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How often do you see rats? I know they're in the subways, and I know some stations are worse than others (thank you, Wikipedia!), but what about just walking around the city? Are there rats just hanging out on the streets? What about Central Park? Are there a lot of rats there? Do they only come out at night, or do see them running around during the daytime, too?
HAHHA this cracks me up. I lived in NYC for two years and only ever saw them in the subway tunnels. But I did have a friend tell me that one night she was in battery park really late and they were alllll over the place.
Pretty much never.... I only see mice and the occasional roach on the subway. Pigeons are filthy creatures too and those are everywhere.
In the subways alllll the time. And occasionally on the street at night by garbage bags outside buildings and restaurants. BUt I've never seen one in Central Park, lol! Lots of squirrels and pigeons, which are just rats with fuzzy tails/rats with wings!
Ha! You really only see them at night or super early in the morning. NYC gets such a bad rap. Its really not that dirty and if you are visiting from out of state you will be so amazed looking around that you wouldn't notice them even if they were there.
YUGH I remember from when I lived there the late-night Cat Rats. You know, the rats the size of kittycats who dodge from one side of the street to the other. Ew ew ew ew. Also, they were always in the trash rooms and you could hear them skittering around the walls of older buildings.
That's a bulk of the reason I left...
I see them in the subway tracks, but I have never, ever seen one walking around in the city or in a park. You won't see any in Central Park - its beautiful there
I take the train every morning (the B to seventh avenue in Manhattan) and that station has a lot in the tracks. However, I did see one in the platform at the first avenue L train station the other day. Practically threw myself into the tracks to avoid it. That was the only time I ever saw one on the platform.
I mean, they are around. Where there's garbage there's rats.
The only places I have ever seen rats are in the subway (platform and tracks), around construction sites at night, and around the bushes in Stuy Town at night. Pigeons are the way grosser, bigger problem, imo!
Ok, I can handle squirrels and pigeons; we have lots of those here. But last night, we were watching all these YouTube videos and it seemed like there were rats EVERYWHERE. I already made my husband call the hotel we're staying at in a couple weeks and double-check that they don't have any rats (supposedly, they haven't had any vermin sightings in at least a decade), but I'm very concerned about walking around in NYC.
If I avoid the subway and just take taxis/walk everywhere, will I be able to avoid them completely? We won't be going out at night, at all, since our daughter's bedtime is 7.
ok I'm not from NYC, but I saw my first rat in my entire life when I was in a subway stop in the Lower East Side on a trip to NYC this summer! eeks!
I was actually kind of excited though, because it felt like a truly New York experience. (It was by the tracks .... definitely far enough away for comfort.)
Hahahaha! Very rarely and only on the subway tracks. I see way more mice than rats and they don't bother me as much.
I did see a HUGE dead rat in the street once, near the Bowling Green I think. That freaked me out a bit!
I see them allll the time. Especially the subways. On the streets it's mostly at night, near the garbage. I've seen them in pretty much all of the neighborhoods - Midtown, Upper East, Upper West but Lower Manhattan seems to be pretty abundant; but that might be because I spend more time there. God, NYC sounds pretty gross doesn't it?
@PinkPandaBear: It sounds horrible...
ETA: Ok, so some people see them all the time, and some people rarely/never see them? Are there any "safe places"?
@Mrs. Spring: Seriously, you will be fine. Central Park is totally gorgeous.
ETA: If I would avoid anywhere it would Chinatown (f-ing disgusting) and the LES
@PinkPandaBear: Yea, if I'm remembering correctly there was an article released a few months ago about the severe infestion in Lower Manhattan....
@Mrs. Spring: Haha, you'll be fine!!! I"ve never ever seen a rat in a populated area on the streets...so as long as you're not walking around in back alleys, you'll be fine. And don't worry about the subway--they mainly stay on the tracks, so just make sure you don'tlook down there :)
You will definitely be fine! I rarely see a rat outside of the subway tracks (and the tracks are below where you stand on the platform). They want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them.
@Mrs. Spring: You'll be fine. They are usually out at night and you said you will be back in the hotel early. It's really not a big deal.
I really do rarely see them, but I'm also not really paying attention or looking out for them. :-P It just doesn't bother me that much, so my "rarely" might be "frequently" for someone else.
I'm in NYC everyday for the last 12 years, I've only seen about 5 rats in that time and strickly in the subway on the rails.
Mrs. Spring, please be assured that you and you're family will be fine, NYC is beautiful and a great place. You certainly won't have to watch where you step.
Have a great trip!!
- Brianna [link removed]
I'm trying to trust you all here, but I can't help but think you just don't notice all the rats around you because you're "hardened" New Yorkers. :) We'll mostly be in the Midtown-area, and we won't be going on the subway or out at night, so I'm going to take a leap of faith here, and expect that we will not see a single rat on our trip!
You should all be very proud; this is a big step from last night when I panicked and told my husband we were going to have to cancel everything, lol.
You're going to be fine - relax and enjoy your visit.
We always have friends visit from other states, and most of the time and they don't see a single ONE. We take the subways everywhere, and they don't notice. When they do, it's because they're looking for them on the subway tracks.
