hey i got a family of rats that moved into the penthouse suite of the bunny bungalow
stay tuned i'm just going to show you if i can get rid of them with the same method i have been
we'll be right back
so
hey folks welcome back to pine meadows hobby farm i'm your host jerry hansen
uh just real quick i wanted to make apologies for the previous two films i did i did those on the
fly it means i just had time to grab my camera run out turn the camera on while i'm running
and start filming and set the camera up and film the scene unfortunately the audio on my camera is
kind of defunct that's what i get for buying a used camera and getting it for cheap it's a really
good camera it's a a canon fx100 so i did purchase some audio equipment to
help record on a separate device which is i have it right here today i just put it in my pocket
i usually put it in my back pocket have a lavalier mic come up underneath my shirt where you guys
can't see it because uh i don't like to i don't like that the obvious sign of a lavalier mic
but anyway this unit is on it's recording it's a tascam dr05 i finally figured out how to program
it and work it so i've got it in my pocket and i'm recording the audio for this show now
otherwise i just use a lavalier mic and then they sync the audio with the video and give you guys a
better quality of audio and video on your visual and watching my channel so my apologies for not
doing that on the two previous two videos it's just uh the one was the homestead um
wildlife which was the little owl that came and perched on my uh chicken coop walkway while i was
doing my chores and as soon as i left he kind of like flew off so it was all good and well but it
was kind of a nice thing to see and then the other video was having bro coffee with bob the crane get
it those of you my age will know what i'm talking about anyway he's a snowy egret and he frequents
my pawn in the mornings now because i do have fish in the pond i stock my pond with some fish
and it's kind of nice to get up in the morning have a cup of coffee and watch
bob do his antics i did a couple years ago have a visitor of a great blue heron
which is a great big old huge blue uh crane creature oh man that those things are majestic
so it's really cool to get wildlife visiting the homestead but the one wildlife i do not appreciate
making my homestead their home and doing their business all over the homestead they stink they
do carry diseases it's these rats these are uh i believe these are the norwalk vorats which is
a they're an invasive species they came on board ships they climbed up the ship's ropes and got on
board the ships and the ships distributed them all over the world uh just taking uh once they started
doing export taking things all over the world including the rats so they're an invasive species
and we have to get rid of them unfortunately honeybees are considered an invasive species but
honeybees are also considered a livestock so what i'm doing with the bunny bungalow is i'm getting
my formula of four tablespoons of baking soda four tablespoons of cornbread mix you could use
cake mix you can use plain flour you can use just about anything that will attract a rat to eat it
uh and as long as they're ingesting that baking soda that's what's gonna get them so this is my uh
attic the penthouse suite in the bunny bungalow if you will and here's the rat activity
my goodness yeah it's a family of rats a bunch of babies and i noticed
the nest is over in the corner i noticed i kind of got a hint that there was rats out here when
i was out here feeding the rabbits the other day and i heard some noise up here in the eaves
yeah those little suckers are up there so we're going to go ahead and put the jiffy cornbread
mix and baking soda out for them what the baking soda does is it mixes with their stomach acids
and it bubbles and since rats uh can't pass that gas readily they will uh it explode they're in
internally you won't see a visually a rat explode you'll just go to the nest and find a bunch of
dead rats which i have to climb in there and i'll get video of it once i in in a couple of days and
see if this is really working but it seems to be working in the past because it has diminished
uh the population which means it's working but the little rascals go off and they
fornicate and make more little rascals and the ghastly little bee scamper all over the world
all over the farm making more ghastly bees and pretty soon
if i don't keep up trapping them and poisoning them uh you're gonna get another infestation i
prefer not to use a poison because if a rat ingests the poison and an uh like a fox or a
little owl in just the rat it could poison them and kill them and i don't want to do that using
plaster of paris if my pets or livestock get into that that could cause a problem too also using
cement some people suggested cement i did try plaster paris earlier and i decided no i won't
do that because i'm really um i really want to protect the beneficial creatures that help
keep the rats and mice at uh in check now i have this one trap it's a squirrel later
obviously the wire is too large to contain baby rats and mice so they're eating all the seed
that i put in there obviously i'm not getting any scrolling here right now i think i trapped
and got rid of all the ground scrolls that were really dug up and made a mess around my homestead
so i placed those in the tractor barn because i do have a problem in the tractor barn these are
two areas where the cats can't get we have seven cats on the homestead and they just can't get into
the penthouse and they can't get into the uh the tractor barn and so this is a safe environment for
these creatures so i'm gonna make it unsafe for them by setting out these traps i got this other
trap i life trapped a rat and i set out my trail cams and this is what we caught on the trail cams
i also did the bait and poison while the baking soda and i did a snap trap
they didn't even bother the snap trap not one bit so i don't know what's going on there uh
never had any luck with a snap trap did have some luck with the squirrel elator trap i got a skunk i
got some squirrels got a bunch of scrolls with that and because it's so small the skunk can't
raise its tail it needs to raise its tail to spray so it was really safe for me to dispatch the skunk
safely without getting squirted i also um i'm thinking of getting a trap like the squirrel
later that is smaller wiring they could call it a rata later i just noticed it down at my
local hardware store the other day and i was i'm thinking about investing in one of those
also so i can live trap them i do have some viewers that have commented on my
kill rats dead with jiffy cornbread mix and baking soda or my flour and baking soda mix
they don't want the animals to die it's just like that's well and fine i mean if you don't want the
animals to die i'll life trap them and send them to you you can live with them that's all i'm
saying about that anyway i'll do a follow-up on these in about a week uh it takes i think it takes
a couple of days for that to uh actually cause them to bubble and get uncomfortable and explode
maybe overnight i don't know it depends on how much tummy juice they have and how much of that
baking soda they eat and that's why i'm using the baking soda and cornbread in secure places
where my pets and livestock can't get to and predators typically typically don't get in there
thus is the reason why i have rats in these enclosed environments because predators don't get
in there dang it anyway i'm your host jerry hansen this is pine meadows hobby farm we're uh frugal
homes dead tucked high in the cascade ranges of the pacific northwest please stay tuned to more
videos you could do that by subscribing then clicking that bell icon that allows you to new
videos as i do upload them remember to always be safe always be kind we'll see you guys in the next
adventure and we'll see you guys in the updated video look for that in about a week bye bye now
do you