hi my name is Mike and I'm here to talk
to you about rats rats have been a big
problem here in the town of Arlington
for the past several months enough so
that the town of Arlington actually
issued a statement on rats and how to
deal with them in warning residents
about rats how do you know you have a
rat rather than a mouse well a rat is
substantially larger than a mouse so if
you see it a mouse with its tail a big
Mouse might get about five inches long
maybe six inches long looting the tail a
rat with a body will be around a small
rat will have a body of about five
inches or so and they'll grow much
larger than that so that's a quick way
to tell also you can tell they like to
burrow underneath piles of leaves they'd
like to burrow into rock walls or under
rock walls under porches so you'll see a
burrow or hole and they'll usually be -
at least two whole entry and entry in an
exit so that the the rat has an escape
route so that's a couple of ways that
you can tell the difference between the
two in trapping rats there's a variety
of different types of traps that we can
look at this one here is an
old-fashioned rat trap this is the one
that your grandma and grandpa used to
set out there this has the bail which
comes over and it's on a strong spring
so you got to be careful with this so it
doesn't snap back and bite you and this
is the the hole back here and that slips
underneath this little bump out in the
bail here here is where you would put
the put the the bait so that the rat has
something to lure it in so you set this
with the bail back and then once you
release the pressure on that bail it's
set and ready to go
so you have to be careful with it so
when you go to set it down you don't
want to put your fingers where the bail
is going to flip over just set it down
gently and then walk away
you can release a trap just by pushing
down on this moving this over and then
allowing the bail to come back under
control
there are newer traps which are a little
bit safer to use this one as an example
is baited in here so you take the bait
and you stuff it in that little hole and
then to set the trap you simply push
back here and set the trap and once it's
set you still just like the other trap
have to be careful you don't want to
prematurely set the trap off just set it
down gently and you're all set ready to
go to release the trap on this one push
down on the back and then release it by
pushing on the paddle and it will come
down like that this is a different
version of basically the same thing just
a different manufacturer this trap here
is a like an electric chair for rats so
it allows you to take out your
frustrations on them it has two plates
one that the animal stands on and the
other one that hits the back of the rat
so the rat goes in it sets the trap off
and electrifies both plates and the the
rat is essentially electrocuted it'll go
off for about two minutes killing the
rat and then there will be an indicator
light that will tell you that the rat of
the trap has been triggered and allow
you to go out empty the trap and then
reuse it you can reuse this I think up
to four or five times on a single set of
batteries another way to get rid of rats
is to poison rats these are baiting
stations what happens is is they have
will look at this one here they have a
bait block inside the rat goes in around
the corner eat some of the bait and then
it actually causes them to get thirsty
at they bleed internally and and they
they are driven toward water so this is
a single-use so once this bait block is
gone that's it the trap just gets thrown
away and then you would put another one
out of you needed to this one here is
basically the same idea but it has a
window that allows you to rebate this
this bait station then you can also buy
baits in bulk so this is a bucket of
bait you could use this in a variety of
different situations for instance if you
had a shed at a or a trash storage area
where the rats were getting into you
could take this and spread that around
you would use this in an area that you
had some control over like a shed like
an enclosure for trash along those lines
you could also if you knew where the rat
hole was you could take this if you felt
so inclined and brave enough and push it
down the rat hole and to hopefully
entice the rat to eat it so the other
thing to consider is the food for the
rats where are they getting their food
from compost is a very popular place for
them so you don't want to be composting
any food products especially meats or
bones or things like that that aren't
going to break down rapidly in your
compost your trash is a very popular
place for rats to get their dinner this
trash can here is an animal control
trashcan and what it has is just like
any other trash can it's got handles
that come up and clip into the lip of
the lid to hold it in place but in
addition to that it has a spring-loaded
or bungee loaded hold downs which that
hold it in place
snugly so that that way rats can't get
into it easily it'll also help protect
your trash from raccoons and other
animals that dig through garbage so
that's a some of the ways that you can
deal with this rat issue here in town
hopefully this is a cycle that will
change and they'll go away but until
then you know that Wanamaker's has some
solutions for you thank you
you