NEW ORLEANS — Imagine waking up next to a wild animal, well that's what a New Orleans woman says happened to her. The New Orleans East resident says this week she woke up to find a rodent in bed with her.
Inside apartment 1501, says one tenant, are critters no one ever invites in.
"I have camera footage where they're playing around like they're at the zoo," said apartment resident Aireon Davis. She said the rats inside her apartment are big enough to trigger her motion camera.
Imagine being so scared to step foot inside your own home, well that's how she feels every time she comes home to her apartment at Carmel Brook Apartments.
WWL Louisiana reporter, Eleanor Tabone asked Davis why she doesn't go inside, Davis said, "Because they have rodents, they have possums."
Rats are nocturnal, but Davis said the rats inside her apartment are up at all hours. She tells us her dad caught one around 8:30 Wednesday morning. What appear to be rat droppings cover surfaces in her apartment. She believes the rodents are coming in through a hole in the closet.
"I may catch five of them, today is Wednesday, I may catch more tomorrow, Thursday," she said.
Davis asked WWL Louisiana not to show her face, she said she's terrified of rodents, but a new fear was unleashed this week. "I woke up to a possum in my bed, and I haven't been back home since."
She says a possum decided to crawl into bed with her and after realizing what was in bed with her, she said, "I just hollered, I just screamed, I was stuck, I just stood against the wall and I was screaming."
Davis has been living at Carmel Brook apartments in New Orleans East for two years and pays $950 a month. She says as far back as 2022 she's been dealing with mold. She emailed property management about it then.
"I've complained over and over and over, they come out and spray for the mold they don't ever do anything for the rodents."
Legal expert Davida Finger says landlords are responsible for maintaining their properties, she said, "They must take action to remedy the material violations of the lease which in this case are the rats, the weather and the mold that are preventing the tenant to live peacefully.
"The warranty of habitability which guarantees the tenant the right to live in habitable circumstances for a property they have contracted for."
Davis says she's called and gone to property management six times. She says last week property management told her they'd address the hole with maintenance and would call her back. She says she's yet to hear from them.
We reached out to property management at 11:30 a.m. and again at 1:40 p.m., we had not received a reply as of late Wednesday afternoon.
Davis is currently staying with family, she said she has rented a U-Haul and plans to move out.