LANSING – Lois Faggion was horrified to discover rats in her home about a month ago.

She was even more horrified to find the animals in the traps put out by a pest control company — stuck but still alive and squealing. The company told her to put them to die in the trash.

She couldn’t do that.

“I don’t like them to suffer. They are God’s animals,” she said.

Instead, she pulled out a hammer to put them out of their misery first.

The slight woman later displayed a hammer with bits of fur on the face, shaking her head over the distasteful job.

“I had to get up and kill them with a hammer. I’m 87 years old for God’s sake,” she said.

As I talked to Lois, I was astonished she had the nerve to do it. That thought, however, is quickly replaced with the realization of just how badly she wants to stay in her own home. She doesn't want to leave, even for a night. Not even for rats.

Pest control refunds money

Sondra Faggion, Lois’ daughter, said the pest control company, Orkin, refunded her mother’s money after she complained. She said she and her mother didn’t understand that the contract they signed would require them to deal with trapped live animals.

“No way did we know that she was going to have to dispose of these rats while they were still alive or kill them,” said Sondra, who also lives in Lansing but has been out of town closing up a home at an RV resort.

I called the Lansing Orkin office to ask about the glue traps. I was referred to the company’s Atlanta corporate office but didn’t hear back.

Lois and Sondra speculate that construction work on Lansing streets are sending the animals into the home.

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Andy Kilpatrick, Lansing's public safety director, said there have been no other recent complaints in any construction area about rats. He said the house in question, west of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Carey near Shiawassee Street, is a mile away from current work to separate the city’s storm and sewer pipes, known as combined sewer overflow or CSO.

“I’m not sure of the reason the residents are seeing rats recently, but do not believe they are related to the City’s CSO project, or any other projects we currently have,” he said in an email. “It is possible that someone in the area disturbed a nesting area, which caused the rats to seek out a new area to live.

Wood wouldn't rule it out

City Council President Carol Wood, who lives a few blocks from Faggion’s home, agrees that the city’s work on separating sewer and storm drain pipes is likely too far away “but I’m not going to tell you it’s not possible.”

She said the question about sewer work disturbing rats surfaces from time to time, though it hasn't lately.

“That’s not the first time I’ve heard this come up,” Wood said.

The city's website, however, says there's been no connection made between CSO work and rodents moving into residences.

On Tuesday, the glue traps, white plastic rectangles with sticky surfaces, were still scattered around Lois’ home as well as two large snap traps.

She’s found trapped rats in the basement, kitchen and living room.

She said she first spotted the rats running up the stairs to her second floor, which is mostly used for storage.

“I about croaked. I said ‘Oh my god, they’re rats, not mice,’” she recalled.

Some large droppings are visible in her basement, and one trap still had fur and tails from two animals.

Hard to afford repairs

Sondra said her mother’s house needs work to fill holes around windows and a door. The older woman lives on Social Security, a tiny pension check and a small amount of food assistance.

The home, assessed at a market value of $33,500 and built in 1900, definitely needs work and paint on the outside but otherwise appears comfortable. Except for the rats of course. The wood frame has rotted around the back door, and a few holes are apparent in the fascia under the eaves.

Lois has lived there for 58 years and owns the house. It has a fenced yard. Her husband Bob, a plasterer, died 20 years ago. If he had been around, he would have maintained the house, she said.

Three of her five children have also died. She mostly counts on Sondra, who is in poor health. Her surviving son lives out of state. Lois has two aging dogs but no cats to chase the rats.

Sondra is looking for help to make necessary repairs to keep rodents out.

The rats are causing Lois to lose sleep and more. She believes rats took one of two expensive hearing aids. It took months of saving to buy them, Sondra said.

The hearing aid was in a dish filled with rice, to keep moisture out. It appeared the rats dumped over the dish, Sondra said.

Though Lois has insurance, it didn’t cover the missing hearing aid. It will cost $650 to replace, Sondra said.

Pipe capped by furnace guy

The women believe the rats traveled up through a deteriorating pipe in the basement that once serviced an upstairs bathroom. Years ago, water was shut off and the bathroom was converted to a bedroom. The pipe rusted out.

The pest control employee told them it needed to be capped but that Orkin couldn’t do the work, the women said. Fortunately, the furnace guy, in to do other repairs, stuffed rags in it and covered it with a quick set concrete to plug it.

Even after catching two dozen or more rats over the past two weeks — “I lost count," she said — she’s still afraid there are more.

“I’m scared to go to bed at night. I can’t sleep because I’m sure they’re going to get in the bed,” she said.

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on twitter @judyputnam.