@Mrs. Spring: Don't get me wrong, NYC can be gross but it's still a beautiful city. I don't see them during the day, it's mostly at night and even then it's 1 maybe 2 dashing across the sidewalk, certainly not a teeming horde of rattiness. Like another PP said, where there's garbage, there's rats....
As for the subways, they stick to the tracks - and I rarely see them on the platforms. Just stay away from garbage at night and keep to populated areas and you should be fine. They generally want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them. :)
Okay, I'm kind of curious... what do you think would happen if you DID see a rat? Are you worried it's going to fly at you with it's wings spread and eat your face off?
They pretty much mind their own business and are too busy eating garbage to be bothered with you.
@gcwest: lmao, thats why you should be worried about the pigeons!
@gcwest: Pretty close to that, without the "wings spread". They can jump pretty far; I don't think they need to fly.
ETA: But pigeons don't bite you!
I swear I've been chased down by more squirrels than rats.
@Mrs. Spring:Have you seen that episode of How I Met Your Mother with the 'Cockamouse'??
@gcwest: I'm sayin' There's no big deal in seeing a rat. I see them all the time. On my stop in Brooklyn it's at least 4 times a week. I don't even get grossed out. I grew up in Africa in one of the DENSEST cities imaginable and I saw bigger rats so....anyhow, no biggie. They usually skitter around if you see them around the garbage bags, or they saunter around when they are on the subway tracks. They don't even pay you any mind. They own the city! Does anyone remember when they had that KFC that had rats all over it and the news crew went there? It was a big deal.
@gcwest: LOL! That's what I was thinking...
Also, FI and I love that episode, because we totally DID have a cockamouse in our apt once, it was freakin' terrifying hahaha.
@gcwest: I love HIMYM, and I've seen both episodes with the cockamouse! Remeber, in the second one where Ted and Zoey stay the night at the Arcadian, the cockamouse starts a family. It never attacks anyone, though...
Only in the subway tracks and on the rare occasion where people are standing in the station - but they don't run through people's feet or anything - they don't want to be anywhere near you!
Please do not panic! If you do see a rat on the subway, its on the tracks, which are about 4 feet below the level of the platform where you are standing. And anytime I have ever seen one on the platform (maybe 3 times in my life as a native NYer) it has been at quiet stations and they are running from hiding point A to hiding point B, not chilling on the platform waiting for the train. Honestly, I've seen rats on the streets some nights but only really really late (like 3am) on very quiet streets, near trash.
@Mrs. Spring:Oh no! I must have missed that episode... I didn't know the Cockamouse makes a return!
Here's the thing: you guys don't think it's a big deal because you're used to it. I haven't seen a rat in person in probably 15 years, so yeah, it's really scary to me. If you came here, you'd probably be freaked out seeing the bears walk down the street in the middle of the day, whereas I would just shrug it off. It's all about perspective. But, yes, seeing rats is a very big deal to me, and I may have a breakdown if I see one.
ETA: Yep, that sounded kinda panicky; probably because I am panicking right now! But I'm just going to trust that you are all telling the truth and I have a very good chance of not seeing a rat at all. :) However, I'll be aware that cockamice really exist, and keep my eye out for them, lol.
@Mrs. Spring: Believe me, if rats were jumping out at me every day, I would have packed my bags a long time ago! I am totally freaked out when I do see a rat on the subway, but then the rational side of my brain reminds me that that the rats (or "subway bunnies") do not want to interact with people! They don't hang out near crowds and if you are in clean, populated areas (sounds like you will be), you don't need to worry.
1. I HEART HIMYM!
2. I am terrified, like inexplicably terrified of rodents, and i've lived in NY for almost 10 years. I shudder every time i see a rodent, even though it makes me feel like i'm not a 'real' NYer, haha. BUT, in 10 years, i've seen 1 rat on a subway platform (though there are many in the tracks, you just have to not look down!) and on only a few occasions, i've seen them on the street where there are huge piles of garbage waiting for pickup. And i LOOK for them when i'm walking at night, haha.
My advice is, if you're really scared, just try to cross the street whenever you see one of those big piles of trash on a sidewalk...especially at night, even though there's probably only a small chance you'll see one even there. It will put your mind at ease. And other than that, just relax and enjoy your trip :)
I grew up in the city and I don't remember ever seeing rats outside of the subway. Then again, I was also like 12 and never really out late at night.
Though I just thought of one rat you actually may see during the day - and he's HUGE!!!
It's the NYC Union Rat!! It's still gross but Inflatable!!
I lived there for a very long time before moving to CA. Never saw one. Maybe I wasnt paying attention? IDK, but dont remember seeing a rat or mice.
@BriannaKrista: AAAH the union rat. Took me a while to get used to him but now I miss him.
OP, its OK. I am the TOTAL opposite of a streetwise NYCer (seriously. I'm a huge wuss when it comes to city life) and aside from the cat rats (which I only saw cause I was wasted on the street at 4 AM) and that one garbage rat (who I think got lost in that trashcan), I agree with PPs, if you do see one it'll just be in the subway tracks. I highly doubt that you'll come across any. I was being a tad dramatic in my earlier post (*hangs head*--see "huge wuss" above). You will have a great, critter-free trip!
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