Neighbor's yard - rats, mosquitos and carpenter bees

the rats live under the shed and commute to work across the neighbor’s yard to someone else’s yard a few doors down. the abode is not the issue here. and something tells me op’s yard is not the issue. It is the neighbor giving them work (foraging).

we fight this here. we (me and my immediate neighbors) have all agreed to put our trash in cans with lids (prior to this, i was pouring gasoline in one neighbor’s trash can to keep the rats away. when she heard what i was doing, she got a lid for hers; she would not have gotten that lid on her own unless she felt she had to stop me putting gasoline in the can). but we have one house a few doors down that keeps putting trash out in bags. the rats tear the bags open. i have dozens of pictures of ripped trash bags in my phone to show the new “rat” czar.

It is going to be very hard to fix this until the city decides that its litany of half baked laws do not reach far enough. they change this, change that, make a new law for this and nothing gets resolved. now we put the trash out later. it won’t do a thin g. the rats are smarter than the collective brain power of the entire nyc council and the rat czar. They will adjust their work schedule a little, leave home a little later, and run down the road to the same spot and rip the bags open and feast.

if you can find out whose trash they are running to and it is on the street, maybe you can put ammonia in it. rats and people hate ammonia.

i have from time to time put Tom Cat poison blocks out. but that kills them en masse and the survivors will not touch the blocks. the last time i did this they pushed them out of their way and ran by them for weeks.

find the food source. Good luck.

in so far as the carpenter bees. let me get back to you on ways to deter them from your yard (or house). i literally just took the state wood destroying insect class and carpenter bee are wdi. be aware that if they are carpenter bees, they do not sting.

steve
brownstonehomeinspection.com

justinromeu26

in General Discussion 2 years and 3 months ago

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ahnyst.smalls | 2 years and 3 months ago

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Our neighbor has a very overgrown yard, it’s about 1.5 feet deep with ivy and other vines, and I don’t believe they ever actually go out there. They also have an old wooden shed that backs onto the house. We’ve noticed dozens of carpenter bees living in their shed, and they are coming into our yard and attacking our windows. Our camera has also caught rats coming through burrows from their yard, and though we keep plugging the burrows when we find them, they keep making more. There are rat droppings everywhere and I can’t keep my dogs away from them. On top of that, it’s an absolute mosquito den.

They are elderly and don’t speak any english, so asking them to clean it up probably isn’t going to work. Is there anything I can do from my side of the yard to keep the bugs and rodents out? I’ve thought about burying corrugated steel deep on the fence line, and I’ve sprayed a rodent deterrent but that hasn’t worked at all. Any ideas would be appreciated!

cate | 2 years and 3 months ago

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One thing you can do is make sure there is nothing in your yard to attract or feed the rats. So, no garbage, food, and no dog waste. As for the overgrown vegetation, carpenter bees, mosquitoes, and rats on their side, you could attempt to speak to them in some fashion, ask them if there is anything they can do, and perhaps offer to help in some way. They could, for example, hire day laborers once a year to clear the vegetation and abate any standing water. (Or you could, if you have their permission and a way to access their yard.) Watch out for weed trees growing into their gutter and adjacent gutters, which can cause leaks and flooding. An exterminator can get rid of the carpenter bees, but a dilapidated shed that is moist will continue to attract carpenter bees and termites. Re the rats, all food sources must be eliminated, and nests and holes (front, back, cellar, inside house) filled in by a skilled rat and wildlife exterminator specialist. (Putting a few traps around will not suffice.) Do they have children or other family who are taking care of them? Maybe you co uld speak to them? (Technically, one can call 311 to report rats and mosquitoes, and the city will fine the owners and attempt to force clean-up of the area, but this may not be the most effective, desirable, or ethical approach, given the situation.)

GreenThinker | 2 years and 3 months ago

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I’d find a translator and offer to clean up their yard, covering the whole thing with weed barrier once everything is cleared out. I don’t think anything else will help, rats will climb up if they can’t get in/out from below.