Why New York Has So Many Rats - NYC Revealed 

I’ve lived in Manhattan all my life and rats really are as common as you think. They usually come out at night and they’re not scared of people walking by. They’re basically New Yorkers lol.

There's definitely far more than just 2 million rats in NYC. There's also rumored be one really BIG ONE who lives in the sewers with a group of turtles.

I was in New York in November down in Manhattan , I’ve never seen so much trash thrown out on the side. I’d say fixing the trash problem would definitely help with the rat population

I've just scratched New York off my bucket list.😂

The fact that this is about rats and done by Cheddar. The irony is not lost on me.

During the height of the pandemic I noticed for the first time how bad the rat and cockroach situation is in Manhattan. Because the city was in lockdown there was hardly any foot traffic on the sidewalks or cars in the street so they all came out of their hiding places and roamed the city. It was utterly disgusting.

I’ve never seen an actual wild rat running around out in the open, and I’ve lived in 7 different states. It’s crazy that some people are ok with the risk of living with these rats that infest there city, knowing the disease and illness they can cause, not to mention the sheer repulsiveness of them, the smell, the pee, the poop, the property damage, it’s unimaginable!

Bro just tossed his dog in a trash can lmaooo

The issue with NYC's rats is that so much of NYC's trash disposal revolves around plastic bags of trash on curbs. Other cities of much smaller size are able to use trash systems that greatly reduces the food available to the rats.

I went to NYC in Dec 2019, I was surprised to see so many rats. New Yorkers are used to it and it doesn't phase them. Those suckers are big, too. I've never seen rats that big. I was surprised that in NY they place their trash bags on the curbs and not in containers, it's no wonder they have rats, they're feeding them.

Who ever did the graphics for this is a comedic genius

2M is probably a gross understatement

There are literally mountains of trash on the sidewalks and in the alleyways. Trash cans are overflowing, and litter is ubiquitous. It's a rat's paradise!

Istanbul is a megacity of some 13 million people. I have been there a number of times and never saw one. I also have an American friend who also lived there for some five years. I asked her why one didn't see any rats on Istanbul's streets. She answered with one word, "cats!" They have legions of feral cats who, to use Mafia parlance, "take care of business." Rats are a non-issue there.

I discovered I had a rat problem in my brand new home just a few months ago. I was shocked, I live alone and am an absolute clean freak. I decided to get one of those glue rat traps.. I got home the next day to see the baby rat stuck in the glue! I was BEYOND disgusted.. and to my surprise, I actually felt so bad for the little guy. I put on some protective gear and placed another glue trap on top of him and used a broom to shove him into a plastic bag. One of the most terrifying experiences for sure. I’m deathly afraid of rats but a part of me feels terrible. Poor thing probably had a slow and painful death.

The fact everyone for the most part just kind of accepts all the rats and see them as mascots or apart of life in NY, is genuinely disgusting.

We had a bad rat problem here at my house ...one day I saw a rat kill another rat and it freaked the hell out of me...but my son had a great solution...we got a cat..within the first night they booked it , just the mere presence of a cat terrified them...they ran rampant through the house for more than a year and in one day were gone

I remember when I went to NY for the first time and being an Atlanta native I thought the rat stuff was all just talk. I thought that until I was going back to my hotel after playing basketball and saw like 20 rats come out of a mattress that was on the sidewalk. I haven’t been back to NYC since 😂😂

I grew up in the country where we have groundhogs but we don't have rats we have field mice. One time when I was playing tourist in NYC I saw a rat as big as a ground hog. At least as long as my forearm. I literally stopped and just stared. No one else seemed to be all that surprised.

the big problem is two legged rats invading our city

I grew up in the South Bronx in the 70's we had many alley cats, I never saw a malnourished cat, all were healthy because of abundant rats.

New Yorkers: “Why are there so many rats?” *Spits out gum, throws trash on floor, wastes food.*

I was at Grand Concourse standing on the platform waiting for the train with a rat. The train came and we both got on the train. He rode 2 stops and got off like he knew it was his stop.

I lived in the Bronx the building next to our building had a rat infestation and our building was sold so they began to put poison to kill the rats those rats started climbing through the walls and dying it was disgusting the smell was horrible everyone started having rat problem I had the most horrible experience in my appt I ended up moving to Florida I wont go back to NYC or the Bronx it was a nightmare

There are thousands of them in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, and the scariest thing about them is their lack of fear of humans. They do not fear us at ALL. They scurry around in large groups and there’s nothing you can do about it…. There used to be an abundance of stray cats which balanced it out, but all these organizations are getting rid of the cats and not the rats.. they capture cats, get them spade/neutered and release them. So these rats are thriving

Can’t wait for the New York version of Ratatouille.

