Rats in DC

[Anonymous]

I'm just so revolted by them. They used to play on my child's small backyard sandbox when we lived in Adams Morgan. Needless to say we could not eradicate the rats so we eradicated the sandbox . I don't see them around my current house, but have been to two fancy/"fine dining" DC streeteries (Conn Ave and 14th st) where they were practically running over diners' feet in this past years. It just makes me wonder about the kitchens at night, bleccchh. I was by an apartment building on Upper Conn avenue today (near the currently notorious Says Inn) that had a line of bushes for landscaping, riddled with rat holes underneath like the rose bush in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats or NIHM!, and rats playing by the dumpsters. Why is this not a thing? To be addressed? It's so medieval.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just so revolted by them. They used to play on my child's small backyard sandbox when we lived in Adams Morgan. Needless to say we could not eradicate the rats so we eradicated the sandbox . I don't see them around my current house, but have been to two fancy/"fine dining" DC streeteries (Conn Ave and 14th st) where they were practically running over diners' feet in this past years. It just makes me wonder about the kitchens at night, bleccchh. I was by an apartment building on Upper Conn avenue today (near the currently notorious Says Inn) that had a line of bushes for landscaping, riddled with rat holes underneath like the rose bush in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats or NIHM!, and rats playing by the dumpsters. Why is this not a thing? To be addressed? It's so medieval.

Yeah, you can stop wondering: many DC kitchens are absolutely infested with rats. A place I used to go (won’t name it) had to shut down briefly… the staff told me how they took down some of the drywall and there were just hundreds and hundreds of rats in the walls. So f$cking GROSS!! When the rats are as plentiful outdoors as we all see, it’s pretty much impossible to keep them out of places with lots of food and edible trash.

I try not to think about it.

[Anonymous]

We need to deal with the rats much more effectively. But in cities, sandboxes need to be covered at night. That's just a given.

[Anonymous]

Anyone remember ratgate: when DC wanted to "humanely" solve its rat problem by trapping all the rats, drive them across the river and release them along the GW Parkway in Virginia.

And Virginia was like "no f-ing way"

[Anonymous]

OMG, I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Add this to reason 1,483,719 why we no longer go to DC. How disgusting.

[Anonymous]

When you poison the rats with bait, that kills not just the rats, but all the other critters that eat the poisoned rats. It's a vicious cycle. Stop putting out bait for the rats. Use traps, and encourage natural predators. Wasn't the city using dry ice for a while to kill the rats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG, I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Add this to reason 1,483,719 why we no longer go to DC. How disgusting.

I remember the days when DCUM was actually populated by people who live in DC. Now we get this dribble on the daily.

[Anonymous]

The city should pay a cash bounty on dead rats.

Enterprising folks would pocket some serious $$$, and the rat population would be reduced. Not eliminated, but definitely reduced.

Right now there’s no incentive for anyone to do anything about getting rid of them. So incentivize it. Use economics to fight the problem. Assign a value to rats, and pay the people who turn them in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG, I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Add this to reason 1,483,719 why we no longer go to DC. How disgusting.

I remember the days when DCUM was actually populated by people who live in DC. Now we get this dribble on the daily.

I’m sorry you’re dealing with more car break in’s and shootings in your neighborhood than there were when you first moved into to your overpriced hovel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone remember ratgate: when DC wanted to "humanely" solve its rat problem by trapping all the rats, drive them across the river and release them along the GW Parkway in Virginia.

And Virginia was like "no f-ing way"

We have enough rats in Virginia. At least you can report rats in DC. DC will never eradicate them but they’re trying to reduce the population. Arlington doesn’ care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The city should pay a cash bounty on dead rats.

Enterprising folks would pocket some serious $$$, and the rat population would be reduced. Not eliminated, but definitely reduced.

Right now there’s no incentive for anyone to do anything about getting rid of them. So incentivize it. Use economics to fight the problem. Assign a value to rats, and pay the people who turn them in.

This is a good idea. OP here - back in the rats in the sandbox days, we called city rat control twice. They came.in space suits, poked around for nests and left without doing anything. This was years ago... What are other cities doing? Any new methods? Sterilization??? I like the idea of leading them across the highway - very Pied Piper of Hamelin, but not super fair to our neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city should pay a cash bounty on dead rats.

Enterprising folks would pocket some serious $$$, and the rat population would be reduced. Not eliminated, but definitely reduced.

Right now there’s no incentive for anyone to do anything about getting rid of them. So incentivize it. Use economics to fight the problem. Assign a value to rats, and pay the people who turn them in.

This is a good idea. OP here - back in the rats in the sandbox days, we called city rat control twice. They came.in space suits, poked around for nests and left without doing anything. This was years ago... What are other cities doing? Any new methods? Sterilization??? I like the idea of leading them across the highway - very Pied Piper of Hamelin, but not super fair to our neighbors.

Pay $10 for each dead rat turned in to any designated collection site in the city. Homeless people would be catching and killing rats all day long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The city should pay a cash bounty on dead rats.

Enterprising folks would pocket some serious $$$, and the rat population would be reduced. Not eliminated, but definitely reduced.

Right now there’s no incentive for anyone to do anything about getting rid of them. So incentivize it. Use economics to fight the problem. Assign a value to rats, and pay the people who turn them in.

This. A dollar a rat! Once they are more scarce and it's harder to find them, raise the price to $5 a rat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city should pay a cash bounty on dead rats.

Enterprising folks would pocket some serious $$$, and the rat population would be reduced. Not eliminated, but definitely reduced.

Right now there’s no incentive for anyone to do anything about getting rid of them. So incentivize it. Use economics to fight the problem. Assign a value to rats, and pay the people who turn them in.

This is a good idea. OP here - back in the rats in the sandbox days, we called city rat control twice. They came.in space suits, poked around for nests and left without doing anything. This was years ago... What are other cities doing? Any new methods? Sterilization??? I like the idea of leading them across the highway - very Pied Piper of Hamelin, but not super fair to our neighbors.

Pay $10 for each dead rat turned in to any designated collection site in the city. Homeless people would be catching and killing rats all day long.

$10 and the city would be bankrupt in a week . I'd start way lower. Maybe by the pound? I just threw up a little thinking about that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city should pay a cash bounty on dead rats.

Enterprising folks would pocket some serious $$$, and the rat population would be reduced. Not eliminated, but definitely reduced.

Right now there’s no incentive for anyone to do anything about getting rid of them. So incentivize it. Use economics to fight the problem. Assign a value to rats, and pay the people who turn them in.

This. A dollar a rat! Once they are more scarce and it's harder to find them, raise the price to $5 a rat.

Of course, bounties for dead vermin is the canonical example of a perverse incentive.