Giant Rats the Size of Rabbits Are Taking Over New York City

Back in the 1950s, my now deceased great aunt, who was the spitting image of Queen Elizabeth the II, btw (weird but true), was sitting on the loo, when a rat scurried up the drain and bit her ass.

Traumatized the poor woman for life.

Oh, and this happened in Manhattan.

Rats have ruled the city for many decades.

ANNA!

I still can’t believe the size of that monster.

What a shithole city.

[QUOTE]Now the rats have moved on to claiming an entire business for their new rat kingdom. A Chipotle on West 169th street has been taken over by a group of hostile, hungry rats who, workers say, are the size of small cats, love biting humans, and enjoy avocados.

[QUOTE]Workers say that the infestation began a few months ago, and that they reported it to management after the first employee was bitten by a rat in October. The restaurant remained open until November 23, however, the New York Post reports, as the rats continued to fatten themselves on delicious, hearty foods such as rice and, yes, ripe green avocados. Four workers in total have been bitten. Eventually, the rats chewed through the wiring of the online ordering system, triggering a total shutdown, a smart tactic clearly intended to declare ownership of the Mexican restaurant.

[QUOTE]Most dystopian is the fact that workers are still returning to the disputed territory to try and quell the siege, by “stomping on them, smacking them with broom handles, dropping boxes on them and various other medieval methods of extermination.” It’s not uncommon in this bloodbath to hear workers simply begin screaming, one said.

I thought the Trumps moved out of New York? 😳

why so many rats in nyc? la doesn't have this problem 😘

guess the rats fled LA, as LA has much more bigger issues (crime, homelessness, etc.)? 🤔

You monsters! Why would you want to kill a poor, defenseless little kitten?!

New York doesn't mind huge rats.

The Trumps are obviously moving back.

NYC is gross. Don't miss living there for a minute.

NYC is actually the giant rat. What a shit city... "if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere" bla bla bla..... should be "if you can be full of shit there, you can be full of shit anywhere"

Well, we need stronger leadership. Let’s hear the rats’ policy proposals before dismissing them out of hand.

R14 totes, most NYers don't know the pearl de la pearl; London. S much livelier and less of the race divide bull crap

R7, they did, but Bill De Blasio hasn't left.

I read that NYC's own Pizza Rat is getting a podcast.

[quote] why so many rats in nyc? la doesn't have this problem 😘

In LA the rats are waiting for you on the casting couch. I’ll take the furry squeaking variety any day.

Are these outliers or is the average rat size going up, and if so - why? A foreign chemical. It's movie-ready.

"RAT A TAT DIE!"

People need to start trapping them, and letting them loose in Trump Tower.

"Ratatouille 2: The Tavern on the Green"

Los Angeles most certainly does have a rat problem. I've found rodents nesting in my car engines 3 times this past year. I canalso hear them gnawing inside my walls. Depends when one lives I suppose. I'm in the foothills, surrounded by nature.

I've been to New York many times. I like the museums but it is so overrated and dirty. so dirty.

I always enjoy NYC buy have never lived there. Why is it so dirty; I was shocked the first time I went. It has to simply be density, right? Chicago is much cleaner, but the area of the city that is as population dense as NYC isn't that big.

They're huge, nearly life size.

A rabbit-sized rat isn’t that big! Jerez, I’ve seen them bigger than that out in the far subway tunnels.

Yes, nothing new.

"Good vermin on both sides."

I'm gunna raise me some rats as big as ya head!

I'm in northern California (Sacramento). I grew up here in the 70s and '80s and live in the same nice neighborhood. We didn't really have a rat problem. You certainly never saw them. When I moved back after years away (including 15 in Chicago where I saw plenty of them), I was surprised to spot them here.

We had a construction boom over the last couple of decades, especially the the last 10 years or so and lots of rat nests (and coyote dens) got disturbed. The rats dispersed to other parts of town. You began to see those heavy plastic bait boxes everywhere. . To compound the problem, the homeless leave enormous quantities of uneaten food strewn everywhere. The rats and coyotes feast.