I lived in Bangkok, Thailand and there are rats everywhere. The ferrel cats don't help. The rats are so big, that they would just injure the cats.

I never tried this but an article I read, this guy said he got rid of his Rodent problem by mixing dry concrete/cement, flour & sugar together in a shallow pan and a SEPARATE pan of water. Rodents will eat the dry mixture then drink water = Concrete Rat.

I live in NYC. When I patch holes, I mix in some steel wool. Rats don't like chewing through steel wool.

I visited New York before. I witnessed a rat drag a burrito down the steps to the subway to feed it's family. My mom and I followed it and found out their were holes in the wall and the rats made nests. They live in the sewer as well. They are large rats too. I was a teenager back then. The rat was a white and black color with brown ears. But the other rates were dark brown. They even came out to greet us as if they expected food scraps. Mom told me not to feed them because it's not healthy. Plus they would follow us if they found out we have food. They are very smart creatures.

For creatures we scorn so much, it’s ironic how we find them more around us than anywhere else in nature. You seldom see rats away from human settlements. That should tell us something about ourselves.

I was in Manhattan 3 weeks ago and I saw a huge rat meet other rats in the trash cans. They were BOLD as lions.

Finally some talked about this. I was walking in Greenwich Village and saw rats the size of cats at night.

Only two million? That’s less than the human population.

New York has a MUCH worse animal problem than the rats. You know what I'm talking about. 😉

As a Californian I’m so fascinated by the rats 🐀 in New York 🤣🤣🤣

And New York wants you to pay $2500 plus to live in a 300 sq ft dump and live amongst rats with no greenery anywhere to live there?! Anyone that voluntarily lives in New York HAS to be a bit insane 😩🥴

Downtown LA has gotten really bad too. I played a DJ gig down there last month. When I was leaving back to my hotel room the door lady screamed "Move!!" I looked about 20 ft in front of me and it looked like the sidewalk was moving. It was about 100 rats all running together right towards me. Moved out of the way, watch them all scurry into a gutter. Pretty nasty.

I’m cringing so bad but I can’t stop watching 🤣

Props to the guy that is counting them!

imo residents (ourselves) should be more conscious and responsible for our trash. The amount of people I see who don't give a crap about litter and trash or how to dispose of stuff correctly on a daily basis. The amount of illegal dumping every single week I see in my neighborhood here in ridgewood is insane. There's a spot under the M train around the block from me, that every single week, someone comes and illegally dumps furniture and bags of trash. It gets cleaned up, and someone else comes the very next day and fills the spot with their crap. No one respects the rules let alone the people around them. Everyone wants to be respected but doesn't give a crap about the human beings around them. Don't get me started on dog crap either. I walk my dog every day and every single block has dog crap because people are too lazy to be responsible.

My father’s company had a horrible rat infestation for years. They trued traps and poison, but neither worked. They got a cat and within 24 hours they were gone. To this day he has no idea if the cat killed them or just scared them off. They haven’t had a problem in more than 10 years since.

A man who had rented a hotel room in Los Angeles found a rat in his bed. When he went to the front desk, he was told that the rat was on vacation from New York City and he was given the wrong room by mistake.

Asking a population to clean up after themselves is just too much of an ask and that’s sad. I had a neighbor with mice and I would go catch them for her and after the 2nd time telling her the only way to get rid of them was to keep her house clean I stopped catching them for her. She stopped talking to me after that 😂😂😅

Absolutely disgusted by the state of NYC. I've only been here for 5 years, but the level of apathy towards the invasion of rats - not just out in the streets - but in peoples homes, trains and social spaces, is abhorrent. Nobody deserves to live like this. The city needs to invest in large bin shoots (like we have in the UK) - making it harder for rats to access trash, they need much more regular collections as well as frequent cleaning. And the cities residents need to do a better job taking care of their spaces and the spaces around them, raise their voices and contact their local district leaders to do better. I like that Chicago released thousands of cats to help with their issue, but that alone would not be enough, as these rats are the same size as cats haha.

