Why so many people don't care about rats?

htabbas

I just bought a house in an old neighborhood built in the 1950s. It has roof rats. It took me $1000 to hire exterminator to rid of rats and seal all the entry points, mainly the worn out crawl space vents. However, I see rats running along fences, in my backyard, on neighbor's roof etc. It's disgusting. Then I found out that a lot of the neighbors have broken crawl space vents or just big cracks between their roof and the stucco joints where rats can access. I told a few of them about this and suggest that they should take action. But most of them just shrug off and say "they are only living the crawl space anyway.

I am a bit pissed because their irresponsibility keeps the rat population high. They are not poor or anything. A 1300-sq-ft entry level house here starts at $900K. But somehow many people don't seem to freak about rats that much.

I guess most rats just live in attics or crawl space and eat the fruit in people's backyards. Maybe that's the reason why many residents here don't feel bothered.

PAbugman

What state are you in? I’ve never seen a roof rat here in Pa. in my career. It is hard for me to understand why people would be so tolerant of them when good maintenance and housekeeping practices would help so much.

htabbas

It's in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lotta fruit trees in the neighborhood, contributing unlimited supply of foods to those critters.

sdsester

Abating field mice was a major deal in Santa Clara County when I lived there and I cannot imagine San Francisco putting up with rat infestations of any kind. Or people being tolerant of them. Maybe it is just a budget issue---personal and citywide? You should be pissed if you are the only one abating any pest it is like _____ into the wind.

Have you called the City or County? Is your city council or alderperson responsive? Health Department?

Rats could get out of hand here but even with the budget crunch the City is diligent about keeping them under control as best they can. That means issuing fines to those---commercial or residential---who leave things around or to pet owners caught not picking up after the dogs they walk. And of course the City refreshes pesticides in alleys and things. At least in this neighborhood. I suspect others do not fare quite as well.

divinegrace

Same with me. I'm in Pennsylvania And I have never saw a roof rat.

htabbas

http://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/RoofRats.asp

just checked. roof rats only spreads in southeatern states and in west coastal part of the country.

And here is a photo of one of the rats that I caught.

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noquacks

Roof rats/fruit rats/crawl space rats/vegetable rats/etc etc. Only 2 rats in NA- like that article confirmed- Rattus rattus, and R.Norvegium. The Norway rat is just about everywhere, and has, displaced the other (black rat)in many regions. To me, the black rat is "cuter".......LOL So, no such thing as "never heard of a roof rat"- you have- just another coined term. rat above is a Norway rat. Oh, quiz question: What country does a Norway rat come from?

__________________
Alexander Pope: [a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing]

htabbas

My exterminator was telling me that this is roof rat (but I don't like him nor his skillz so he could be wrong.) This rat was caught in the attic. Does Norway rats ventures into the attic also? This rat I caught has small ears so it fits the literature description of Norway rats. But the droppings all have pointed ends, which fits roof rats.

To your quiz: I didn't google it so my instinct tells me is that it's from England. Norway people didn't emigrate to the new world till very late right?