Last year a utility pole near my back yard started smoldering one drizzly day. Apparently, the power couldn't be turned off and the Fire Department couldn't do anything to put the fire out. The surrounding homes had to be evacuated in case the pole toppled and electrified the ground. The suspect? A rat that chewed through the wiring overnight.

At least they're not thigh sized here.

I’m not sure I’d eat the tacos in that Chipotle, R6...

In Los An"Ga"Leez, (ugh!) we have citrus rats. Aka roof rats.

The Chipotle infestation is truly vile.

Once tourists come back, we reopen Autumn Harvest buffet and rat population go down again.

The reporter who wrote up the bit about the Chipotle is failing in their duty as a citizen, if they don't turn over the location of that particular Chipotle to the NYC health department. A place like that should not be open and serving food to an unsuspecting public.

What's particularly awful is that they didn't close for fumigation and sanitation until the rats had chewed through the wiring in their computer system and they couldn't take orders anymore! 😲

This is a common story in newspapers & magazines. I knew some NY writers in the 90s, so I was quoted in various articles about rats “taking over NYC,” which was a subject that was recycled at least once a year.

Rats are always in NYC. Their population rises and falls due to food supply, floods, cold weather, predation, etc. They have favorite areas - yes, subway tunnels are a big favorite for rats. They instinctively go underground. Anywhere there is soft dirt is a fun spot for rats, so if you live near a cemetery in NYC, you've got rats living near you. Not because they eat buried bodies but because soft dirt = easy to dig, easy to make tunnels & nests. A food source like a restaurant will bring rats. Bird feeders can bring rats. Abandoned buildings. Summer houses are a fun winter abode for rats.

Just because you see a lot of rats doesn’t mean the earth is being “taken over.” It could mean a food source has been removed, like a restaurants closing down. Or a tunnel has been flooded. Or poison has been put somewhere and the rats are disoriented & dying. Or an infested building was torn down. You will see rats because they are out in the open looking for new housing or for food that’s no longer close to their nests.

Rats are out looking for food now because fewer people are out on the street during the pandemic. NYers are pigs and will just throw food they’re finished eating in the street and the garbage pails on the streets are overflowing. Notice you always see pigeons scrabbling around in the dirt under trees as you walk down the street. And you’ll see crumbs, bits of muffins or rolls or the ends of a sandwich under the trees. That’s why pigeons are there. Well, when pigeons go to bed, the rats come out & eat whatever is left. Since the pandemic, far fewer people are outside walking, so there’s far less edible litter. Nobody is eating as they walk down the street. They’ve got masks on.

So rats are traveling to find food and there’s more competition from other rats for the scraps that are out there. You’re gonna see more rats in some places. It’s normal. But a lot of those rats are goung to die of starvation, so the city won’t be taken over anytime soon.

It's in the Heights and it is sickening to read about.

I need me some tougher rats.

After reading this thread I am in need of a fainting couch.

Breaking: Mayor de Blasio plans to release 100,000 snakes to eat all the rats.

Omfg

Florida has plenty of pythons who could take of those rats.

Do humpback whales eat rats?

R39 - on more than one occasion in April / May of the pandemic I saw obviously starving rats slowly dragging themselves around Hell’s Kitchen in the middle of the day.

The Duke would know how to fix New York

We should start eating them, as we do with lobsters.

Are they from Sumatra?

These are the ones from Suatra

I've seen evidence of rats on the leftover pumpkin displays from Halloween and Thanksgiving. Bite marks, which become more numerous, every time I pass by on my walks.

At least the rats are getting their Vitamin A and fiber needs met.

I've seen those plastic bait boxes, mentioned above, at various points south of City Hall here in Philly. Occasionally one will have been destroyed, plastic shards and bait strewn over the sidewalk. Is this being done by animal lovers, just for kicks or are rats strong enough to smash them looking for food?

I've seen numerous rats destroy those black rodent boxes, plastic shards everywhere.

I hate that our ignore function doesn't function. I would love to ignore this thread, but it just returns. I dry heave every time I see OP's link to the super rat.

