A man in New York City, New York, was mortified to find that rats had infested his little garden right in front of his house. Determined to eradicate the issue, he made use of dry ice, a very popular and humane way to get rid of the rodents. The little rascals, however, proved to be tougher than expected, rendering the man’s tools useless.
The borderline cinematic story was shared online by Brad Hurtado, who runs the Back to the Studs account on multiple platforms. He often shares lifestyle content alongside his husband Sean and their daughter Grace, but has ventured himself in content similar to the one attached above. This time around, the clip went viral, garnering 920,200 views, 68,800 likes, and more than 1,200 comments.
The rat situation was years in the making. According to the New York man, rat issues in his Brooklyn neighborhood have been a constant, especially due to an empty lot right next to his home, which became a “perfect haven for a colony.” Still, things were to change thanks to the new building on the block, meaning that rats would choose to migrate their home to another sector of the street.
Rats Pick Garden
Well, apparently, they chose to relocate to Brad’s little garden right in front of his home.
“I cannot believe that after 15 years, they found a soft spot in my garden bed and dug a new home with the entrance right by the electrical box for our sidewalk snow-melting system,” he said regrettably.
Brad then closely monitored the rats as he set up spotlights and a camera. Footage he provided clearly shows multiple rats entering the hole they had built right next to the man’s London plane tree.
He and Sean used electric shock traps to catch some of them, and, while at it, they were also ticketed for a rat poop violation, although they managed to reverse the $300 fine just in time. They even had their cat contributing to the efforts, as she brought home little mice.
Icing Rats
Knowing full well that poison was out of the question, given the fact that dogs walk past their garden every day, Brad decided to take a different approach: dry ice.
“This is the same stuff you use on Halloween to make fog on the ground,” he said. “And that came in the frozen Omaha steaks that I used to buy my dad. And I’m gonna use it to kill the rats.”
The idea was that the dry ice would humanely suffocate the rats, so Brad placed the pellets in the hole. On top of it, he placed his mother’s cast iron stew pot to stop them from getting out.
However, the rats managed to circumvent the dry ice entirely by just digging another exit hole. This, of course, was a huge disappointment to Brad. He tried again the very next day, this time without the stew pot and with way more dry ice. The rats, however, had become experts in dry ice avoidance and once again defeated it, and Brad.
“That hole is looking like the Lincoln Tunnel with how big it is,” the defeated man said. “What are we gonna do?“
Social Media Reactions
The video sparked multiple responses online, many shocked by how skillful the rats were, but many others by how well Brad edited his video. One said, “I did not enjoy this one bit but stayed to the very end.” Another one commented, “Is there a prize for TikTok storytelling? Because you win.”
A tiny portion of the viewers, however, felt bad for the rats. One asked, “Is it just me that feels sorry for the rats?” Another one added, “Leave them alone.” Other users bashed them in the responses, asking them to house the rodents themselves.
For the time being, the rats have the upper hand in this New York showdown. Brad is planning on sharing a second part in the coming days, so he might have another ace up his sleeve.
