Late one evening I heard a scrabble scrabble on the roof (and I don’t mean two copies of the word game). The cat raised her eyes upwards and her ears followed suit. I knew what this meant, I had read about it in the home inspection reports for other houses and heard the experiences from fellow new homeowners: roof rats. Well, we roof rat hosts are in good company, with the rich and famous of Beverly Hills fighting an infestation of “Rattus rattus”, past carrier of the Plague, chewer of metal, wood and concrete, eater of vegetables, flowers, and fruits. The citizens of southern California are debating the balance between feral cats versus dirty rats. It seems the rats got worse when the cats were trapped. Hmmm. But the good people of 90210 are unlikely to want scrappy cats running around their neighborhoods even if it does solve the rat problem. Meanwhile back in Silicon Valley, we’re blocking any holes we find into the attic … but those little guys can fit through holes the size of a quarter.