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Old 03-05-2010, 12:19 AM
 
Location: Chicago
15,586 posts, read 27,621,939 times
Reputation: 1761

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Quote:
Originally Posted by coldwine View Post
I've always wondered "why" with respect to rats. Chicago's arctic winters should kill the bastards, but they just stay alive somehow...
Umm many of them live in burrowed crevices in concrete and in sewers. Those places never get brutally cold.
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Old 03-05-2010, 08:44 AM
 
Location: Chicago - Ukrainian Village
367 posts, read 918,272 times
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I imagine that cold winters do kill some of them off to a degree but they breed quickly.

They also self control a bit as they are very territorial and kill and eat each other.
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Old 03-06-2010, 01:40 PM
 
74 posts, read 233,257 times
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If you live near trail tracks, then you get alot of rats. When I was used to stay on 76th, I was right next to a Metra viaduct. Plus there was a huge vacant lot on the other side of the viaduct. So they'd come into people's houses so frequently that it was no big deal. White rats, black rats, brown rats, all kinds of colors. Sometimes, one would die, and you'd mistake it for was a hair piece, or weave on the ground and not pick it up.
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Old 03-08-2010, 09:15 AM
 
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Used to live on North Sheridan - relatively clean - never saw rats on my 16th floor. Parking + Basement was another issue.

P.S. If you are afraid of Chi-town rats you should visit NYC - they are big as tigers (J/K)
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Old 03-08-2010, 10:32 PM
 
Location: South South Jersey
1,652 posts, read 3,880,984 times
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*kisses her ratties*
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Old 08-19-2010, 10:10 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
10,244 posts, read 16,375,702 times
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Great thread. I just had to throw in my Chicago rat tale. I was visiting Chicago during Lollapalooza weekend and we saw a rat downtown in broad daylight as we were waiting to board a water taxi off of Madison St. For those saying they haven't seen any rats in the loop, it took me one day to see one. Maybe I was just lucky?
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Old 08-19-2010, 11:28 AM
 
Location: Berwyn, IL
2,418 posts, read 6,257,503 times
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I regularly see rats in my back alley by the dumpsters. I have actually developed a pretty slick move for throwing my trash away. If I can get my wind-up going as I am opening the dumpster lid, I can minimize the time the lid is open, thereby decreasing exposure to vermin.

As for my workplace, we are having issues with Opossums. We found a couple living in our warehouse, but we're not sure why. There is no food, and it isn't cold outside right now.
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Old 08-19-2010, 11:30 AM
 
Location: Chicago
15,586 posts, read 27,621,939 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MannheimMadman View Post
...As for my workplace, we are having issues with Opossums. We found a couple living in our warehouse, but we're not sure why. There is no food, and it isn't cold outside right now.
It is their love shack.

Well part of the reason is probably that they are mainly nocturnal and they like the darkness an abandoned warehouse provides while they sleep.
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Old 08-19-2010, 12:31 PM
 
Location: USA
5,738 posts, read 5,445,071 times
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A family nearby me has found a neat solution to rats in the alley. They feed a family of stray cats and allow them to live in their backyard, and I have never seen a rat anywhere around my place in living here two years.
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Old 08-19-2010, 02:30 PM
 
281 posts, read 1,009,116 times
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Quote:
A family nearby me has found a neat solution to rats in the alley. They feed a family of stray cats and allow them to live in their backyard, and I have never seen a rat anywhere around my place in living here two years.
Maybe that's why we don't have many rats near us -- stray cats! Although the stray we see a lot only has one eye, so who knows how great his rat catching abilities are.

Living in Logan Square, we've seen one rat since we've been here (moved in Feb). Friends of ours live in East Village, and have a major rat problem. Everytime we're over there we see at least one rat. Gross.
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