How a Bamboo Rat Transformed My Massive Indoor Ecosystem

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]A colossal beast has arrived to wreak havoc. Finally, the time has come for Panchia, my network of giant indoor ecosystem vavariums, to reach a whole new level. And this creature will truly shake things up in Verdantia, my giant grasslands vavarium, which possesses a fairly deep soil layer planned specifically when I first constructed it because I knew one day I would find the perfect burrowing animal to integrate into its soils to hopefully benefit the ecosystem and all its resident creatures. Behold our new guest.

[00:00:44]Hello there. I have an ecosystem for you to sink your teeth into.

[00:00:56]Please subscribe to my channel and hit the bell icon. Welcome to the AC fam.

[00:01:01]Enjoy.

[00:01:10]Hello, Billy.

[00:01:15]It's here.

[00:01:17]Awesome.

[00:01:19]Bring it in.

[00:01:27]Holy, it's huge.

[00:01:32]I walked up to the young bamboo rat to have a better look at it. Hello there.

[00:01:39]It seemed just as curious about me as I was of it.

[00:01:44]It was timid yet curious. Scary with its huge orange incizers, but at the same time gentle.

[00:01:53]It had a cute flat face.

[00:01:56]Bamboo rats are large burrowing rodents native to the forest edge and fields of Southeast Asia, China, and parts of India. Now, despite her large size, she's actually just a baby and will grow up to 9 lb. She was offered to me by a breeder friend of mine who wanted to see if she would do well in Verdantia. Of course, I said yes because Verdantia is literally her natural habitat. And again, the deep verdant soils were designed to accommodate her in order to learn just how a burrowing mammal like her would impact an ecosystem. I was certainly up for quite the surprise and learning experience.

[00:02:42]Let's go in. I gently opened the cage and made first contact.

[00:02:51]She was surprised, but I placed my hand near her so she could smell me. I was told she was friendly, otherwise I would not be doing this. Don't be afraid, little one. I promise I won't hurt you.

[00:03:05]I went in to pick her up.

[00:03:15]She was very cooperative in my hands, showing her Verdantia. I could tell she was curious.

[00:03:23]Welcome to your new home.

[00:03:29]I proceeded to place her inside.

[00:03:44]At first, she turned back wondering where I went, then began to explore her new surroundings.

[00:03:55]I was thrilled to see her so engaged and intrigued as she smelled and explored the Verden habitat.

[00:04:05]Now, as cool as it was to see a bamboo rat in the grasslands, she's a mammal.

[00:04:11]And throughout Pangia's history, every time we've added mammals to the ecosystem, the impact was extreme. From the micro squirrels once populating the canopy, leading to an entire insect extinction, to the goat and guinea pigs that helped clear a field of invasive basil. Mammals are no joke. And my main objective this week was to decide whether or not this bamboo rat was a feasible addition to our ecosystem based on a list of criteria first. How would she impact the plants?

[00:05:03]These rodents are classified as agricultural pests in some areas. Though they do feed on bamboo, they will also eat a variety of root crops, plants, and vegetables. Here, she's got a couple slices of bamboo, some sweet potato, and corn. I've got a whole forest of bamboo in my yard, so getting her a supply of bamboo was no problem. But I knew I had to monitor if she would be eating copious amounts of plants here, whether they be leaves above ground or roots below. If she ends up clearing all the vegetation in Verdantia, she'll have to go. Other considerations were regarding her well-being. How would she deal with soil? According to her breeder, for her entire life, she's been housed on a commercial rodent bedding. So, this soil was surely alien to her at the moment.

[00:05:52]Does she even know how to burrow? I also needed to pay close attention to how she would handle life with the various ant species in Verdantia. Bamboo rats naturally share the same habitat as ants. So, I was interested to see how she deals with them in Verdantia. If they bother her too much, I would be ready to go in and rescue her. Finally, I needed to assess whether her presence in the grasslands would benefit the ecosystem or if it would negatively impact it. All of this criteria would help me decide if she stays or leaves.

[00:06:28]And she was about to teach me about two of the criteria. Now she spotted an interesting space and began to squeeze her way through. When suddenly her wild instincts kicked right in. Using her front and hind legs, she moved soil from the front to the back, bulldozing her way through the earth.