[Quote]I've seen those plastic bait boxes, mentioned above, at various points south of City Hall here in Philly. Occasionally one will have been destroyed, plastic shards and bait strewn over the sidewalk

Oh, goodness! No eve of destruction decimated boxes in N. Cal , but I suppose that might be next. It sounds like E. Coast dwelling rats are not only smaller, but less aggressive?

Correction:

It sounds like WEST Coast dwelling rats are not only smaller, but less aggressive? Late...

Could some of these be opossums? They look very much like rats.

I got attacked by a rat in rodeo. They are very sophisticated and love french food. Who knew?

[QUOTE] I've seen those plastic bait boxes, mentioned above, at various points south of City Hall here in Philly. Occasionally one will have been destroyed, plastic shards and bait strewn over the sidewalk. Is this being done by animal lovers, just for kicks or are rats strong enough to smash them looking for food?

[QUOTE] I've seen numerous rats destroy those black rodent boxes, plastic shards everywhere.

Jesus, these monstrous mutant rats might be unstoppable.

r56 I see an opossum occasionally, they seem to favor wet places: dripping hydrants, rain puddles, jettisoned fast food drinks, etc. If rats ever get THAT size, I'm never going out again.

I think even Granny Clampett would be amazed.

Nyc always has had these giant rats. Something must have caused their population explosion.

Several things are going on all over NYC atm that has lead to an increase in rat sightings, and or actual population.

First and foremost the nearly two decade long construction boom has lead to countless buildings being demolished and or ground dug up. Both situations disturb rats who normally live underground, and or in buildings.

Next NYC is fast becoming a subtropical climate, we just don't get winters with prolonged periods of cold or freezing temps anymore. Rats will breed long as temps remain above freezing long as other conditions are favorable. Several years ago we had a really bad winter with bitter cold average temps for several weeks. Rat population along with other wildlife declined as a result.

The other main part of all this is human activity. They don't call certain species of rats and mice "commensal rodents" for no reason.

All over city from subways to above ground there is simply tons of food for rats and mice to eat. From the deluded idiots who pour bags of birdseed on streets to "feed the pigeons" to people who throw half or not eaten food on ground in streets and parks. Then there is fact both residential and commercial garbage is placed on NYC streets in plastic bin liners. Those bags (or even not rodent proof trash cans or containers) are like a open buffet for rats and mice.

If those trash bags aren't at curb they are adjacent, near buildings if not in basements or other areas. Again where ever you store trash you'll soon have a rodent problem if you don't look out.

Roots for this all began when city banned incinerators and buildings from burning trash (those chutes you still see in many buildings once lead to incinerators). The plan was to then increase trash collection to three times per week at least so buildings in theory wouldn't have to store rubbish for more than a few days. It hasn't worked out well for many reasons.

First even a small brownstone or five story walk-up multifamily generates plenty of trash on a daily basis. Even brownstones or row houses occupied by a single family generates lots of garbage. It all is again stored in or near buildings which attract rats. They come up from storm sewers, cracks in pavement or curb, tree beds, etc... and make a bee line for food.

Unlike mice who can get water from their food sources rats must drink. The Norway rat tends to live near sources of water for that reason. In many parts of Manhattan and elsewhere there are long ago buried streams, ponds, and other places where water is easily found. For those living on Fifth Avenue of CPW rats from Central Park are a constant menace. The park is full of rats because as a natural area it provides them with everything they need (food, water, shelter), but they frequently will cross over either avenue to the properties along same.

From about low sixties to well into 80's or 90's on CPS and blocks going towards Columbus there are tons of rats. You walk up CPW from 72nd and notice nearly every building has rat bait stations or traps in the planting beds in front.

There have been some success stories in city of late regarding war on rats.

A group of concerned citizens cleaned up and restored Verdi Park at 72nd street by first getting rid of a really bad rat problem.

Verdi Park of course sits above 72nd street subway station and most subway lines in Manhattan are infested with rats. It only takes a few to learn their way "up" to begin an infestation of anything above. This is again reason why buildings along CPW have a huge problem with rats, the 8th avenue subway runs under Central Park West.

If you've ever taken subway along that stretch of CPW you know soon as you get below grade can see, hear and smell water. It comes down from in or along Central Park, plus whatever drains and other devices are on streets or in system to remove water. Again rats love/need water....

