Norwegian Sewer Rats Are Seeking Solace Inside Sydney Homes After Heavy Rainfall
Rats flooded out of their underground burrows have taken to invading people’s roofs.
Norwegian sewer rats are invading Sydney homes after a week of heavy rain and flood conditions.
The rodents — also known as common or brown rats — have reportedly taken up residence across suburban areas, with pest control companies experiencing a spike in calls for assistance.
My sis lives near Sydney, they've been having rain all week. She said when she went out to clean the car yesterday she found it covered in rat poo. The rats had managed to burrow into the car seeking refuge from the non-stop pour down. BLEUGHH ??
— Nikki Rosemary ? ?? (@NikkiFromTShire) July 7, 2022
“What has been happening is the Norwegian rats, they love to tunnel and build underground networks, and they have been flooded with the rain and migrate to the roof”, taking advantage of the privacy and insulation up there, said Inner West Pest Control owner Paul Errington to The Daily Telegraph.
To add insult to injury, rat baits are no longer effective, because the rats are outsmarting them through rote learning trial and error.
“They can actually even identify rodent baits just by looking at them — someone in their rat family will have eaten that particular bait,” Clean and Green Pest Control catcher David Wright told the newspaper.
A City of Sydney spokesperson said there was no notable difference in the number of rats, or their spread of location, but did not comment on their recent take-up of houses for shelter.
“Initially, the pandemic lockdowns resulted in a reduction in rubbish and food scraps which forced rats to risk venturing out during the day to find viable food sources,” explained company Sydney’s Best Pest Control. “As the food sources were not available in commercial areas, rats turned to residential areas to feed on household food scraps and rubbish which is more plentiful.”
“Partnering this with the heavy rainfalls and floods in Sydney that forced rats out of their underground burrows has led to the magnification of the rat population invading homes.”
Meanwhile, mice are also shacking up in Sydney’s Southwest across Camden, Oran Park, and Narellan, according to The Project — in a region also grappling with torrential rainfall and evacuation orders this week.
It comes after more than six months of hell during the NSW mice plague last year, which, in a flip of fate, was actually partly brought under control by the La Niña weather patterns.
“Areas that are really wet will be not conductive to ongoing mouse breeding,” said CSIRO researcher Steve Henry to the ABC in December.
Sydney Pest Crew shared in a post that mice can be identified by their larger ears and smaller feet, while rats become sexually mature at five weeks of age — birthing 15 babies per litter — and leading to fast infestations.
The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed most of the wet weather had moved offshore to the state’s coast, but a number of flood warnings are still being enforced. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet visited affected areas on Thursday, as over 85,000 people were placed under evacuation orders, and a $1000 disaster recovery payment was announced for affected victims.
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