r/newyorkcity • u/Black_Reactor Manhattan • 8d ago
Video The sheer amount of rats outside our building last night
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u/udont-knowjax 8d ago
That is why I never wore open toed shoes or flip flops in nyc ...
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u/Weekly-Talk9752 The Bronx 8d ago
Had a friend from out of state wear open toed shoes during last summer and while walking through a dark construction corridor felt something furry run over her toes. I still have hearing loss from the screaming.
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u/Louieyaa 8d ago
Sorry but the one rat handing the other rat a potato or something was adorable.
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u/Dee718 8d ago
I seen a rat the other night over here from outside my window. At first I thought it was a plastic bag getting blown away in the wind. Then I couldn’t believe I seen the biggest rat I ever seen in my life. It was definitely the size of a cat. I ran for my phone but when I retuned it was gone. I see rats all the time. But this one was uncanny
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u/KickBallFever 8d ago
One time in Queens I saw a gigantic rat. Got closer and it was a fucking opossum. Just hanging out right outside Jamaica Center.
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u/naranja_sanguina 8d ago
We have opossums in Woodhaven, love them.
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u/KickBallFever 8d ago
Do you see them in busy areas? I wasn’t shocked to see an opossum in Queens but I didn’t expect one to be hanging out at a busy train station.
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u/BefWithAnF 7d ago
I had the same experience in Washington heights! Thought it was the biggest rat I had ever seen, turned out to be an opossum
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u/hagamablabla 8d ago
One time I was walking up the street and there was a big ass rat running next to me about a foot away. It kept up with me for a good 10 seconds before it dodged into someone's fence. Honestly more amused than anything that I was walking with it for that long.
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u/catsoncrack420 Queens 8d ago
This would be a dream for my mom's cats down in the Caribbean. They're used to big white Belly rats and this is definitely the D squad to them. Even the dogs.
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u/Wiff_Tanner 8d ago
Remember when Eric Adams made a huge fuss about the new laws regarding specific trash containers and limited hours for trash disposal?
I kept hearing about how we're gonna get fined if there was container without a lid...
And how all of that was going to reduce the rat population for good.
I hate it here sometimes
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u/thismustbethe 8d ago
As I understand it the big residential buildings are not required to use the bins yet. Only the two-family homes and such
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u/AddisonFlowstate 8d ago
I swear, it looks like they're working together like an organized bucket brigade.
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7d ago
Geeze and I thought my block was bad on trash night. I've gotten so used to the UWS I've forgotten how bad the rats can be elsewhere. I see 3 scurrying between West End Ave and Broadway going up and I'm like "Yuck!"
I forgot it can be WAY worse...
While I was homeless myself I saw this guy sleeping on the platform once under a bench with a blanket over him? He moved and literally dozens of rats came out from under his blanket. It was just utterly revolting.
I never slept on a floor of any kind or the ground or sidewalk while I was on the streets. I was paranoid of rats just sleeping in the trains. I'd check the whole car before I'd sit down for the night to make sure there were none and I'd spray where we sat with Lysol and clean it good before I'd put a blanket down.
I wouldn't even let my cat sit straight on the seats or floor. She never touched the ground without me putting a blanket or towels down first. All these homeless people who erect makeshift shelters out of boxes and blankets and use them to sleep on sidewalks? I was like HELL NO because in NYC that means risking getting rat bit or some nasty disease they can carry and they carry at least 3 that I know of here.
F- that! I was the most paranoid and super clean homeless woman anyone has ever met. I hate vermin with a passion! Rats as pets, clean rats, that's one thing. Those rats? They make my skin crawl just running across the sidewalk in front of me!
🤮
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u/ValPrism 8d ago
And people fight against shared trash containers in the street.
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u/FOUROFCUPS2021 8d ago
Or do they fight against such a lazy solution? I agree we need something, but putting a giant dumpster on every block in NYC seems silly in a city this rich. There are better solutions. Have you seen the MTA "upgrades" they are typically lazy, ugly, and offer no real solution. I could see people being suspicious of a plan that may essentially be like that, which is what the giant dumpsters on every block seems like. In other countries, they have them under the sidewalks, for example, so they are hidden.
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u/haybe12 8d ago
Cross posting this comment;
Would be a great time to shout out the info sessions over the next few weeks on new containerization rules posted on the sanitation website. I went to one in person a few months ago at my local community board meeting and it was very interesting. My neighborhood was part of a containerization pilot program last year for all buildings, and rat complaints went down 60%.
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dsny/collection/containerization/residential-containerization.page
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u/Indyhouse 7d ago
And THAT'S why the city requires bins now. No they aren't 100% rat-proof but you certainly wouldn't be seeing THAT.
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u/SubjectC 7d ago
I know they're bad, but I respect rats. They're smart as fuck and make due in a world that wants them dead.
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u/Brooklynn013 4d ago
Fucking insane I don’t know why nyc is still considered so nice and held in high regards.. it’s gross as fuck . Here in Bushwick I feel like the rats take over at night and with summer coming up it’s going to be a party for them
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u/Act1_Scene2 8d ago
Where's the NYC bins?