[00:06:54]Her once chubby body was now flattened and elongated like a ferret as she squeezed her way through the titan space.

[00:07:14]Directly in front of her, a black crazy ant colony was in panic mode as they learned of the large warm-blooded monster sniffing around and disturbing the soils near their satellite nest.

[00:07:33]She was not deterred at all and continued on her mission to dig. Unfazed by the ants, she continued to excavate a chamber by pressing her face against the earth, which now explained the flattened shape of her face. It actually had a purpose. I was curious to see if she was using her huge teeth to dig as well.

[00:07:54]Now, I know for most people who are grossed out by rats, it's the tail they hate. And I usually don't care about regular rat tails, but ew, hers looks like a worm. Gh.

[00:08:07]Although in this digging context, I could see how it could be helpful for balance and an extra semi prehensile limb for grip. It was interesting to see her sense and feel the world in front of her. With her nose, whiskers, and teeth, shaking the dirt off as she went along.

[00:08:25]With her powerful front legs, she would shove earth behind her, and with her hind legs, kick all that earth back even further. Her fur was all oriented to face the back in order to make her more streamlined for the task. And it looked like the dirt didn't stick too well on her fur either, as a single shake would have it all off her body. What a perfectly adapted digging machine.

[00:08:58]Soon she was pretty far, but was completely sealed behind her with excavated soil. With all that dirt behind her, I wondered how she'd get out. Finally, she decided that this was as far as she would go as she used her face to widen her new and spacious chamber.

[00:09:27]after which she decided to begin digging her way back out. But instead of kicking dirt back behind her like before, which would totally destroy her previous work, she switched to another surprising technique. Using her body to flatten the soil, she widened a tunnel leading back to where she entered and also used her face to pack the soil in. It was incredible to watch her at work, seeing as this all had to be instinctual, as she'd never had the opportunity to dig before.

[00:10:17]And after several minutes, the bamboo rat had completed a pretty sweet chamber and a tunnel leading to the outside, but leaving some soil where it entered so no trace of its burrow could be detected by predators.

[00:10:40]Brilliant.

[00:10:46]Meanwhile, in the forest nearby, a predator had woken up by the faint smell of a mammal.

[00:10:55]Valentino, my senior green tree python, smelled the air in Pandora. Even though the bamboo rat is much too large for him to eat, he couldn't tell size right now.

[00:11:06]All he knew was the familiar scent of a rodent mammal, and it was time for him to track it.

[00:11:24]It began to rain in Pangia, bathing all the lands with hydration. I used this opportunity to lay out a bowl of water to collect the rain over time for the bamboo rat to drink. It was then that someone had to come out to inspect. The soil began to move and soon I began to see a soilcovered nose sniffing the air. It was so cute.

[00:12:09]It proceeded to shove more soil out of the way.

[00:12:18]The smell of rain against earth and plants was a first for her. It was in this moment that I saw intelligence, beauty, and not a dirty animal, but a bamboo rat in its most natural state doing what it was born to do.

[00:12:37]Witnessing this moment was quite special. I knew it could see me and felt as though we bonded in the short moment and in a weird bamboo rack kind of way felt she was thanking me for this strange cool new home. You're welcome little one. Hope you can stay with us, but I'll have to see if you're a good fit for these grasslands. Eventually, she decided to head back underground and proceed to cover up the entrance to her burrow. She took one last look at me before covering up the entrance until once again her presence had been concealed.

[00:13:23]I knew bamboo rats are nocturnal, so I decided to return in the night to see if she would emerge and begin to forage.

[00:13:34]It was night and in Arcadia the rains had woken up one of the tree frogs who sat happily moistened on a branch.

[00:13:44]Nearby a blue ant was feasting on some mango as well as these guys. The roaches had emerged to feed as well. This is a baby American cockroach. An invasive species, but a key prey item for pangia's predators. And there were plenty of them now all over the forest.

[00:14:06]Over there is a dubia roach also emerging.

[00:14:10]Hoping to catch them were our semi-residentident to geckos. Tikki, that baby right there, and Tuco, the father.

[00:14:21]I say semi-resident because they are actually outsiders that come and go through the bee hole attached to the bridge they love to hang out in where they snag roaches that squeeze through the wire mesh.

[00:14:34]"Dad, do you smell what I smell?" Tikki asked. "Yes, a mammal."