Finally the other reason rats are getting out of control lately is due to covid-19.

With so many restaurants and other places that prepare/serve food closed rats that normally confine their territory to a particular area now find there isn't food. So they start branching out in search of what they can find.

It isn't just places you normally assume either; all those Starbucks, Maison Kayser, pizza joins and other similar places that sold various "fast" sort of food (and threw tons of it away nightly), have closed or scaled things back.

How about placing rubbish in containers with lids like every other city in America. Why do restaurants and stores leave refuse on the sidewalk - in trash BAGS. Is NYC that behind the times? HELLO...you need to put your shit in a trash bin with a lid!

Use science and make these rats infertile. When they can't breed they will die off.

Years ago all trash had to go out in metal containers with tight fitting lids. True some buildings/households didn't and in certain areas that was more common than others, hence those areas also had high rat infestation problems.

After city banned incarceration it soon compounded the problem by allowing households and businesses to throw away trash in plastic bags.

Part of this was due to complaints by residents of the noise DSNY made when picking up and heaving those metal cans all over. Later another more economic reason came about, sanitation could move from three man crews (one man driving with two men picking up trash), to two men crews.

So now you have lots of commercial (especially from supermarkets, food places, etc...) and residential trash left at curb or near/in buildings in nothing but plastic bags that are no match for rat's teeth. Have walked down blocks to see trash bags "moving" due to rat activity inside. Looks like a bunch of puppies fighting under a blanket.

R65

They're trying something like that already......

Problem with aiming to control rats by any sort of bait poison is getting them to consume the stuff is often no easy feat.

Rats cannot vomit, so they are cautious about new foods. They nibble at something then move on; if they begin to feel ill (but don't die) they won't touch that bait again. Worse the affected rat will pee on said bait as warning to others. If a rat does die of a certain bait if others smell it on the carcass they won't eat it either.

Thus the more effective rodent baits are those which are slow acting, thus rat will consume a lethal or whatever dose while not feeling any tell tale signs of illness. When it does die it is usually at nest or somewhere away from where bait was placed so other rats don't make the connection.

Of course there are fast killing poisons, but they also have a nasty habit of killing other animals and or humans. Strychnine, arsenic, thallium, and some other equally nasty substances were all once (and still used in many parts of world) as rodentcides. You could pop round to local chemists and ask for some arsenic to deal with rats that were keeping you up at night (like M. Bovary), and off yourself, your husband, father or anyone else.

R67. Can you refer good chemist?

If people would just befriend the furry little fellows, take them in, feed them and look after them, this problem wouldn't happen. New Yorkers are so cold.

Light weights

r67 The slow-acting type of poison you mention is how D-Con works, it's active ingredient is warfarin/coumadin, an anti-coagulant. Sounds nasty and messy, but mice and rats always seem to go for it.

I seem to recall, some years ago, of a rodenticide that interfered with the rat's aborption/use of Vitamin D. After consumption the rat's bones begin to soften and the little bastard ultimately collapses.

I'm sure the big pest control companies don't want any sort of birth control product for rodents. I fear for the scientist who comes up with one, they'd take him out in a heartbeat. Kinda' like that guy who figured out how to make a water-powered internal combustion engine for automobiles. I wonder whatever became of him???

Exterminator buddy once told me almost every building in NYC has mice or rats in at least the basements, especially if there is any sort of food service in building.

That is one reason I never have nor will live above a restaurant, supermarket, deli, or any place else that sells food.

Why do you think all those bodegas have cats on premises?????????????

[quote] Do humpback whales eat rats?

I have caught fish that had a whole mouse in its stomach

Am I the only one who thinks rats are cute? There has to be another way to take care of them without killing them.

If there ever was a post that cries out for pictures, yours is it, r73.

New York is ours, bitches.

Love them as a child would and they will befriend you.

R18, why? Are they also being molested by us limousine liberals and our queen Hillz?

And let’s not forget Tom Hanks. He LOVES his rats YOUNG.

R21 - they are all booked in terms of rats.

Historical tidbit: Bellevue hospital once was known as "Rat Hospital" because the place was infested with vermin.

