NYC rat population ‘stressed’ by heat waves — leading to lower rates of reproduction
Turns out, rats don’t like getting hot and heavy.
In a wafer-thin silver lining to the unbearably humid, miserable, no good, very bad heat waves that have body-slammed the Baked Apple so far this summer, comes news that these scorching temperatures are wreaking sudden havoc on the reproductive rate of the city’s rat population.
Simply put? The city’s grossest pests feel less romantic as temperatures soar.
“Anything that causes them stress is good for our work,” New York City rat czar Kathleen Corradi told The New York Times.
“A stressed rat is reproducing less. A happy rat is reproducing at a rate that science says we cannot exterminate our way out of,” the rodent router-outer explained.
But don’t celebrate too soon.
A gorgeous and more temperate summer day — such as Friday’s long-awaited mild weather —gets rodents in the mood for a furry scurry with one another, experts warn.
Randy Bilesky, president of pest control company Go Green in Vancouver, Canada, explained the situation in greater detail in a post on LinkedIn earlier this year.
Essentially, warm weather — excluding melt-your-face-off heat, is considered a “favorable” environment for the survival of offspring, according to the pro, who said that “rats are known to breed more frequently” in warmer weather conditions.” in these conditions.
Warm days — again, vs. hot days — “provide rats with better access to food, water, and shelter, which are essential for successful breeding and raising young,” he continued.
The best thing people can do to curtail the out-of-control issue this summer, according to the expert, is “sealing entry points, eliminating food sources, and using traps or baits.”
That, or pray for another heatwave.
The news comes as California and plenty of other states were revealed to rank ahead of New York when it came to rodent infestations — at least according to Yelp, which recently conducted a study of the ways people in need of pest control were utilizing the popular user review site.