Before even watching this, I just gotta think: NYC is a very old city with miles and miles of subway tunnels beneath the whole city. We're talking dark, dirty breeding grounds for rats that've been multiplying for a few centuries down there. I would never question why there's so many rats.

I worked in midtown Manhattan for 6 years until Covid and the 9th floor building had plenty of mice

please tell me at 4:49 on the left is the rat and the rodent on the right is the mouse please tell me am i right or wrong

When I was in NY I was walking at night with a native and something large ran across my foot and I thought it was a cat and my friend said no, that was a rat. 😂

What are Rats? all I saw was Varane. Kimpembe and Ben Yedder

When I moved into my new house, there were a bunch of mice. So I had gotten 2 cats, and every morning a new dead mouse would be found 🤣

Boston was the same way during pandemic. I’ve had a rat run across my foot like I wasn’t there

I HOPE the dog owners DON'T let dogs lick em after catching rats... 🤢

I stayed at a hotel in Times Square in January; at 2am it was pretty much dead and I was looking off the balcony when I saw a rat the size of a cat shuffling around before dipping into the sewers. Within the next hour I saw two or three more, they were truly huge. Giga chads, honestly.

Only time i ever really encountered rats was when i lived in north philly and the gas company came and tore the ground up and they were running around everywhere thru our houses and all...my homie broke the second step at the top of the stairs and one day a rat came out the basement, thru the kitchen, and ran up the stairs like a 🐱 and down into the broken step 😱

😂 First rat I seen in Louisiana, I wanted to get pole or stick and go ham! Anger went through the roof.

I live in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, the population of rats is increasing. There are underground bins. But they aren't emptied as often as they should. So people still leave there trash in front of the bins. It's not uncommon to see some rats at night. Another problem is that some people like to "feed the bird". They throw their old bread on the streets... I've visited NY 3 times and I have a severe fear of rats and mice. But I didn't see them that often. Luckily Oh as a cherry on top: our government prohibited the use of poison. So it's only going to get worse.

Instead of getting rid of rats, we should get rid of food waste.

I am from Korea where lots of ferals cats live. We hardly see rats anywhere in Korea which I love abt my country a lot. But recently some ornithologists insist to kill all city cats because they hunt birds as well. But I dont think thats a good idea. We dont want rats over populated just like in NYC or Chicago =(

We’ve got them really big in San Francisco too.in the city, by the wharf, and around all the restaurants and Chinatown.

I don’t live in NYC so maybe I’m not the most educated on the situation, but during the multiple times visiting I’ve noticed that businesses and houses would leave their garbage bags on the SIDEWALKS so that the sanitation guys would pick it up and throw it on the truck. This definitely has to be significant on why rats thrive there as well. I can’t see myself living in a city like that.

I have lost my bladder to fear one time in my life, rats were the reason. I was taking out the trash at my first job. My manager laughingly said "watch out for the rats" but her tone made it sound like a joke. Well I opened the lid and countless, at least 2 dozen, rats jumps out and some on me, I have never been so scared. I ran and scream, then noticed the warm wet feeling🤦‍♀️ I kept the job, but I did refuse trash duty from then on out. I have been around pet rats since then and have really overcome the pure terror and fear of my youth. Good thing because I don't think my 40+ heart can take the same stress my 15 yr old heart did!

watching the dog tear that rat up, priceless 🤣🤣

I used to live in a very ratty part of San Francisco, dating back to the rebuilding after the big one in '06. The city had long mandated rolling trash bins and no plastic bags of garbage allowed on the streets. In the basement of my building, the rats gnawed up through the concrete floor through the bottoms of the rolling bins directly. Like a prison camp break out movie from the 70's.

I'm curious to know that since rats are carriers for a great many diseases, aren't these dogs that are trained to hunt them susceptible to these same diseases?

If there is one thing that this series is great at, it's making me really thankful for the city I live in.

I saw a possum on the edge of a alleyway, the other night next to Domino's, where I usually see rats milling about.

Bait Cage Kit for Rat Traps works to quickly and safely eliminate invasive rats in New York City. Works with snap traps and includes irresistible bait to keep the rats feeding and get them caught.

I remember reading a dystopian science fiction story in a future when the skyscrapers are crumbling, inhabited by rats, while people reside in the sewers ....

Most expensive garbage dump in the world.

I was in Brooklyn and heard a rat digging in a dumpster before i saw it. When it finally jumped out, i thought it was a goddamned cat. It was that big. Dafuq NY?

