Emily Salvador said she is fed up with the rats that she sees nearly daily on her property.
Salvador, who moved to the Elmwood section of West Hartford in 2015, said that she never had an issue with rodents until this January, when things started getting out of control. But now the mom of two young children said she is fed up and is looking to the town take action.
“In the winter we noticed holes along our driveway and then my husband was out one night walking the dog and he said they were chased by what looked like a big rat. My first thought was ‘yeah OK.’ So I put out a trap and caught one the next day.”
Salvador said that began a months-long saga of trapping, killing and finding dead rats around her property. Salvador and her husband, who is a landscaper, said that they keep their yard well maintained and are careful not to attract the rodents. But despite this, the rats kept coming after months of pest control measures and several visits from an expensive exterminator.
“I was trapping and killing like six per week at one point,” Salvador said. “They stopped for a while and then they came back again. I have an exterminator that has come multiple times but we still have a problem. It’s really gotten out of control. I have little kids I worry about.”
But Salvador, who is one of numerous residents on a recent Facebook thread complaining of rats in the town, said despite calling the town multiple times, she has refused to let any officials on her property.
“I keep getting transferred or hung up on during the transfer when I call the town,” Salvador said. “I called the health district and the woman on the phone said they would come out and inspect the property, but would ticket me if they find violations for tall grass and trash. But I have a very well maintained lawn and that kind of got me mad, so I told them to stay off my property.”
Jocelyn Santiago, who also lives right off New Britain Avenue, said despite putting out several traps and having to dig up her garden, the rats are still on her property.
“I’ve lived here about a year now and in November I started noticing rats and they’ve been around ever since,” Santiago said. “They have been destroying my garden and I catch them running in and out of my yard. It’s gross and very discouraging because of the work I put into the garden. I also took my bird feeders down immediately because I saw my cat looking out the window one day and there was literally a bunch of rats on the feeder.”
“I’ve written to the town but I don’t think they believe it’s an issue,” Santiago said. “It’s comical to me to see others think this is an issue exclusive to this area. Sometimes people think the Elmwood section of town is not really West Hartford, which is disheartening. Maybe the issue isn’t being taken as seriously for that reason or there’s a stigma. I’m now encouraging folks to go to town council and speak during public comments.”
Isolated incidents or bigger problem?
The West Hartford-Bloomfield Health District said that they see an uptick in rat and other rodents every spring and summer as more people gather outside. The Norway rat, the most common species in the state, often breeds in the warmer months leading to increases in sightings, according to the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. While still active in the winter months, the species is more dormant, leading to fewer sightings.
“It’s not in just one particular area of town — we get calls in different places,” said Aimee Krauss, health director. “We go through waves of sightings. All it takes is a couple bags of trash in a dumpster or food left out and we will see a spike in calls. It then starts to drop off in the fall every year.”
Krauss, who was appointed as director in 2020, said so far this year she hasn’t seen any unusual spikes in rat sightings outside of the normal seasonal uptick. But she confirmed her office has received a number of calls for rat sightings this spring around town.
“If we do see things in certain areas, we take the complaint and investigate it,” Krauss said. “We have staff that goes out and conducts a survey of the area and reaches out to neighbors. We also provide information on property maintenance.”
West Hartford Town Manager Rick Ledwith said the town takes the issue seriously, but if a homeowner refuses to let health district staff onto their property, there is little the town can do. Ledwith said that if a property is found to be in violation of town code, the property owners can be fined daily until they are compliant.
“Like every town does, we have rodents we have to deal with,” Ledwith said. “We have had a person calling a number of times but they refuse to let us on their property or tell us where to go to come out and investigate. So we have not been able to do that. Last year we had an issue on Boulanger Street but have not had any since then.”
Ledwith said that the Health District found a household last summer that had not been sealing their trash and leaving open bags beside their trash bins. He said the homeowner was fined for breaking the town’s health code and the rodent infestation dissipated.
“This year we haven’t had any specific complaints on Boulanger Street,” Ledwith said. “There are a couple of restaurants at the end of the street, but we found the restaurants are very compliant with their mitigation efforts. But that’s how we deal with it, we get a tip and the Heath District gets involved. They get their team out there and we address it.”
Construction and foliage
Some residents are blaming new construction and an increase in development for the uptick in rat sightings around town.
“Really since the pandemic we have seen a trend in more rodents around the area,” said Michael Sarnese, vice president of Richland Pest & Bee Control. “West Hartford is really exploding in population. I grew up in this town and Blueback Square wasn’t even there when I was in high school. So as West Hartford grows, it gives more opportunities for rodents like rats to find food.”
Sarnese said during the pandemic, when restaurants shut down and people stayed home, urban rats migrated to neighboring towns in search of food. Urban rats, which feed entirely off human food sources, found haven in suburban towns like West Hartford with plenty of food in dumpsters and homes. But while rats typically don’t live inside homes, they do enter homes to forage and find food sources before going back outdoors, Sarnese said.
Joe Dingwall, president of Catseye Pest Control, said that he believes the increase in rat sightings has multiple causes including a large tract of abandoned property in town.
“The cause of the increased rat activity is likely due to two major factors: the coronavirus pandemic and one specific abandoned property in West Hartford,” Dingwall said, pointing to the former University of Connecticut campus, which has been vacant since 2017.
“The pesky rodent can adjust to their surroundings rather quickly and usually live close to where people live as this creates easy access to food. Even though rats prefer to live near restaurants and homes, rats will build nests in abandoned buildings, too,” Dingwall said. “So, it would make perfect sense for the rodent to find the UConn West building to be an attractive option — if they can find a way inside.”
Both Sarnese and Dingwall recommend keeping food items sealed and inaccessible and getting rid of bushes, woodpiles or tall grass around the yard. Instead of removing trees, trim the limbs back from the roof and power lines as an additional way to discourage rats from climbing. In addition, they recommend sealing off entry points and making sure any holes or cracks are filled. Rats need only about an inch opening to get inside a structure.
“We’ve seen a major uptick in mice as well so it’s important to be a pest to the pest,” Sarnese said. “Even birdseed you want to keep away from the house. So the less cover and food you have, the more they will keep away. Even a well-landscaped house with plenty of trees and bushes is an ideal place for rodents.”
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
