New Yorkers are besieged by rats who can read and bedbugs who eat poison for brunch (after they suck your blood for breakfast). If the feds can't help us, perhaps it's time to try a little tenderness? The WSJ reports that more women are entering the traditionally male-dominated profession of pest-control. "When people come to the door, they are surprised to see ladies, but they love to see ladies," Beverly Rice Brady, the co-founder of Pro Service Pest Control says. "They feel safer; they feel more comfortable having a girl in their home." more ›

As if the coming bedbugpocalypse wasn't worrying enough, now we have this to deal with? Police are seeking a man suspected of burglarizing at least five Brooklyn apartments. His MO? He poses as a bedbug exterminator sent by the co-op who will need a few hours to fumigate. After the apartment dwellers leave he does what any burglar would do and ransacks the place. more ›

Roosevelt Houses resident Emma Graham, 84, has been complaining about her bed bug problem to the New York City Housing Authority for a month, but until Friday, nobody paid much attention. Graham has been forced to sleep in a chair in the corner of her living room because the bugs have taken over her bed, their chosen location for their penis-knife sex adventures. Her daughter, Yvonne Prieste, told NY1, "I mean, my mom is getting eaten up every day, all day long, and it's heartbreaking to see your mom with red bumps all over her and then they turn black." We can add that comment to the list of bed bug quotes that make us afraid to go outside. more ›

The common rule of thumb is that there are eight or nine rats for every human being in New York City, which means a scurrying verminous population of 64-72 million lurking in walls, below streets, in trash cans, and sometimes in plain sight. Being a rat catcher or, better yet, a rat exterminator is a profession that will never end, and the NY Times spoke to some exterminators about the unwinnable battle.

Mr. Cruz, who started working as an exterminator in 1996, opened his business five years ago, and in his opinion, there is a difference between Manhattan and Brooklyn rodents. “Manhattan rats look like cats, not like rats,” Mr. Cruz said. “Brooklyn rats look like rats.” more ›