“For rodent issues, it can take six weeks to see progress. Outdoor bird feeders can attract rodents when squirrels or chipmunks try to access the feeder and knock down seeds to the ground, Hagman said. “This prevents rodents and small animals from accessing the composting material, and normally includes a means to rotate the material which is an important part of the composting process,” Hagman said. Hagman recommends using only off-the-ground composting barrels. Ground composting is also an issue as it does not keep rodents and other small animals out. “Use of garbage cans that keep rodents and small animals from accessing household trash is one of those fundamental societal rules that seem to have been forgotten,” he said. “We have run into several properties where trash in bags was stored on a deck for weeks, even months,” which Hagman said guarantees a rodent problem. Hagman said inspection officers have seen an increase in improper trash storage, ground composting and bird feeders. There isn’t one particular issue the department has found that is driving the rat increase. This year, the inspection office is projecting between 20-22 complaints, a 33 to 46 percent increase over the average. “There’s never been anything but moles and chipmunks,” Dietterle said.ĭover receives about 15 rat complaints a year, Hagman said. Both Dietterle, who has lived in the neighborhood for 34 years, and Derusha, who has lived there for 20 years, said this is the first time they could recall an issue with rats. Derusha contacted New Hampshire Fish & Game with Foster’s present to confirm that killing wild rats with a BB gun was legal, which they said it was.ĭerusha sees the primarily nocturnal rodents during the daytime, which is a sign of a large population, according to the Internet Center for Wildlife Management, which is operated as a collaboration of numerous universities.

Rat sharpshooter