Track-A-Rat

NYC's new Rat Information Portal is being billed as "a one-stop resource website for New Yorkers’ rat prevention needs." Still, nothing is available to them to combat their nearly as large smugness problem.

In addition to tips on how to control rat populations, the website also supplies an interactive "Rat Map" with data on inspections, violations, compliance, exterminations, and cleanups for any property in the city going back three years. Basically, it is a hotspot map for creepy vermin within the city. The idea is to put pressure on property owners who are slow to address their growing rat problems and give everyday citizens the tools they need to fight back. And scare the piss out of you to see how many of the little bastards are really living there.

It also reminded about a book I've been aware of for years - Rats: Observation on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants.

The book has plenty of facts about their physical makeup and prowess, habitats, mating habits, food preferences, mental abilities. Also, it gives a short history of New York City, from its founding to the present day, while interweaving the city's history with the history of the invading rats themselves and that of those men who have dedicated their lives to killing them. The author, off and on for one year, sat at the entrance to one alley and patiently watched the rat activity there as a steady flow of food-filled garbage bags from nearby restaurants was deposited there each night. Here's some of the info from the book:

Rats, unless they lose their food source, live in confined areas, generally staying within 65 feet of their nest.

Male rats are more venturesome than females and will go farther from the nesting area.

City rats are often larger their country cousins.

Up to one third of the world's food supply is destroyed by rats.

If they are not eating or sleeping, rats are usually having sex (up to 20 times per day, in fact).

A healthy female rat can deliver 8-10 new rats every 21 days, meaning that one rat pair can produce 15,000 descendants in one year if enough food is available.

The teeth of the brown rat are harder than aluminum, copper, lead or iron and are more comparable to the strength of steel.

Near 25% of electric cable breaks and almost 20% of phone disruptions are the result of rats chewing on the cables that they find so attractive.