Until city forced all shipping to west side there were docks along East River from Whitehall Street up to UES, and where you have ships and water, you'll get rats. That is how the Norway rat arrived in NYC, Boston, all over USA and really was exported around the world, via ships.

Until landfill added mass (which created among other things FDR Drive), Bellevue hospital was right up against the shoreline. Human activity being a huge draw for rats they soon set up camp and have never wholly left area. Even today parts of East Village and Lower East Side are heavily infested with rat colonies.

Other interesting tidbit is that recent DNA testing showed rats in NYC don't move around much as many would believe. Rats in an area of say LES are genetically different than those say in Harlem, versus those in Chelsea, etc.... This likely means rats in these areas are descendants of original vermin who arrived many generations ago.

Yes sewers, subway tunnels and tons of other things underground allow rats to travel rather easily undetected. But rats are also territorial creatures. One or more can only move into a new area if there aren't already other rats of same species present. If they are then there will be a turf war with resident rats seeking to repel invaders.

More:

When you get down to it virtually all cities/urban areas built along, above, adjacent or whatever to bodies of water have rat problems.

London, Paris, Boston, San Francisco, Denver, etc... all are areas built near, around or above bodies of water. Rats arrived on ships, barges or other means, and or hitched rides in cargo shipped on trains or other means.

now they are walking on two legs with a boner :o

The people living on the UWS are heartless and cruel. They deserve to see biblical plagues cast upon their neighborhood.

Saw a big ‘un on East 83rd yesterday. With his legs in the air, it was kind of funny. There’s a new building going up across the street, I assume it’s where it came from.

R85, that rat is a straight up WHORE!

I'll never forget when that Mike guy on Dirty Jobs went in the sewer system in San Fran and there were tons of rats. Unsurprising - the kicker was that many were covered with roaches.

One of the true blessings of the Covid crisis was that mean, dumb cunts like the ones on this thread didn't come to NYC and complain about it all the time.

Please don't come back. We don't need you. Stay wherever it is you are and never leave.

A massive failure of imagination on behalf of the NY Post and its inability to find a way to blame black people.

Or Kamala Harris.

Or gender-neutral Mr. Potato Head.

And?

R89, what does the Post blame black people for, aside from things they actually do (like stomp on Asian people's heads)?

Recently they tried to blame a black person (Kamala Harris) for inserting her book into welcome bags for all refugees and profiting off it. That was a lie.

[quote][R89], what does the Post blame black people for, aside from things they actually do (like stomp on Asian people's heads)?

Bitch I'm not here to do your research for you. They've demonized black people for at the past 40 years.

Thanks for poking your racist little head out for blocking though. Bye bye cracker.

Which Trump is that in the picture?

We are also reading your mail, looking at your pictures and laughing at you, bitches.

just had the rat exterminator pass by

It's like that Sherlock Holmes story, The Giant Rat of Sinatra!

If that rats are now that big, how big are the rabbits then?

Shouldn't that be The Giant Rat Pack of Sinatra?

the biggest rats are the government and the big tech corporations

You didn't include the best part, r6: "There is no stopping a rat who has figured out they don’t have to pay extra for guacamole, not anymore, not ever."

[quote]why so many rats in nyc? la doesn't have this problem 😘

You must not live here.

[quote]guess the rats fled LA, as LA has much more bigger issues (crime, homelessness, etc.)?🤔

Yeah, crime and homelessness is absolutely not a thing in NY!

Also -- "much more bigger"?

R102 The most disturbing thing I discovered moving to LA was that rats nest at the top of Palm Trees and some of them live their whole lives there. Others can drop out of the trees and land on you. Those Palm Trees lost their beauty and romanticism very quickly.

Why don't they introduce a bunch of foxes into Central Park?

Foxes and coyotes eat small dogs and cats. They are easier to catch. People's pets disappear and they don't know why. Don't let them outside. Coyotes and foxes are gobbling them up in Austin. It possible they could eat close to100 cats. kittens. dogs and puppies a day. It's horrible.

R105 Secondary poisoning can occur when carnivores eat rats that may have ingested poison.

