Rat Academy Training is in session and here are some key takeaways that you should know.
In a well-lit basement that opened into a courtyard, a community coordinator from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, took a sip of Gatorade before beginning her presentation. In rapt attention were superintendents and property managers from Banana Kelly and other apartment buildings across the South Bronx, who had gathered to discuss an ever-plaguing New York City problem.
Rats.
There were 241 311 calls of rat sightings between January 2024 and February 2025 in Hunts Point and Longwood.
Around 30 supers and building managers had gathered on March 5 in a Banana Kelly-run building, 830 Fox Street, for a “Rat Academy” training session, ready to learn new tips and tricks to take the war to the rats.
The free two-hour course was designed by the health department to teach New Yorkers how to battle the rodents. Since 2024, the Department of Health has run sessions online and in person.
The sessions are often run in partnership with community organizations or landlords. The March 5 session was Banana Kelly’s second foray into rat abatement training, the first having taken place in 2023.
“New York City as a whole has a rat problem, not just the Bronx,” said Lisa Delancy, a community organizer with Banana Kelly, which manages more than 65 buildings locally, adding that if residents learn how to prevent rats, whole communities would benefit.
That stormy Wednesday, the 30-plus group heard from realty company Vernazza about properly disposing of garbage and ensuring rats do not return to their burrows. The recruits learned about the Norway rat, New York’s most common breed that can chew through anything softer than steel, including cement sidewalks, wooden doors and garbage cans.
Additionally, these rats have an average lifespan of 12 months. On average, one female rat can produce up to 84 babies in that one year. The babies can then reach maturity in two to three months. Suppose half of these babies were female, then, after reaching maturity, these rats can produce 3,528 more rats.
While that number seems like a bleak, never-ending war, there was some hope for the group. They also learned that the rats, like humans, do not like stress.
What You Need to Know
The Norway rat likes to live in earthen burrows, part of an underground network.
“Like New Yorkers, they prefer a short commute,” said the trainer, Martha Vernazza. Rats forage for food close to their burrows, she said. Course attendees were told to stamp down the entrances to any rat burrows they found, a task that might be necessary to repeat. Blocking the burrow with rocks is ineffective, Vernazza explained. The rats like the rocks.
There is good reason to want to keep rats far away from humans. Rat urine contains diseases like leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that can spread to people and lead to liver and kidney failure if not treated. Attendees were urged to wear gloves and a mask when doing rat mitigation work.
Vernazza stressed to the students that their buildings should have a scheduled inspection plan.
Home remedies like planting mint, using mint garbage bags and mothballs have not been scientifically proven to work, they were told. To get rid of rats long-term, they would be expected to change their mindset from killing to “attack, attack, attack.”
To do this, attendees were told to attack the rats’ triangle of life: food, water and shelter. By disrupting this triangle, you will stress the rat and a stressed rat cannot thrive.
Food: Do not feed pigeons as you will also be feeding rats. Ensure that your garbage cans are completely closed and pick up dog waste.
Water: Turn off leaky faucets and hoses and clean up standing and pooled water after you powerwash or it rains.
Shelter: Collapse burrow entrances, seal doors because if you can roll a chisel-tip Sharpie under one, a rat can squeeze through and clear up clutter and overgrown vegetation.
Supers and property managers are on the front line of the battle against rats. They’ve got ideas on how tenants can be part of the team that keeps buildings rat-free.
“Communicate more with me, open and close the cans properly and not leave garbage on or around the bins,” said Joel Tejeda, a super at 1084 Home Street.
“Bag up your trash, take it out on time and don’t leave it sticking out or on top of the bins, in the hallways and public areas,” said Emily Gonzalez, a property manager for Banana Kelly.
“Dispose your garbage in the designated areas and use proper garbage bags instead of flimsy ones,” said Nellie Figueroa, a property manager for Banana Kelly.
“Use the garbage cans and secure them,” said Edward Diaz, a super at 580 Southern Blvd. His building was one of three winners of the official NYC bins, which were raffled off. As of November 2024, all single family homes and small residential units have been required to containerize their garbage. These bins play a part in the city’s war on rats due to a key feature that superintendents say are a game changer: the lids.
“We like these garbage cans,” said Diaz. “They’re different in that you can secure them.”
The new bins have been yielding results citywide.
In December 2024, one month after the garbage was required to be put into bins, “rat sightings reported to 311 fell 23% compared to the year before,” citywide, according to Vincent Gragnani, the press secretary for the NYC Department of Sanitation in an email. “January 2025 saw a similar decline of 24%.”
However, the situation is murkier in the areas covered by Community Board 2, where rat sightings reported to 311 declined by nine by December 2023, then rose again to 16 by last November.
By June 2026, all single family homes and small residential units must transition to these new bins which can be bought online and at Home Depot according to the Department of Sanitation.
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