Experts: Connecticut has more rats; pandemic conditions send them to homes – theday.com

As devastating as the human toll of the COVID-19 pandemic has been, it also has created myriad disruptions to life as we knew it, from remembering to bring a mask to keeping us cooped up at home with our families.

And, for many, with rats and mice.

The increase in rodent activity has been going on for a while, said pest-control experts, but the food supply has changed since Connecticut went into lockdown in March. No longer able to dine at the dumpster behind their favorite restaurants, the experts said, rats have been on the move, away from the closed businesses downtown and in the suburban shopping plazas and to the garbage cans behind our homes.

And we, tossing out more garbage because we're working and eating at home more often, are their new suppliers, experts say.

However, the changes wrought by COVID have only highlighted what has been occurring over the last few years: an explosion in wildlife populations generally, especially of rodents.

"It's absolutely mindboggling. This year is unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it," said Rocco Cambareri, co-owner with his wife, Jane, of Insecta X in Norwalk.

Normally, calls for rats and mice increase in late fall and winter, when the rodents are looking for warm places to hide out and any opening in your foundation is going to attract an intruder.

"Rats are rats. It's not like they hibernate," Cambareri said. "But you see more of them in the fall and winter because they need warmth."

But the increased rat sightings this spring and summer may have two COVID-related causes: less business at restaurants and more people noticing the rodents because they're at home more.

"There's a lot of restaurants where I live and it's right smack in the residential area," said Cambareri, who lives in Fairfield. "Then the residents are seeing more activity in their own yards."

Rodents have been moving "from the garbage dumpsters to the garbage cans in the residence," he said.

"I haven't been inundated with phone calls about rats," Cambareri said. "But I know for a fact that there's rats running around because of COVID."

To make sure they're not running around your house, he advised not leaving pet food or water outside -- rats need fluids -- be sure garbage cans are closed tightly and "look around your foundation. If you see a hole, get it patched up," he said. Garage doors, especially the rubber strip at the bottom, are also potential entryways. "A rat can chew through metal if it wants to. It can chew through concrete if it wants to," Cambareri said.

Mike Lipsett, owner of Connecticut Pest Elimination in Orange, said "the rodent population in Connecticut and here in New England has gone through the roof" for as much as the last seven or eight years.

"I have never ever seen the amount of rodent activity that we have right now," he said. "Fifty percent of the calls to our office right now is rodents, rodents, rodents."

Lipsett said people may be noticing more rats and mice simply because they're home more during the pandemic.

"Is it possible that there could be more rat or rodent calls because the average household has more trash because they're home and not going out? That's a possibility," he said.

Lipsett's message is: Be proactive to prevent pests from getting into your house in the first place.

"If you can control the perimeter you're going to reduce or eliminate what can get in there," he said. Bait boxes firmly anchored to the ground or heavily weighted are best to catch rats, he said. Bird feeders should be removed and overgrowth should be cleared, he said.

"If you don't bring the food source close it may help you in the long run," he said.

John Neary, owner of J. Neary Pest Control in Monroe, said he's had more calls for mice than for rats, but that "one of the theories" for the increase in rodent activity "is that because we're home more we're not going out to eat, there's more trash."

"The cleaner you can be, the faster you get rid of your waste, the better off you're going to be," he said.

John Curley, technical services manager for Precision Pest Control in Fairfield, also believes COVID-19 has changed the behavior of rats and other rodents.

"Our theory is because all these commercial properties are closed, offices are closed, restaurants are closed, we've definitely seen a higher-than-usual amount of residential ... mouse and rat activity," he said.

His company extends into lower Fairfield and Westchester counties.

Other reasons for the increases: "People being home more. They're also leaving doors open," Curley said. "They're producing more residential garbage, debris." Barbecue grills left uncleaned don't help, either.

"Residentially we are busier than we normally would be," he said.

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Experts: Connecticut has more rats; pandemic conditions send them to homes - theday.com