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Neighbors asking for help for rat infestation in St. Pete neighborhood

Posted at 7:02 PM, Sep 09, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-09 19:02:44-04

Neighbors are reaching out to the City of St. Petersburg over what they call a rat infestation covering several different blocks. 

People are reaching out to the city asking for help in the area of 52nd Street North, where they say rats are found all over the alleyways. 

"I don't want to have them potentially in my house and bringing diseases," said Jacob Viskil. 

Viskil said they come and go -- and seem to be most active now and near Halloween when temperatures drop. 

Chris Wirt, A All Animal Control of Tampa Bay sent us this picture of a rat captured in a trap in Tampa Bay.

"They really are everywhere," he said.

Neighbors have taken to a repair application, See Click Fix, to let the city they need help with the problem. The city replied that they will pass the information along to the proper departments. 

Here is a visual sign that you may have rats in your home or area, you can see here the grease lines from a rat's body on the outside of this wall.

Steve Winger with Natural Born Killers, shared images oftwo rats being captured in just one trap. He posted the picture to Facebook with captions to get people's attention that rats are in the area.

"Rats are creatures of habit," said Winger. 

Keep your homes free of clutter, remove any trash and food sources and keep trees trimmed away from your homes. 

Both stress to call at the first signs of rats because populations can multiply rapidly.