[00:14:46]The bamboo rat peeked its head out from the ground, sniffing the air to ensure it was safe. When it was ready, it emerged from its burrow to explore Verdantia, this time under the cover of night.

[00:15:06]It came across its corn on the cob, which was covered in black crazy ants.

[00:15:12]Hey, I'll take that. Thank you. Yinking the corn from the ants, it proceeded to drag it into its burrow.

[00:15:22]Well, that was interesting.

[00:15:29]Inside its burrow, it began to chow down on the corn in peace. All I could see was beige fur and its big orange teeth munching happily on its corn. But one thing was for sure, not everyone was pleased with this new resident moving in.

[00:15:47]The black crazy ants had been displaced from a very key and strategic moist spot under the tree and was forced to move its colony above ground to holes at the treere's base as well as spaces behind the tree. Oh no, see that huge white pupa? That is a queen alate, a future queen.

[00:16:11]I actually had no idea they were occupying areas beneath the tree until the bamboo rat displaced them. As usual, these invasive ants have been quite sneaky and resourceful, growing their army in secret places, and I knew I needed to do something about it ASAP.

[00:16:33]Valentino had climbed up to Arcadia, still following the scent of the mammal.

[00:16:39]He could smell its urine mixing with the damp post rain air.

[00:16:44]Valentino here eats mice and other small warm-blooded mammals, which we feed him once a month. Now, a lot of you have requested that we simply release micro squirrels back into the system because they wouldn't lead to a population boom and insect extinction this time as Valentino would keep their numbers down.

[00:17:05]I'll definitely consider this once pangia is much bigger and offers multiple bridges of evasion for the micro squirrels so that at least they have the opportunity to continually migrate away from Valentino can never be cornered by him and actually get to spend a significant amount of time never actually running into him. This would be much truer to nature and not stressful for the micro squirrels. What do you guys think of this idea?

[00:17:36]Meanwhile, I'll have to continually just resort to once a month feedings for Valentino.

[00:17:41]He curled up on a branch, realizing that the mammal he was tracking was actually on the other side of that wire filter.

[00:17:50]By the way, for those wondering, I also reinstated the wire filter on the other end of the bridge to keep the to geckos from wandering into Verdantia while the bamboo rat was in there. Even though the bamboo rat is much too big to be prey for the toqu, they can still be a biting hazard to each other. I placed a bowl of water in the bridge for the toes in case they were thirsty. Based on all the poop I see on the other end though, I think they have no interest in Verdantia anyway as all their roaches come right to them here.

[00:18:25]The bamboo rat had emerged once again, sniffing the bamboo sticks. It didn't seem too interested in the bamboo.

[00:18:40]It eventually found the water bowl and immediately began to nibble on it.

[00:18:46]And just as I thought it was about to drink, it stuck its paws into the water.

[00:18:52]Okay, guess it just needed a quick rinse. I watched it disappear back into its burrow for the night.

[00:19:11]to continue munching on its corn. But it was a bit of a blessing that it left some of this food outside because it led to a great surprise discovery. Hey, the Marauder ants. Awesome. They were feasting on the sweet potato. I actually wasn't sure how well this colony was doing as it's been a while since I'd seen them. They've been rather MIA lately and I felt they could have been out competed by the black crazy ants.

[00:19:40]Turns out they're okay and looking really active. Plus, I had no idea this species eats sweet potato, which is great because their invasive competitors, the black crazy ants, aren't capable of eating tubers. So, this was another win for Panchia's native ant life.

[00:19:59]Now, the biggest surprise of all would come the next morning.

[00:20:06]Checking Verdantia the next morning, I searched the back for the bamboo rat's whereabouts.

[00:20:16]>> Looks like it dragged in the sweet potato overnight.

[00:20:19]H.

[00:20:22]Wow, the tunnel was so long now and surprisingly led all the way to the middle of Verdantia where a clear mound could be seen. Man, was this bamboo rat busy last night. But where was it? I went back and couldn't find it anywhere until I found the entrance to a second tunnel. I followed it to the side of the tank and to my surprise, all the way down to the front of the tank where I spotted a movement of beige fur. Wa! It was all the way down here, deep at the drainage layer where it had excavated a chamber.

