I Look Up I Look Down

Crazy mice in the bar.

They had crazy access behind this metal sheet under the bar.

The sheet metal prevented us from getting access to the holes in the wall and floor under the bar to do exclusion.

But we would not be stopped.

Knowing that we had to go with Plan B (questionable), we baited the void under the bar, and then we closed up all the way around on our sides with wire mesh.  Lastly we applied repellants to keep them in.

Bottom line: we won.  Us: a zillion.  Mice: less than zero.

Never quit fighting, never give up, never rub another man's rhubarb.

Today's episode of Ew York City is dedicated to David Letterman and all of his great pest related jokes over the years.  My favorite:

"Mayor Giuliani asked all New Yorkers to have their rats spayed or neutered."

Ew York City will be back next week.

Paper or Plastic

See how fast this paper bag breaks down into decaying organic matter once it sits in water for a few days?

Paper bags, cardboard, and anything else made from trees, etc. become an instant attraction for pests, especially flies.

Keep your paper goods hyperdry at all times, and if at all possible, reduce the amount of paper and cardboard you are using.

One word: plastics.

Ew York City is going to be back sometime this week.

Trailing Off

In the basement of your building, the mice rule.

You can tell that they love running across these cinder blocks: droppings, urine, sebum, no posted speed limit.  It's ideal cruising terrain.

This basement was absolutely infested with vermin.  The only way to bring them down was heavy baiting and heavy trapping.  It took some time.

Look for the trails little cowpoke.

Ew York City will be bake later this week.

Blue Light Special

Always a bummer to see someone misusing a fly light that they paid a lot of money for.

Here is a fly light machine, still plugged in, laying on its back with a metal tray on top of it in a restaurant basement.

Something tells me the flies are not having as easy a time finding this as they would if it were installed correctly.

The frustrating part is that the restaurant paid good money for this, but it's not being used correctly.

Let's make sure we're always aware of how things are looking in this area.  The machine should be attached to a wall away from food handling areas and facing away from any doors so as not to attract flies from outside.

Another thing I use to kill flies is my laser gun.

Have a good weekend.

Ew York City will be back next week.

Days of Yore

Here is a petrified mouse caught on a snap trap.  Not bad, eh?

Well, the bad part is that this mouse was caught right underneath the banquet seats in the dining room of a very, very fancy restaurant in Manhattan.

Yeah, that's how some mice roll.  They like those fancy crumbs.

So this is just another reminder to us that just because we do not see problems out in the open, that doesn't mean that there aren't problems literally all around us.

It's the economy, rodent.

Mosquito Presents

I observed some mosquitoes in this restaurant bar, and when I began to inspect a little further I found this little pool of stagnant water.

Believe it or not, this is all the mosquitoes need to live a happy, healthy life.  They can breed in great numbers in a little wet area like this.  It's a gift to them.

Since Mosquitoes do not observe Hannakuh or Christmas, we are under no obligation to give them gifts.  So let's keep our bar floors dry and make the mosquitoes uncomfortable and have to go back to the swamps of the Hoboken desert.

Ew York City is swamped.  Hope to be back tomorrow.

Come on in

Some nice rat burrows in the East Village.  Each burrow typically has three entrances.  The plastic box at the top right of the picture is a bait station.  Each burrow can be home to 10-20 rats potentially.

Did you notice the brick wall on the left?  That's your house.  That's why we call rats "commensal rodents."  They live among us.

Have a good weekend.