Minks and ferrets are very effective rat catchers. They can get into places Foxes and Coyotes can't. They also go after pets, too. They have discovered that raccoons and rats cooperate and divide up territories. They will also share food.

People in rat-infested cities should own terriers (substantial ones, not the useless designer/teacup/-poo ones). They're natural rat killers, and they really LOVE their work!

Cats don't really care about killing vermin. But rat terriers are OBSESSED with killing rats.

why don't you just eat the rats yourselves? it appears to be a delicacy in some countries....

NY cats have better things to do

Florida cats

obsessive compulsive cats

LA cats

vegan cat

R36 that takes me back. As a teen, I ended up anonymously reporting the local bakery I worked at to the Health & Safety authorities because it was crawling with rats.

Now these were only small country-town riverside rats, clean and brown and the size of tennis ball. But there were tons of them, and you can’t have that around food.

It’s a nightmare to work a physically-taxing full day in food-service on your feet, and also constantly be on psychological alert for something crawling over a counter or up a an oven-side. I could not relax for a single minute while at work, and it put me off eating food outside of work too.

And I was ostensibly the first one to spot them, too—my much-older coworker at the time insisted she couldn’t see them and thought I was seeing them or making it up (she was probably covering her ass, but there again her eyesight was poor and she wasn’t observant as a personality).

To this day, I’m not sure whether my former employers (now ‘retired’) ever figured out who reported them.

California cat

Russian cats

Belgian cats who were tossed from the tower in Spring.

[quote]NY cats have better things to do

Indeed they do!

Shhhh! My cat is already paranoid!

Our neighborhood experienced a minor rat infestation, you started seeing all those rat traps everywhere. Two things helped. First, a colony of feral cats moved in and feasted. Then hawks bomb-dived the rats and carried them away. To see a hawk flying away with the little guy in his claws was kind of sad.

My own cat, Nube, started killing them, too, leading to horrific fights to get the carcass away from her so she wouldn't eat it. While I threw most away triple-wrapped in plastic in closed garbage containers, she left one corpse on the porch. A strange bird showed up and after googling it, I realized it was a vulture! I shooed it away and disposed of the body myself.

The circle of life. The rats have moved on.

The rats are sick of hiding, their all coming out now.

Where is Mrs. Frisby when you need her, she always kept them organized and in line.

So, anywhere else, these would be Rodents of Unusual Size?

Norwegian cats

vegetarian cat

I can remember back in the day I was getting a blow job in the Ramble and a rat ran up to me. I think it was looking to get a taste of my load.

[quote] Now these were only small country-town riverside rats, clean and brown and the size of tennis ball. But there were tons of them, and you can’t have that around food.

Clean?

Harlem rat exterminator

R130 ‘clean’, relatively-speaking. A rural rat is not going to be quite such an extreme vector for disease as an urbane one. Still to be approached with caution, though.

I want to know the dumbass was who came up with the idea to import possum to control the rat population because we deal with both now. Did it not occur to them that possum fuck and reproduce? I fortunately never see rats in my part of Brooklyn, but I see possum on my cameras overnight. Now I'm seeing raccoons, too.

You'd think I was living in PA at this point.

who* the dumbass

r133 - yes possums mate and have babies.

Where oh where are all the chonky cats when ya need em?

But possums are highly unlikely to carry and transmit rabies.

R137, but they're ugly as sin.

R138 Not to all of us!

NY needs this breed of cat

catman with his catmobile

maybe these are better candidates for the catman vacancy

try this assassin

The city needs squads of Rat terriers. RT will fall over dead from exhaustion before they could ignore a rat. They are obsessed little dogs.

A rat's enemy

More birds of prey released in the parks!

My uncle would take his rat terrier to a different farm every Sunday. The dog would kill rats in the barn all afternoon, he never ate them like some of the dogs in the video. When my uncle was ready to go home the farmer would feed the dog a plate of mashed potatoes and Buddy would sleep like the dead in the backseat of the car. He was a celebrity in the farming community because he piled his rats as he killed them.

They have one, R144! (they need more)

r146

R148, I would pay higher taxes if they hired tons of those people who actually got rid of them.