Oh snap! Saw the title and thought it was about politicians 😂😂

Hey let's throw our dog in a dumpster and hope they don't land in glass, needles, poison, feces.... 😞

I live in Baltimore. Growing up we did not have a major rat problem like we do now. I remember we used to talk bad about NY's rats. When they started digging for our subway, that was the beginning of our rat problem. They subway goes under a house we lived in when I was little. After being there for years when they went underground for the subway the rats came up and ran us out the house (we moved).

It is generally estimated between 10 to 15 per inhabitant.

Just unleash 100K feral cats into the City. Rat problem solved.

Here from the Nick reaction !!! ( Rats reassembled)

fake rats they don't take any risks

I like how that dude threw his dog in the trash and then it cut scene😂

I remember the blackout back in the late 90’s early 2000’s I was coming home from work in Newark . I took an express bus into Manhattan .All the subways were down and the city was completely dark . I had to take a bus from the Port Authority bus terminal up to Harlem then get off and take another bus up to the Bronx . When I stepped off the bus a passenger asked me what that noise was ? When I looked down at my feet there were hundreds of rats running over my feet because it was completely dark and the Rats felt safe to come out ! From the Bronx I walked all the way home to Yonkers . I The whole trip took me 5hrs. to get home. !

Cheddar, I just want you to know I am loving this. So is my dad. We’ve both lived in the NY tristate area our entire lives. ❤️

the city chooses never to listen to people who actually have good ideas

My village (UK) had a large cat population, so rats are actually pretty rare here.

i wouldnt put my hand up that square in the building knowing rats are there lol.

I ived until I was 13 in a 6 family house in Brooklyn. Rats, Water Bugs and Roaches were a constant. We lived on the first floor just above the furnace. Pipes ran through the floors and ceilings to feed steam to the radiators. The rats would chew the wood around the pipes to make an opening into the apartment. My father would go to the furnace room and nail the tops of cans over the chewed out part. Then he'd go upstairs and fill the gap with steel wool and razor blades. Then he'd nail another piece of steel over the top of the opening. It would also keep out the water bugs. They lived in the furnace room because they like the heat. They were about 1.5 inches long with big mandibles that they used to catch their prey. When I worked in the South Bronx that was the worst. When you went in it looked like the walls were moving. You'd turn on your flashlight and see hundreds of them moving. We carried a hammer to smash them. Their shells were so hard that if you were wearing sneakers you couldn't kill them. It didn't matter how clean you were you had them.

Having lived in NYC for most of my life, rats are just vibing. It's the roaches that are the menace.

7:03 she is soooo right here! In a place where there is no food reachable, no trash lying around, anything edible stored away rodent-proof, there are no rats and mice. They vanish like magic by themselves. No need to kill them with poison lying around that can be eaten accidentally by pets and children, too.

That’s why am a ghost in the middle 😂

*The main issue is the citizens do not cooperate enough that their hygiene become part of the problem*

Haha! excellent job with the graphics 👏 👏 👏

9:18 that was badass 😎

Can the back ground music be removed?

My biggest surprise when I moved to Manhattan was the mountains of garbage everywhere.

My father went to New York City to see if jobs were better there . Traveling inside a huge 1950s Caddilac the roads were so bumpy . The driver told dad and his friends " Oh no sir those are not potholes on the road . They are rats running across the street . My father and his friends went back to the hotel and took the first bus to airport and flew home . They said thank God for Canada 🇨🇦and never ever went back to NYC . I could only imagine the horror in their minds

During Rona when garbage was building up and no garbage men, thats when it really got outtta hand. There was one block in my neighborhood where the rats would literally walk side by side with you on sidewalk and on that particular street filled with dead run over rats from cars Crazy!

Not just plain rats but huge rats that are well fed not to mention the huge roaches.

There are very few rats in my neighborhood. I live in an area called Ravenswood in Queens. During the day, Ravens fly around on the regular. At night, cats patrol the area. We have a ton of cats everywhere. Rats cannot survive here because they have way too much competition for food from Ravens and other birds, squirrels and cats. Hell, I even saw a few possums and raccoons.

They can be vicous too, I've been bit by a full grown boa, a monitor lizard, stung by a scorpion, but the rat was by far the most painful and brutal. One single bite sheered the tip of my finger to the bone, absolutely mangled it.

Rats 🐀 is a sign that your house is dirty .

You should see giant sewer rats. They are as big as cats. Saw some in-between grand and bowery down in the sewers.