Record the sighting once. With City filing on, the details go to Cambridge 311 and add to Rat Watch’s neighborhood picture too. Uncheck City filing to keep it on this site.
The map separates approximate Rat Watch sightings from public City 311 requests. City tickets are service requests, not verified rats.
Cambridge’s rats have turned garbage cans, alleys, and construction sites into an all-you-can-eat buffet. Inspectors, contractors, trash reforms, and experimental traps are on the case; the rats keep showing up, utterly unmoved by the paperwork. They have ignored every boundary, memo, and request to stop eating out of the bin.
Our first civic wildlife project, Cambridge Turkey Watch, gave local turkeys the full documentary treatment. We celebrated the flock with sightings and photos. Then we wondered whether the same hyperlocal impulse could be turned toward our greatest foe.
The City has tried inspections, trash reforms, contractors, and experimental traps. Still, the rats return. Residents need a clear, block-by-block picture of where the problem persists.
Our patience with rats ends here.
Our greatest foe:
Every rat must go.
Background: Cambridge rodent-control resources
The City is doing real work. The gap this project targets is whether scattered reports, inspections, trash fixes, and treatment outcomes can be read together at the block level.
Cambridge routes rodent sightings through SeeClickFix/311. A report needs a location and description; photos are optional. That is a usable intake channel, but the public request log does not show every internal work order or provide residents a unified case history for a recurring hotspot. File an official rodent sighting · Browse public request data.
The City's exterior baiting and trapping program serves residential properties with four or fewer units, with an inspection and at least three visits over 60 days. The City reported 900+ properties served since 2021 in June 2025. A later update reported 74% of participating properties cleared—meaning a strong targeted program, but not a citywide guarantee. Program and eligibility · City's 2025 overview.
Cambridge's Smart Boxes recorded 1,149 catches in 2025, up from 377 in their first year; the City Manager described them as more useful for locating activity than controlling the population. Smart Pipe kills fell from 1,381 in 2023 to 355 in 2024 and 311 through 2025 amid technical issues. Cambridge Day's Nov. 2025 report.
Cambridge adopted an updated Zero Waste Ordinance in August 2026, effective February 2027. It requires buildings to keep food waste out of trash; larger properties must maintain Zero Waste Plans. The policy creates a clear next question for neighborhood reporting: does activity persist around waste storage and collection points? City ordinance and implementation details.
In Nov. 2025 reporting, Cambridge officials said the City was collecting about nine tons of food scraps a day, and food scraps were about 30% of the material still in trash and recycling. The City expanded food-scrap carts, pickups, compactors, and rat-resistant receptacles. Rats get a vote whenever food and shelter stay easy to find. Read the reported numbers and context.
Cambridge Public Health invited residents in designated Cambridge and Somerville study areas to help test a baiting strategy and collect activity data. It was a bounded research project, not a standing citywide service; its 2025 timeline has passed. Public Health project invitation · Boston Globe: Cambridge's Rodent Academy.
So what is failing? “Nothing is being done” would be false. The documented weakness is fragmentation: different programs cover different properties and public spaces, pilot results are not the same as citywide outcomes, and inspection speed can look good while residents keep seeing rats. Rat Watch adds precise neighborhood observations to Cambridge’s public rodent response. The map puts resident sightings beside City 311 tickets, while keeping the sources distinct. When selected, the form creates a separate City request by default; uncheck it to log only on Rat Watch.
Repeated reports can help identify where activity persists, especially around waste and buildings. Use the map to see approximate public locations.
Specific observations make patterns easier to identify. Select every activity that fits, record the number of rats, and use your location when you can.
Useful detail: “Two rats eating from a garbage can at night, beside the public bin.” Record visible conditions such as damaged bins, overflowing dumpsters, food left out, construction, or a burrow opening. Do not enter private property; describe what you observed.
No. Cambridge Rat Watch is an independent project. When the 311 box is checked, the form files a separate rodent request through Cambridge’s SeeClickFix service. You can uncheck it and submit only to Rat Watch.
Each sighting is stored in Rat Watch with a rounded public location. If City filing is checked, a separate SeeClickFix ticket is also submitted and linked when the City returns an ID.
Yes. You can attach one optional rat photo. It is resized and stripped of embedded location metadata, then displayed with the public report. Please avoid people, faces, house numbers, license plates, and private interiors.
Exact coordinates are stored privately by project maintainers. If the City 311 box is checked, the exact location and report details are sent to Cambridge; otherwise they stay with Rat Watch. Public Rat Watch pins are rounded.