There's a guy in Utah who trains MINKS and dogs (working together) to perform rat-eradication on farms & ranches. The mink flush the rats out of their burrows/holes/tight spaces, and the dogs kill them as they flee (but don't eat them). The mink are trained to bring any rats they kill out of the holes/burrows, and "cache" them in a special box that he built. It's kind of amazing.

Perhaps Mayor DeBlasio should give him a call.

I recall watching the mink do his thing. Amazing. Lighting-speed.

Minks, ferrets, and weasels in past and still all have been used for ratting, a practice that goes back 100 years or more.

Going back to Victorian period or before in UK, Europe and even USA people earned a good living clearing homes, barns, farms, etc.. of rats using nothing more than ferrets and certain breeds of dog, usually terriers.

Together these "exterminators" can quickly and effectively clear an area or building of rats faster than using poison or traps. Only gassing is more effective IIRC.

More:

New York City needs more of this....

Oh hell no

Rodent problem is getting worse on UES/UWS especially near or in Central Park due to less use of rodenticides due to outrage from environmentalists and nature groups. City has become home to more and more raptors like hawks, falcons, owls and even eagles that feed on rodents. Thus poisoned rats or mice end up killing those birds by collateral damage. It's same thing down by Tompkins Square park and others as well.

I wouldn't live in NYC again if you gave me a nice big 3 bedroom apartment with Park views. Fuck that place. So poorly managed and filthy.

Cicero, commenting on the absurdity of the prevalent belief in prodigies in his treatise on Divination, remarked that, if reliance were to be placed in omens then he ought naturally to tremble for the safety of the Commonwealth, because mice had recently nibbled a copy of Plato's "Republic" in his library.

Pliny wrote that rats foretold the Marsian war (B. C. 89) by destroying silver shields and bucklers at Lavinium, an ancient city near Rome. According to him, rats also prognosticated the death of the Roman general Carbo by eating his hose-garters and shoe-strings at Clusium, the modern Chiusi in Etruria.

^ This is why I love DL

r151 awesome, thx for sharing.

the joke is on us humans. buy disturbing the natural order, the predators that would have kept these rodents at bay have either been made extinct, driven away or domesticated (such as dogs, cats and ferrets)

Commensel rodents (Norway rat, the roof rat, and the house mouse) have no real predators, this is one of reasons why they make homes around or close to humans. Yes, in wild rodents of all sorts have predators, and that still exists with owls, hawks, snakes, feral cats, etc... among others all prey upon rats and mice.

Whatever native rats existed in New York as in other places outside of Europe were soon chased or killed off by arrival of Europeans who bought Norway (aka brown) rats along with house mice on their ships.

Make that "Commensal", hit post button too soon...

Carry on..

rats aren't only useless

problem with domesticated animals:

I am sure her voice will kill all of the NYC rats (and maybe some humans)

use that one

Rats the size of rabbits have been in New York City for decades

COVID cat

didn't get the brief

if you would just let him in, he might take care of the problem....

I'm totally ignorant as i have only ever seen one wild rat and my friends pet rats. Why do they go for the cars? Is it for the heat? I don't understand. I also think that all trash bags should be sprayed with rat poison if they sit outside too long. I really feel sorry for those suffering this nightmare.

R173 not sure, but I think it's natural rodent behavior to chew on wires. Squirrels, mice, chipmunks, rats, etc., all reek havoc on wiring in cars, homes, and outside. You can coat wires with chemicals like brake fluid, but it's too mean for me to follow through with.

I think the issue with killing out of control populations, in already sparce spaces, is that other ones often take their place. They see that with Canadian geese when they try mass culling. The best thing to do is make it uncomfortable by not leaving food around, having other animals around as a threat, and blocking access -- problem is that in a city, they will always be there, but at least they could try to do better with their garbage clean up.

Climate change is definitely not helping matters either. Breeding times are being extended. Animals are changing behaviors (like geese staying winters). They're getting too comfortable with people because there's less and less free space for them to live and the same goes for the predators that kept them controlled.

R174

It's natural behavior for all rodent to gnaw (chew if you will) at anything. Their teeth continue to grow for entire life so must be ground down by constantly gnawing at things....

