Rat Control in the Highlands

The Highlands sits on a ridge between the middle and south forks of Beargrass Creek, which is where the name comes from. It grew up as a streetcar suburb from the 1890s and was mostly built out by the 1930s. Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue are the business strip, the one people call Restaurant Row. Off to either side are blocks of brick and frame houses, from modest shotguns and bungalows to the big homes around Cherokee Park.

The mix of restaurants, alleys and old houses makes the Highlands one of the busier parts of town for rat calls.

Restaurant Row and the alleys behind it

Every restaurant and bar on Bardstown Road has a dumpster or a row of carts somewhere out back. Rats live around those and use the alleys to move into the yards and garages on the side streets. If your house backs onto an alley within a block or two of the strip, keep an eye on the garage, the fence line and the space under the back porch. Yard and alley rats covers what to look for.

Businesses on the strip usually need a commercial program with locked stations and a service log.

Old houses near the parks

Houses near Cherokee Park, Tyler Park and Cave Hill Cemetery back onto a lot of green. The creek runs through Cherokee Park. Rats, mice and squirrels all live in that cover. Many of these houses are a hundred years old with open wall cavities, so a rodent that gets into the basement can climb to the attic inside the wall. Attic rat removal talks about that.

• Watch the garage and fence line if you back onto an alley
• Trim limbs that touch the roof
• Keep compost in a closed bin with a solid bottom

Around The Highlands: Bardstown Road · Baxter Avenue · Cherokee Park · Cherokee Triangle · Tyler Park · Cave Hill Cemetery · Bonnycastle · Deer Park

Also serving Old Louisville, Germantown, Crescent Hill and Clifton, St. Matthews, Jeffersontown, Middletown, Prospect, Shively, Okolona, Pleasure Ridge Park and Valley Station.