Rats!

It was once thought that humans were the only creatures who used tools to perform tasks. What hubris! We now know that chimpanzees and various species of birds, most notably crows, will also use tools. But who knew this about rats? Rats are extremely clever animals. There is a video on YouTube of a rat using a stick to set off a snap trap, then stealing the bait. The rat would repeat this every night, stealing the bait and always avoid being caught. This was not a laboratory experiment, but a video of a rat in a barn taken with an infrared camera at night. In other words, it was a real-life video of an educated rat which had learned the dangers of traps and how to avoid getting the snap. Other clips show clever rats stealing bait from a snap trap using shear speed to beat the spring. Why does this matter? Because the act of trapping rats must be handled very carefully and deliberately to avoid giving rise to trap-educated animals. Trap educated rats are nearly impossible to catch, causing one to resort to poisons. We avoid poisons on our farm to avoid harming non-target animals including pets, or birds or other animals that may find and consume either the poison bait or the dead rodent. Since Mystic Wildlife Control is part of Turkeywoods Farm, we have encountered rats on occasion and have developed highly effective protocols in eradicating rats from our chicken coops and pens. More to come soon on this topic. Thanks for reading!