That is terrifying. Hot, sweaty, bitey, possum rats living side by side with humans.

cats at work! maybs the economic stimulus plan should take an example....

R175 yes, good point. They do chew on anything they can get to. Wires are probably just easier to get to, and end up a casualty. When I had rabbits, they'd chew on anything they could.

R177, Pussy COntrol!

Hard Hat Cats

Back in the 70's/80's I saw rats that big on Canal Street late at night.

This is nothing new.

Problem with using cats as ratters is they only will kill when hungry. On that score owls and other raptors can decimate rat populations.

Although cats are not highly effective rat-KILLERS (like, say, Terriers)....as the articles above point out, their mere presence in certain places -- such as warehouses, breweries, bodegas, etc -- will keep rodents away. They can smell the cats' pheremones.

People starting hating rats and mice because they ate the stored grain that was once the only source of food over the winter.

You need to chill the eff out. They are not inherently evil. They are in fact intelligent mammals.

R183

Yes, and no....

Numerous studies conducted in say barns on farms and elsewhere have proven that while sightings of rats may decrease in presence of cats, that does not translate into reduced numbers. Rather that rats (which understandably after centuries of being prey upon by felines) simply learned to avoid.

In studies say on barns cats were allowed free roam of the place to control rats. Ordinarily yes, signs or sightings of live rats did decrease to some extent. But when cats were removed, structure gassed, then floor boards and or walls opened up rats galore were found.

That woman Sheila Massey and others like her are deluded and their thinking somewhat clouded by love of cats. Studies conducted under proper scientific conditions again repeatedly shows cats feral or domestic do not make huge differences in rat populations.

Yes, rats know cats are about so they take proper precautions... A cat may catch the young or otherwise unaware rat, but there are plenty more to take its place.

In fact these deluded individuals much like those who pour heaps of bird seen out in public places actually contribute to rodent populations by leaving out cat food. What felines don't eat rats or mice will. More to point a well fed cat has no reason to go after a rat or even mouse because it isn't hungry. A female cat who is mothering kittens (and or in cases male) might catch rats or mice and "stun them", bring them back home in order to teach kittens what they need to know, but otherwise that's all.

And I'm tell ya those pussy cats are quick.....

new assassin candidate

ninja cat

Great r145. But can you use them in the city?

Get all owners of terrier dogs to meet in the parks at night.

I don’t think terriers are any match for these beasts.

R191

Wrong!

"The gameness of the early hunting terriers was exploited by using them in sporting contests. Initially, terriers competed in events such as clearing a pit of rats. The dog that was fastest in killing all the rats won. "

Aptly named "rat" terrier..

"In conjunction with the American rat terrier, it was reported that one of the sports of owning them was making competitive wagers about whose dog could kill the most mice or rats within a given time. One terrier was released into a barn, and in 7 hours it killed 2501 rats"

Mouse caught on video chowing down in a Manhattan Whole Foods.

There are mice or rats (the two normally don't coexist in same space as the latter will prey upon former), in almost every place that sells or prepares food in NYC. Mice in particular are difficult to keep out because their small size means can get through the tiniest gaps or holes.

No, you don't always see them, but in the basements or walls.... they are there (mice).

That Whole Foods in Deutsche Bank (yes, I said it correctly, DB is moving in and replacing Time Warner as main tenant hence name change...), sits right above major subway station (Columbus Circle). Subway system is full of rodents and they will make their way up into buildings sometimes despite best efforts to keep them out.

Grand Central Terminal and Met Life Building are full of rats. This in some instances on floors of Met Life Building way above ground level....

If you ever had a talk with NYC exterminators you'd never eat out or order food in again. You might not even want to buy things from shops or supermarkets. Customers all the time pick up loaves of bread, boxes or bags of grain, cookies, potato chips, or whatever only to find nibble marks, small or large holes. All indications of rodents have been munching away...

Rats and mice are some of the most odious creatures alive. I don't know why anyone wants to keep one as a pet. Or why people use those so-called "humane" traps so they can catch them and re-release them somewhere else, so they can become someone else's problem. Kill them every time you see them.