Here is the story about what happened after the initial freak out about the rat 12 days or 288 hours ago.
Day 1 Tuesday - Thomas spotted the rat. Mica freaked out. Sticky pad rat traps were procured.
Day 2 Wednesday - It was suspected they were moved so peanut butter was added.
Day 3 Thursday - The trap was flipped and peanut butter was on the wall. Sneaky rat.
Day 4 Friday - more traditional traps were procured. The snap traps.
Day 5 Saturday - The traps were licked clean and NOT set off. Dang.
Day 6 Sunday - Thomas was ticked.
Day 7 Monday - He placed the sticky traps around the snaps traps. Genius.
Day 8 Tuesday - The rat moved them. Sneaky and smart rat. Crap.
Day 9 Wednesday - Pretended that there was not a smart rat living in my basement.
Day 10 Thursday - Still pretending. Called the exterminator. Left a message.
Day 11 Friday - Finally got a hold of him. He came over and sets some traps. 3 hours later the rat was caught. YAY!!!! Rat free since 2003! Too bad it isn't 2003 because that would have been awesome.
Day 12 Saturday - Celebrated a rat free home and watched Ratatouille and ate cheese.
On another note, there is nothing like paying to have someone reassure you that you are not a dirty hoarder. That is not the reason you have a rat. You simply had a freak incident where a rat found its way into your home and couldn't get out.
Sigh.
Drama complete.