilitan” people while transferring the captured into their cage. The little fellow was really fast in seizing the one opportunity to get away. In a matter of seconds it was already scurrying its way up towards the neighbour’s roof. I guess ma mu and the other must be watching from there.
Then there were also bats who thought that my son’s room air conditioner is a bat cave. Their guano stinks to high heaven  … yuucckks!!!!! The second time when I dismantled the air conditioner to clean it after the first time which I thought I had solved the problem, I discovered there was a gap of about an inch through the wall. The gap was at the area where the piping of the air conditioner exit the room. Got some sealant and sealed the gap and that should solve the problem ……...whew!!! 

Once a most unique intruder came and ended up in the cooking pot. A mud crab with its pincers tied up …… guess it must had escaped from someone else’s cooking pot. Couldn’t find its owner so ….. hehe!!!