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smithdo
Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Posts: 181
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 Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:14 pm Post subject: Rats are back |
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| Despite an active feral cat in our alley I've seen 3 rats in the last 3 days as I've driven through MtP around dusk. Really, any time I see ANY during the day it's bad, but I saw 3 in 3 different alleys, which probably means about 300 rats in each alley. Please dispose of trash properly outside and inside your home because the babies have grown up and are exploring the neighborhood. |
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Jennrgolden
Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 131
Location: Newton St
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| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:49 am Post subject: |
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We recently started a rat battle as well. I moved in about 3 years ago from Adams Morgan and was so very pleased that there were no rats...
I also noticed that the feral cat community around here (I'm at 17th and Newton) has deminished considerably! What's happened? They were doing a great job of keeping the rats at bay.
I sent a service request to the city, but don't expect much from it. I also had Orkin come out and set a bait/trap black-box thingy.
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denisew
Joined: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:07 am Post subject: cats |
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The feral cats were trapped an nuetered awhile ago, though a pregnant female was missed (this according to a neighbor) so are no longer producing. I am glad for that as I have been having a real problem with the feral cats in the square of park, Mt Pleasant 17th and Newton. Everything from attacking my cats to entering the house.
Feral cats also will not chase rats as long as they are being fed and soem were being fed.
Rats in the area increased at lease from some folks from the apartment buildings throwing out large amounts of rice for birds. That has stopped but the continual construction in the area of 17th and Newton and dislocated a number of rats. That and the mild winter since they can have up to 25 a litter. |
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mha
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 139
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| Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:45 am Post subject: |
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| Jennrgolden wrote: | We recently started a rat battle as well. I moved in about 3 years ago from Adams Morgan and was so very pleased that there were no rats...
I also noticed that the feral cat community around here (I'm at 17th and Newton) has deminished considerably! What's happened? They were doing a great job of keeping the rats at bay.
I sent a service request to the city, but don't expect much from it. I also had Orkin come out and set a bait/trap black-box thingy. |
The single best way to limit the rat population may be to limit its access to food. As long as there's ample easy food in open, overflowing or even just idle garbage cans, there will be rats. We try to do our part by:
- Storing all garbage in metal cans with the lid tightly fitted until the night before the trash is picked up.
- Placing the trash out late and making sure the Supercan lid is closed (Not that the rats can't get in, see the nibbled cans all over our neighborhood as a sign the rats are working their way into the cans).
We've had luck in getting them out of our yard (an old concrete patio was home to some at one point). But as long as so many people in Mount Pleasant give almost zero thought to how they handle their trash there will be a fat and plentiful rat population. Our alley is full of open, overflowing cans with trash that sits exposed for days every week. Exterminators cannot overcome this fact., but they can profit from it as they spread poison (I, for one, wonder if a feral cat decline might be tied to the bait boxes in the alleys.....) |
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Chuck
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 106
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| Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:47 am Post subject: |
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Our ancient and largely inactive cat even brought one in the house last night... thanks kitty. 
The supercans are a joke. When did they hand out the new ones - four years or so ago? We had ours for about a month before a hole was eaten clean through it. Seems to me that prior to that by a couple years, there was a concerted erradication effort that actually did a fair ammount of good, but I think the mild winters do, as said, play a big role in escalating populations.
I'm thinking pellet gun with laser sight.  |
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monkla
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:10 am Post subject: |
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| Anyone living near the Ingleside Newton ally may notice that a port-a-john is in the ally. It's been there for about 4 months. Can't imagine that is going to help our rat issue!~ |
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Jennrgolden
Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 131
Location: Newton St
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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I had a friend in visiting from NYC who made comments about our trashcans being plastic. She said all of their cans are metal specifically to fight of rats.
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monkla
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| The rats are so bad right now, I'm afraid to take my bike through the back gate. They are climbing along my fence and jumping onto the garbage cans. One of the neighbor's cans is missing a lid. Does the city replace them for free or do we have to pay? |
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jack
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Posts: 2758
Location: 19th & Lamont
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| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:21 am Post subject: Supercans and rats |
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| monkla wrote: | | The rats are so bad right now, I'm afraid to take my bike through the back gate. They are climbing along my fence and jumping onto the garbage cans. One of the neighbor's cans is missing a lid. Does the city replace them for free or do we have to pay? |
A great many of our Supercans are in poor shape, and have become rat feeding grounds. A resident asked if we could purchase higher-grade containers that might be rat-proof, and the response from the city was discouraging: they could not guarantee that the trash collectors would service those containers, because they might be thought to be for private trash collection, not municipal.
