The Newton Patch reports that mayoral candidate Amy Sangiolo is hosting a Zoom forum called “Let’s Talk About Rats in Newton” featuring urban rodentologist (love the word) Dr. Bobby Corrigan, who will talk about the increasing number of rats in Newton and what to do about it. Sign up here
Lets talk about rats
by Jerry Reilly | Sep 8, 2021 | Newton | 15 comments
Councilors Leary, Greenberg and Oliver have docketed this item: #341-21 Request for additional rodent control initiatives. It’s in the City Council docket this week.
That’s good to hear Kathy, as I know Councilor Leary has been active online discussing this, and good to see all Ward 1 councilors taking this seriously, along with Amy.
It will be interesting to hear what we think are causes– my assumption based on no evidence whatsoever is a combination of construction in town (which in my experience always disrupts rodents) and perhaps a lack of activity in Boston due to emptyish office buildings sending rats looking for new reliable food sources (again, an assumption on my part, but curious what others think).
I’ll also be curious as to recommendations made to help mitigate, from what the city can do to what we can do (such as better securing garbage, prepping our property, etc).
Thanks for posting this.
Anecdotally, I’d say Doug might be on to something. Over the nearly three decades we’ve lived in Newton, we’ve had minimal problems with rodents. But about five years ago, there was a spurt of tear-down/build-up development in the neighborhood, including a couple of houses adjacent to ours, and since then it’s been an ongoing mouse party at our place (no rats, though, fortunately).
Through aggressive trapping and cleanliness, we seemed to have stemmed the tide. Hopefully the word has circulated among the local rodent population to stay the heck away from the Essteess residence.
I say we repatriate them to Weston. Who’s with me?
Totally with you Doug. Let’s see if the rodentologist can
hook us up with some rodentotransport for the ride to Weston.
This entire post should have featured a picture of Mouse Rat, the most awesome band in the midwest.
Rats (and Mice) always seem to bring out the anger/passion in folks. But like a lot of difficult problems, there isn’t just one cause, and the solutions tend to be difficult and rely on collective action.
So a few things:
1) Development isn’t the cause of a rat infestation per se. Oh, it certainly can be the cause of a rat disturbance, and that rat disturbance could end up in your house or neighborhood. But those rats were already living in the home or land that was being developed! If you live near that parcel, those rats were likely roaming your property at night. (shudder). Ever wonder why your garbage can looks gnawed on? Sometimes it is raccoons, more often rats. I’ve seen them bite right through garbage bins and dumpsters. Empty lots are often fodder for rat burrows, as are homes that don’t have a consistent resident (caretaker homes), homes with bird feeders (put a video camera out at night and focus it on your bird feeder), and homes with unsecured garbage. They live outside. Those burrows aren’t all chipmunk or rabbit burrows! But development alone doesn’t cause a rat infestation. It disturbs their burrows, and then they go roaming. But if you live near a park, a pond, an empty house, or near a restaurant, odds are a night camera will capture a rat or mouse roaming your area.
2) That isn’t to say that if you are living near a development site that you might not see an increase in rats and mice and other smaller critters. You will. For bigger projects like Riverside or Needham street, you will even with excellent developer actions to control rodents during construction. You’d be amazed how many rodents can live on fallowed land near an urban or suburban area. I once lived next door to an empty lot being developed in DC. The day after they began to dig out the site, the bushes outside my apartment building actually quivered with rats. Dozens of them. That is certainly traumatic if you are the one having to face the sudden influx of rodents and it is cold comfort to know they were already living near you anyway.
3) From both personal and professional experience, best way to prevent mice in your home is to close up all of the small openings around your foundation, and to control any easy access to food for the rodents. Getting rid of them once they are in your house is very difficult and frustrating. Call a professional.
4) So why the additional rats/mice this year? Mild winter, combined with urban centers from Boston to our own village centers no longer having in person dining. Take-out doesn’t produce nearly as much food waste as eat in dining. And many restaurants shut down. Combine that with several flooding rains, more folks at home producing more garbage, a move towards compost piles or bin composting, more folks at home to spot the rats, more folks at home putting out bird seed…all of this leads to mice and rats. Did I mention more food sources and a mild winter?
But correlation does not equal causation. Just because we often see more rats/mice when development projects begin doesn’t mean they are the cause of those additional rodents. Those rodents were already there. You just flushed them from their hiding places.
You want to get rid of them? Control their food sources, ask your neighbors to reconsider bird feeders, secure your garbage, and call the city. And you’ll likely have to call a professional as well. Since you can’t control all of the food sources in your neighborhood, you likely can’t fully eliminate rodents. A deep cold winter does wonders apparently. Cats, not so much.
I’m certainly not a rodentologist, but I have no love of rats and mice, and the above information comes from both pest professionals, officials in other cities, and of course, the Vancouver Rat Project. Because Canadiens are wicked smart about such things. Google it for lots of studies.
