Zach Wise for The New York Times Good Thursday morning. The biting cold continues.
The mice have taken note.
A New York exterminator’s calendar looks something like this:
March means termites.
May, ants.
Summer months are filled, like the air, with mosquitoes.
What’s winter’s pest?
Typically, mice.
PestWorld, an advocacy group for the pest control industry, says 45 percent of mouse infestations occur during the coldest months.
They’re not looking for food, but heat.
Within kitchen stoves, for example.
So has the bitterly cold winter caused a record infestation?
Actually, no. Mouse violations in multifamily dwellings are down from the previous three winters, the city says.
Inspectors issued 3,171 violations from October through Feb. 25 of this year, versus 3,514 in the same period last year.
And 4,600 in 2012.
A mouse expert and Harvard biologist, Hopi Hoekstra, gave this explanation:
“Mice populations fluctuate from year to year,†Professor Hoekstra said. “Because it’s been especially cold, it may have resulted in poor reproduction and many natural deaths.â€
Brooklyn is still the leader in mouse violations.
If you have heard something go rustle in the night, we can offer this: a richly dotted map of the pest control professionals in our city.
Tell us your mice stories in the comments, or using #NYToday on Twitter.
Here’s what else you need to know for Thursday.
WEATHER
Get out your neck tube. A cold front is creeping in this afternoon.
Windy, with a high of 32.
Snow falls here and there after lunch. Temperatures fall everywhere after dinner.
The low is 10, but it will feel like zero.
COMMUTE
Subways: Check latest status.
Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.
Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.
Alternate-side parking is in effect.
COMING UP TODAY
- Mayor de Blasio holds a black history month youth event at Gracie Mansion and visits a police station in East Harlem with Police Commissioner Bratton.
- Beatles vs. Rolling Stones: a debate. Mike Myers argues that the Beatles were better; the comic Ophira Eisenberg argues for the Stones. At the Public Library for the Performing Arts. 6 p.m. [Free]
- Self-explanatory panel name: “Beyond the Kale: Urban Agriculture and Social Justice Activism in NYC.†At the New School. 6 p.m. [Free, registration required]
- A lecture about Mary Wells, the Motown star who sang “My Guy,†at Jackie Robinson Recreation Center uptown. 6:30 p.m. [Free]
- Lorrie Moore reads from her new short-story collection “Bark†at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. 7 p.m. [Free]
- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.
IN THE NEWS
- A rookie police officer was shot in the legs after he pulled a fare-beater off a bus in Brooklyn. [New York Times]
- An old school bus brings fresh produce to parts of the Bronx where it’s hard to find. [New York Times]
- Spike Lee’s anti-gentrification rant resonated a bit in his old neighborhood of Fort Greene … [New York Times]
- .. But Errol Louis of The Daily News called baloney on Mr. Lee. [Dailly News]
- The city comptroller, Scott Stringer, is looking into allegations of price-fixing by school-lunch milk suppliers. [Fox 5 New York]
- Scoreboard: Blazers shred Nets, 120-84.
Joseph Burgess and Andy Newman contributed reporting.
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