Survey: 'Rattiest' neighborhood in Baltimore is downtown
Which Baltimore neighborhoods are especially popular with rodents? It's not an easy question for residents to answer unless they've lived far and wide, but 200 took a stab in a survey for a pest-control company.
Almost half -- 46 percent -- named downtown when asked by d-CON about the "rattiest" neighborhoods, the company said Thursday. Other popular choices: Fells Point, the Inner Harbor and Canton.
Perhaps it's the waterfront. Of course, these are all popular neighborhoods for people, too, so a survey is bound to get a fair number of residents from those areas.
d-CON surveyed residents of four other cities as well, 1,000 people in total, zeroing in on Baltimore, Detroit, Nashville, Houston and Charlotte. (The company named most of those cities as high-risk areas for rats in reports from 2007 and 2009.)
The National Center for Healthy Housing said in a separate 2009 report that nearly one-third of Baltimore homes had mouse problems -- more than any of the other central cities the Columbia group studied. Eek.
So: Have rats and/or mice made appearances in your neighborhood, and is the problem getting better or worse?
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Comments
Buy a hugh $6 can of boric acid from the hardware store and scatter it all around the yard. Just be sure that no pets and people (kids) are directly exposed to it.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 14, 2011 7:24 AM
Pigtown has 'em. "Our" rats have no shame; they waddle straight down alleyways like they're having a stroll.
I've heard them skitter around in the walls (a house next door is vacant), so I called the City rat remover/311. Gotta give that program props, I don't know what they did, but no more skitter! I would love to never see another rat, but it's the price of life in the City I guess.
Posted by: PigtownPrincess | October 14, 2011 8:15 AM
Reservoir Hill at the confluence of I-83 and North Ave. When you see rats in the daylight, you know it's a big problem. Here's an interesting note for those in neighborhoods where trees exist...if you have large #s of squirrels, you likely have few rats.
Posted by: woodie | October 14, 2011 8:52 AM
*insert Stop Snitching joke here*
Posted by: bryanintowson | October 14, 2011 9:17 AM
the reason we have such a problem is this....people liter or have their trash cans overflowing and then you call the city REPEATEDLY about the problem. They give you confirmation numbers and still don't come out....the CITY for you once again.
Posted by: s | October 14, 2011 9:46 AM
I'll never forget several years ago walking home from work in the Inner Harbor to Fells Point and as I was walking through Little Italy, I saw something moving inside a trash bag on the sidewalk in front of me and out popped a Mommy Rat and 4 baby rats. It stopped me in my tracks and still grosses me out to this day.
Posted by: GP | October 14, 2011 10:08 AM
I totally agree about the Rats in Pigtown! They are bigger than the stray cats! I have rat "food" out that other animals can't get to, and I've called 311, still around. One chewed a hole in my breezeway screen, I had to replace the screen w/ some heavy duty stuff. I don't have them in the house, I made sure any possble entrance was sealed up.
Posted by: pigtown girl | October 14, 2011 12:04 PM
City Hall
Posted by: Double B | October 14, 2011 2:50 PM
What happened to the rat fishing contests?
Posted by: reeldeal | October 14, 2011 5:11 PM
Another reason why my family and I got "outta Pigtown". We fought mice and rat problems the entire 6 years we lived there. It's an issue that is beyond disgusting. Baltimore is truly a rat trap and hellhole.
Posted by: outta pigtown | October 14, 2011 8:37 PM
That stuff with boric acid really works! Try it and you will not be sorry!
Posted by: Alexander | October 17, 2011 4:30 AM
Downtown is definitely rat heaven. I've seen them running around in broad daylight at the Centre Street Light Rail stop - just using the rails as their own personal treadmill. I've surprised a few in the garbage cans, too, when throwing trash away. There's nothing more frightening than throwing trash into a can, only to have two rats jump out at you.
Ugh. That's why I'm moving as soon as I can.
Posted by: csr | October 24, 2011 12:41 PM