Staying at a budget private rental recently in the middle of a strange Brazilian town on route to the magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro and around 10pm the squeaking started, it was clearly mice, although there were possibly only one or two of them as the cacophony of squeaks didn’t reach alarming levels. When you do budget travel, especially in some countries around the world, there is a general level of acceptance that you reach when it comes to creepy crawlies or indeed small rodents which may or may not threaten your food.
I was worried at first as a mother because I had a feeling that the kids would absolutely freak if they saw a little critter in their room, but in reality I think they’d skimpy endeavor to make friends with it, give it a name and share their cookies with it. The long and short of it is that you simply have to proof the room, and ignore any noises should you be in the presence of animals, no matter if you are in Africa, Ecuador or the USA.
Food
It is important to remember that any animal coming in to your property or indeed into your room, are looking for food, that is their MO for life and that is why it is important that you leave absolutely nothing available. Now of course in the case of mosquitos when you are the food, it is going to be important that you use sprays and repellants to ensure that you avoid being bitten as best as you can.
Hide food up in cupboards, wrap it tightly in plastic bags and make sure that the smell can’t get out. You should also look to avoid leaving crumbs anywhere, so give the place a good clean before you attempt to sleep. Finally make sure that you have tried your best to seal up the room and prevent access for any of the little buggers entering into where you are sleeping.
Repellants
If you are somewhere for a couple of days and you are worried about animals then let the owner of the property know so that they can invest in some traps or repellants, if however they fail to act, simply try and do it on your own, and then store that information for review time, the threat of pests and rodents will be sure to prevent any future travelers from heading there, or it will certainly curtail the numbers somewhat.
At the end of the day we have to get this thought out of our mind that every animal is going to infect us or eat us, we can co-exist if we have to. If you are looking to stay somewhere on the cheap then you should be prepared for the odd critter, deal with it and don’t talk about it, the morning will be here soon enough.
