Rats in the “hood” — and under it, too.
Frigid temperatures this winter have forced rats to find warm digs — in cars on the Upper West Side.
“In the past month, I have had two incidents where my engine had problems. I brought my car to be serviced and was told both times that rats had gotten under my hood and had chewed the wiring,” a stunned Jen Elbert-Betz wrote to the local news site West Side Rag.
Elbert-Betz said she was shocked that while she waited for the mechanic to fix the $800 worth of damages, she met another person, “also a West Sider,” whose car was also infested with the squealing squatters. “And she parks in a garage!” Elbert-Betz wrote.
Engine compartments provide warmth and shelter to the rats, who quickly make themselves at home by bringing nesting material, which is generally whatever trash the rats find.
Because they are rodents, they have a need to gnaw — chewing on thick rubber hoses and wires to satisfy that craving.
“It’s become a thing,” said a manager at Mike’s Auto on West 30th Street, who said he has dealt with a half-dozen recent cases. The nests, he noted, “look like a fistful of clutter, sometimes with chicken bones.”