[00:21:04]I watched as it continued to excavate, and this time, yes, confirmed, it used its big orange teeth to shovel chunks of soil away from the walls. Its tunnel work in just a day was unreal. And seeing the cool tunnels in the soil kind of reminded me of the joys of having an ant colony, only this was one creature and tunnels much bigger. It amazed me seeing the mounds of soil it had moved here at the original burrow entrance as well as here under the tree and here at this area and as seen earlier here at the center of Verdantia.

[00:21:51]I watched it yawn before curling up to go to sleep as morning was its bedtime.

[00:21:56]What an animal.

[00:21:59]So guys, now for the verdict. Should it stay or should it go? Let's go over the criteria.

[00:22:08]Over the next few days, I monitored the plants carefully. The field seemed largely untouched, and the bamboo rat seemed to prefer the sweet potato, corn, and bamboo pieces, which it dragged into its burrow. So, over a week, the plants seem okay. Let's talk about the burrows.

[00:22:26]This is a big one. The reason I've been wanting a digging animal is because moving soil around is highly beneficial for soil health. First off, it helps redistribute nutrients. You see, leaf litter is eaten up by soil creatures like springtails and isopods as well as bacteria and fungi. And the byproducts of these organisms result in a nutrient-rich soil layer called humus.

[00:22:51]Then burrowing insects like ants bring lower, less nutrient-dense soils that have been leeched of their nutrients by the plants up to the surface where this humification process restores the soil's nutrients, making more humus. This constant process of bringing up deeper soils to the surface packs the humus down lower and lower where plant roots can get to them. Now, though burrowing creatures like ants drive this process along steadily, when a mammal like a bamboo rat does it, this humification process happens so much quicker, leading to more super nutrient-dense soils for the plants. Aside from this, bringing food materials deeper into the soil accelerates the humidification process even more as food sitting around is broken down by soil organisms directly in the deepest layers of the soil where roots can get to them. The second reason the bamboo rats burrows are great for soil is because they allow for oxygen to reach the deepest areas of soil which help prevent what are called anorobic spots from forming which appear as dark spots in the soil where a lack of oxygen causes harmful bacteria to produce toxic compounds and turn soil acidic which kills beneficial microbes, plant roots and microauna. There are already anorobic spots all around Verdantia, which is normal, but too much is bad.

[00:24:18]This can be resolved by burrowing insects and worms that create tunnels allowing for oxygen to reach such places and stop this harmful process from happening. But obviously, having huge bamboo rat tunnels like this to funnel air through vast underground areas truly helps clean up these dangerous anorobic spots. If all that wasn't enough, the bamboo rat herself poops and pees into the soil, thereby releasing even more nutrients into it. Not to mention being able to break down some of nature's toughest to digest food types like bamboo. Now, about the ants. Obviously, she isn't bothered by them, which makes evolutionary sense. But one of the coolest things I've noticed is that her digging around has completely forced camps of black crazy ants to places above ground where a mighty anteater could get to them. I also love that now I know our marauder ants are indeed alive and well and share a similar love for root crops. As such, I decided to bury various different root crops around Berdantia for food enrichment for both the bamboo rat and the marauder ants.

[00:25:30]Ginger, carrot, and potato. In the meantime, if these root crops end up growing here, that would be cool, too. So, like ants, rats seem to have a bad rep in the world as being dirty, disease-ridden pests. And now with this recent news of the henta virus, I expect a rise in rat and rodent hate in the media. But this week, we learned how these creatures do have an important role in ecosystems and have the power to drastically shape them. And so based on my evaluation, AC family, I've come to decide that our bamboo rat has so far been a positive agent in our ecosystem and thus can stay in Verdantia, at least for the time being. Welcome to Pangia, little one. AC family, what should we name our new resident bamboo rat? Let me know in the comment section and remember to subscribe to follow this bamboo rat's journey with us. I look forward to seeing how she continues to transform the grasslands as her network of tunnels expands over time.

[00:26:44]Speaking of network expansions, on the opposite end of Panchia, down on the first floor of the ant room, another expansion was well on the way. In fact, it was already here.

[00:26:58]Bring it in.

[00:27:07]Holy, it's huge.

[00:27:23]P 5 has arrived.

[00:27:27]This is just the stand. Now, didn't some of you say it was too small?

[00:27:41]Vote in my community tab to affect this story.