ATLANTA — The City of Norfolk is ranked the 24th rattiest city in the U.S., according to Orkin’s Top 50 Rattiest Cities List press release.
The data was collected and compiled by tracking new residential rodent treatments in metro areas from Sept. 1, 2023, to Aug. 31, 2024.
Orkin said this data helps the company to better understand how likely homeowners in each city are to have a rodent problem.
The same two Virginia cities, Norfolk and Richmond, made the list, with Richmond sitting at number 37.
In 2023, the metro region of Norfolk and Portsmouth sat at 27 — a slot higher than 2022 — and the Richmond, Petersburg area rose three slots from 2022 to number 29.
2024 also marks the city of Chicago’s tenth straight year as the number one rattiest city in the U.S.
“Chicago’s abundance of alleys provides rodents with hidden havens, offering plenty of space to hide while feasting on trash,” the press release states. “Rodents also love to burrow, finding shelter beneath subway tracks or around underground pipes. In these hidden spots, the rodent population can grow if left unchecked.”
According to Orkin, other large cities face similar challenges with rats with Los Angeles and New York tottering between the #2 and #3 rankings since 2017.
And as weather temperatures drop, Orkin warns mice and rats will seek out warm places for shelter and food sources.
“Rodents can cause a lot of structural problems for property owners,” says John Kane, Orkin National Accounts Entomologist & Quality Manager. “They can get in around piping and even chew through walls. These tiny culprits tend to chew through wiring, which poses an increased risk of fires.”
According to Kane, rodents eat about one or two ounces of food — the equivalent of a slice of bread — daily. When they’re not eating, Kane said mice and rats are constantly chewing, and they are powerful enough to chew through steel garbage cans.
They also reproduce quickly, causing a small infestation to become a big problem and potentially leading to the spread of illnesses in humans, including Leptospirosis, Salmonellosis, LCM, typhus and plague.
Because of these numerous threats, Orkin warns homeowners and business owners to be on the lookout for these few common signs of a rodent infestation:
Droppings
Noises
Gnaw marks
Rub Marks
Burrows
Orkin also warns people to take quick action to prevent a potential infestation from worsening:
Seal entry points
Eliminate food sources
Maintain outdoor areas
Patch your trash containers
Fix leaks
Set Traps
Call the Pros
