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 ›

Scientists in South Africa have discovered a "leaproach," which is essentially a cockroach that can JUMP "on par with grasshoppers." As in, jump out of your dreams and into your kitchen. Or sheets. Or [insert special place where you go in your apartment where you don't feel vulnerable from the alienating chasms of granite and filth]. more ›

Got a pest problem in your pad? If you're in one of the five boroughs, then Animal Planet wants to help! Now this is what reality television was made for, people. According to Brooklyn365: more ›

Much like justice, bedbugs' wrath is blind and will hit anyone, anywhere. That's why it's not surprising that they have been found at the Manhattan DA's office. Above the Law reports, "An employee in the office informs us that a bedbug-sniffing canine was brought into the 80 Centre Street building this afternoon — and that the dog alerted to the presence of bedbugs in multiple locations. Furthermore, rumor has it that (1) the powers-that-be in the office have known about bedbugs at 80 Centre Street for at least a week, and (2) the main building, at One Hogan Place, has had bedbugs for even longer." Chung chung! more ›

After the relative lull in bed bug news since last fall, the bugs have resurfaced! But this year, the critters just aren't satisfied with the relative squalor of the outer boroughs. According to New York Magazine, they've made their debut in multimillion-dollar apartments on the Upper East Side. Hide the winter furs! more ›

Release the hounds. The latest innovation in bedbug eradication is being brought to you by Advanced K9 Detectives, a company using man’s best friend to sniff out the bloodsucking pests plaguing New York City. Since 2004, complaints about bedbugs to the Department of Housing have soared to 6,889 (up from 537 a year) and 2,008 building owners issued summonses (compared to 82 in ’04). more ›

Cats in delis: they are ubiquitous, loved, objected to, necessary, and illegal. City inspectors are constantly on the prowl to ferret out deli felines, but deli owners say they are necessary fixtures to keep their businesses free of pests like mice, rats, and roaches. The New York Times has a story today on the ongoing battle between the city and the cats that are the sentinels of its delis--feline samurai who serve their masters in return for food, shelter, and the occasional scratch behind the ears.

To store owners, the services of cats are indispensable in a city where the rodent problem is serious enough to be documented in a still popular two-minute video clip on YouTube from late February (youtube.com/watch?v=su0U37w2tws) of rats running amok in a KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village. Store-dwelling cats are so common that there is a Web site, workingclasscats.com, dedicated to telling their tales.