I just replaced my Supercan, which had a rat-gnawed hole in the bottom (my attempts to repair that hole were unsuccessful; the rats get through almost anything). Supercans are not replaced for free, but cost you $62.50. I understand that senior citizens can get a replacement for half that price, but that's not evident from the pertinent DPW Web page:
http://www.dpw.dc.gov/dpw/cwp/view,a,1203,q,518108.asp
I once brought a couple of rat specialists from the Dept of Health to inspect our area and help us solve the rat problem. When they saw our alleys, with rows of dilapidated Supercans, they just sighed in despair.
-- Jack |
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mha
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 139
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| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:40 pm Post subject: Re: Supercans and rats |
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| jack wrote: | | A great many of our Supercans are in poor shape, and have become rat feeding grounds. A resident asked if we could purchase higher-grade containers that might be rat-proof, and the response from the city was discouraging |
There's no need for a response from the city to act. See my post above, but again here is a way to stop being a "rat enabler."
- Buy one or two metal cans with lids and place them in an interim location (A good bit cheaper than a Supercan).
- Place trash in the metal cans until the night before trash pickup.
- Transfer the trash to the defective supercan the night before or early the morning of pickup.
No city bureaucrat need be involved. And these small actions will be effective against rat population growth. |
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twilightfun
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
Posts: 11
Location: Newton Street
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| Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: |
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I don't know why I get the impression from the current situation that these rats are here to stay. People've been talking about this for years around Mount Pleasant and Columbia Road -- Heck, all of Washington DC! Besides, some ratty rights activists will probably write the president to protest; then it'll have to go to court, the way my luck would work. [shrugz]
Oh, and if rats around the way are anything like the roaches I've seen and heard of about in my complex, then the exterminators are some hellifying comedians 'cause they keep the roaches laughing at em. And truthfully, I've learned I do better by killing those myself; just seems the hired help that's supposed to fix the problem only brings them back with a vengeance.
An A Grade for RAID, y'all! |
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monkla
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:48 am Post subject: |
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I still take issue with my neighbors building a "green house" next door. They keep telling us that building green is worth the hassle but these yuppies don't live in the neighborhood so they don't have to put up with the mess they create. After a two months, we are now able to get down OUR stairwell to the outside entrance of the basement without having to crawl over the pile of nail/rat infested wood pile they have left. We still have to deal with the port-a-john that smells. On warm days it drifts into our house. I'm sure the rats love that.
I can't wait until these yuppie trust fund self absorbed creeps move in and start ranting about the rats! I love the planet but if this is what going "green" means...these chicks have ruined it. |
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dcac
Joined: 08 Jan 2008
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:11 pm Post subject: |
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came across this video on how LAPD is taking an approach to rats...
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/01/08/dnt.police.cats.ktla
What is mentioned in the video is that the cat urine acts a rat deterrent and provides utility, rather than the cat's hunting ability to put a dent in the population... |
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smithdo
Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Posts: 181
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject: Re: Supercans and rats |
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| jack wrote: | | monkla wrote: | | The rats are so bad right now, I'm afraid to take my bike through the back gate. They are climbing along my fence and jumping onto the garbage cans. One of the neighbor's cans is missing a lid. Does the city replace them for free or do we have to pay? |
A great many of our Supercans are in poor shape, and have become rat feeding grounds. A resident asked if we could purchase higher-grade containers that might be rat-proof, and the response from the city was discouraging: they could not guarantee that the trash collectors would service those containers, because they might be thought to be for private trash collection, not municipal.
I just replaced my Supercan, which had a rat-gnawed hole in the bottom (my attempts to repair that hole were unsuccessful; the rats get through almost anything). Supercans are not replaced for free, but cost you $62.50. I understand that senior citizens can get a replacement for half that price, but that's not evident from the pertinent DPW Web page:
http://www.dpw.dc.gov/dpw/cwp/view,a,1203,q,518108.asp
I once brought a couple of rat specialists from the Dept of Health to inspect our area and help us solve the rat problem. When they saw our alleys, with rows of dilapidated Supercans, they just sighed in despair.
-- Jack |
Jack's experience was my experience. The private trash haulers in trucks knocked over and ran their trucks over our supercans, breaking the lids, but it still took a while for the new supercans to come and pick up is still an issue.
The city has no plans for addressing automotive damage to supercans in the alley, but the city will not take the supercans from our steps (they must be in the alley), leaving us with almost no options.
Recently I witnessed someone dumping housing renovation trash into a blue recycling supercan. |
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18thandNewton
Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:05 am Post subject: Exterminator? |
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Does anyone have a recommendation for an exterminator?
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18thandNewton |
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