As construction on the freeways surrounding this city and its adjacent neighbors continues, officials want to prevent one unintended product of the work from scurrying into the neighborhoods: rats.
Before work begins on the west segment of the West County Connectors project in the coming weeks, the Orange County Vector Control District placed some 100 rat bait stations along the I-605 and I-405 freeways that back up to the Rossmoor community, Larry Shaw, the district's operations director, said Monday.
Vector control inspectors also visited 157 homes in Rossmoor last week to distribute information leaflets. Inspectors surveyed 35 of the homes for rat activity at the request of homeowners, and in six of the homes, inspectors placed additional bait, according to a letter from the district to a community group, the Rossmoor Predator Management Team.
County officials want to prevent a recurrence of what happened last fall, when Caltrans employees had to stop work on the 22 and I-405 freeways in Seal Beach after coming across a large pack of rodents. Concerned that the rats would head to the College Park neighborhood in Seal Beach, the Orange County Vector Control was called to the rescue.
"It was probably a sizeable number of rats," Shaw said. He estimated it was a couple hundred rats.
At the time, vector control workers set about 60 bait stations between Valley View Street and Seal Beach Boulevard – a 3/4-mile stretch around homes in Seal Beach and Garden Grove. Once the rats ate the poison, they died within three to five days, Shaw said.
The next phase of the freeway connector job, affecting the I-405, 22 and I-605 freeways near Seal Beach and Rossmoor, is scheduled to get under way as early as Jan. 17, according to Orange County Transportation Authority officials. This time, county departments coordinated so that vector control workers got there first.
That's been the norm for years, Shaw said.
The baits are one weapon officials have used to lower the number of rats living by the freeways. Other tools include eliminating the grassy side areas "where rats can live in no man's land," Shaw said.
Some freeway sections, where vegetation has been cut down dramatically and cement walls separate the road from the neighborhoods, no longer offer an inviting spot for rodents. Other freeways, however, such as sections of the I-5 and 57 freeways and the I-405 to the south, have more rat activity, Shaw said.
"Caltrans has done a pretty good job these days of making it less attractive for them," Shaw said.
At one time it was common for the area along the I-405 in Westminster and Garden Grove to have carob trees, which offered rats edible bark and pods and a place to nest in. These have been replaced with ice plants and crepe myrtle, which are not attractive to rats, according to Shaw.
Today, there is more awareness about what to do to avoid rodents in neighborhood backyards: put away the bird seed and the pet food, keep vegetation pruned and make sure homes don't have openings that would allow the small rodents entry.
Signs of the unwelcome guests include: damaged, partially eaten oranges, avocados or other fruits, signs of gnawing on plastic wood or rubber materials, rat droppings and greasy rub marks caused by the rats' oily fur frequent rubbing against surfaces.
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