It is sort of hard to equate a rat infestation with what would otherwise be considered progress, but often that is the case.  Now, if you’ve lived in the seacoast area of New Hampshire, you might not think the massive amounts of construction that has been taking place over the past few years in Portsmouth qualifies as progress.   It would seem now there is not a single square inch of land left to build on down in the waterfront area!  As a consequence of all this upheaval, rats are feeling the pressure.  How are they responding? By invading surrounding neighborhoods.  At least two customers of mine have been impacted by increased rodent activity due to all the construction in the downtown area.  Fortunately, they did not turn out to be really serious incidents.  In one case, construction activity near one account (replacing a side walk) caused a significant crack in the concrete surrounding a bulkhead allowing a rat easy access to the building. Much heavier outside activity had also been noted by other restaurant customers in the area.

A months long water and sewer reconstruction project in my old hometown of Dover caused some headaches for at least one resident that I know of.  In late October I had received a service call for some type of animal problem at a client’s residence maybe a quarter mile away from the ongoing construction.  It was an older home with a brick and granite foundation.  The homeowner was startled to find a nearly three-foot-wide pile of soil that had been dug out of the foundation wall.  Upon inspection I found droppings nearby that were clearly from a rat.  We initiated a baiting program and after one follow up visit, so far so good.  So the moral of this little story is that there are often unintended consequences for progress, and for some, it comes with an increased price tag.  If you think you are having problems with rats, contact the pros at Colonial Pest Control. The following link features another notable rat problem in Portsmouth.  http://patch.com/new-hampshire/portsmouth-nh/rats-portsmouth-police-battling-some-serious-vermin