Enjoy the rat zoom meeting everyone! If the rat expert disagrees with my findings, someone post the summary of the meeting, maybe I’ll learn something!
Oh and go Pawnee.
I’ve lived on and off at the same house in Newton Highlands since 1937 and never once saw a rat anywhere close to our neighborhood that entire time. That was until the pandemic hit and we saw a couple of them scurrying through our yard in search of food. The theory then was that the restaurants were all closed so the rats were deprived of the easy pickings from dumpsters and had to strike out to find other sources. I still think that’s the probable cause for them being in our yard because it was also during the period when most construction and renovation projects had been temporarily suspended.
I agree with fig that construction has little to do with the rat problem in Newton. I’d pin the blame on several sources, most of which track back to a lack of enforcement from Newton’s Health Department.
1]. Dumpsters that are overflowing or left uncovered.
2]. Municipal trash bins that are left overflowing in village centers and at playing fields.
3]. A massive expansion of outdoor dining areas related to restaurants.
None of these problems are going to fix themselves. So I’m delighted that Amy Sangiolo is taking the lead. She certainly got the Mayor’s attention, and that’s a good way to start.
Personally, I’d like to see our city councilors focus more on the fundamentals that affect the quality of life for Newton residents, rather than the global agenda so many of them choose to pursue. While ridding the world of plastic is a noble and necessary cause, city councilors should be more focused on basics, like getting rid of these rats.
Going to choose my words very carefully….. development does not cause more rats, but they do DISPLACE.
For large projects like Northland and Riverside, all the rats sent packing, will roam out into abutting neighborhoods looking for new shelter and food.
What I learned coming out of the Ratapalooza 2021 Zoom call, is that Developers are responsible for some sort of rodent assessment and management plan as part of the build. In many cases, it means a Developer puts out a few dozen bait traps around its property. I argue, that’s not enough! That’s like cleaning out your home and dumping the trash in your neighbors’ yards, albeit in new plastic bags.
As neighbors, we should urge the City to enforce the developer to do more. Not just bait and monitor, but actively hunt, trap and remove or dispose of them. Every rat that is drive from their property, is a multiplying rodent that ends up on ours.
I think the City also should do some major media campaign educating people what they can do to help discourage rats – securing trash, using composting best practices, keeping yards clear of clutter. One thing I learned from this was that just one neighbor with a backyard filled with clutter can cause a rat problem for surrounding neighbors and beyond. There needs to be a social media blitz, flyers, etc, educating people on tips.
I live next door to a house that was bought by a developer. He told the sellers they did not have to clean anything, that they could leave it “as is.” The sellers left and, along with leaving everything behind, they left the back door wide open. When I started seeing rats on my property, I peeked in and they had left uneaten pizza on the table, open bottles of milk and soda on the counters, lots of boxes of packaged foods like crackers everywhere and piles of garbage all over. There were dirty diapers everywhere. It was rat heaven. It took lots (LOTS) of phone calls and emails but the developer finally came and cleaned up the mess and the problem has been solved.
What I’m about to say is already been said but unfortunately I happen to know quite a lot about rats.
A contractor left a small rat sized hole in our foundation large enough for rats to enter.
The first sign was waking up to half an avocado eaten from a bowl on our counter. it was quite an ordeal to get the situation under control. I learned a lot.
The next year I planted grass seed in our backyard and woke up every morning to five or six rats digging up the grass seed for breakfast. We killed 18 rats with a snap trap in our backyard within 3 weeks.
If you’ve got rats you’ve got to reduce the population immediately.
We identified a few sources. Composting setups by 2 of our neighbors, a neighbor with an unkempt backyard, and im sure our two dogs pooping and a bird feeder added additional appeal to our property.
With a new fence, less composting, no bird feeder and more diligent dog poop pick up, this year has been rat-free.
I have lived in Upper Falls, about 100 yards from the Northland site, for over 22 years. I never saw a rat until this summer. There have been several rat sightings on Linden St., and on Monday, I saw a dead rat on Ossipee St. There are rat holes along the Greenway embankment between Mechanic St. and Linden St. I feel that the recent appearance of rats in the neighborhood is related to the demolition of buildings on the Northland site. Although Northland has numerous rodent bait boxes on the perimeter of their property, I wonder if their responsibility for rodent control should extend beyond their property. I have notified the city of the rat sightings, and was instructed to view their website for rat control information.
@lissa – you hit it on the nose.
Mayor Fuller was a staunch supporter of Northland. Practically rolled out the red carpet for them.
The City’s current amount to little more than (quoting a friend’s email yesterday), “other than lecturing residents on cleanliness, blaming climate change, and tracking rats on a rat map, Newton has done nothing to mitigate the Rise of the Rat!”
More action is needed, and if the Mayor will not take action, candidate Sangiolo will!
@doug actually it’s been John Oliver who’s been fairly active about doing something about the rats. Both Allison and Maria had to be dragged into it they had no desire to address the actual real issues the residents in their ward want them to address.