Ridding properties of rodents, and breaking stereotypes, is all in a day’s work for Jennifer Ortiz – Every day Information

Jennifer Ortiz has a knack for thinking like a rat to catch a rat. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Do you remember the old What’s My Line? where a celebrity panel tries to guess what a person does for a living? If you ever bring it back I’ll have your first guest.

Meet the rat lady. Her name is Jennifer Ortiz and she is over five feet tall with the face and smile of an angel and the heart of Zena the warrior. She dares to go where neither of us dares, because let’s face it, we’re chicken. We are scared of rats. Not her.

As a little girl she grew up in Pacoima and played with lizards and mice. No dolls. Lizards and mice. So rats? Do not disturb them. She accompanies them every day individually in attics and crawl spaces, closets and air ducts throughout the valley.

She’s good at her job, really good. This reference to Zena the Warrior comes from a retired school teacher who lives in a motor home. She had a big rat problem – about 48 rats tall.

Jennifer caught so many in one day, a personal best. “There were so many that my hands were full of traps. I opened a closet and six rats came running out. I trampled them with my boots.

“They had moved in. To them, she was the one who broke into their rooms,” said Jennifer.

She came into this industry through a test of courage. About four years ago she and her brother Martir Ortiz were sitting around talking about their jobs. Jennifer was working as a medical assistant and biller at a private Beverly Hills hospital, and Martir was in the process of getting his business, Ortiz Pest Control in Pacoima, going.

It was a tough job, he told her. How hard could it be? Asked Jennifer? You only kill rats. Big thing. Martir said I would like to see you do what I do for a living. Jennifer said let’s find out.

So they spent a week together catching rats. When it was over, Martir counted the money he had made. How much of it would be mine if I worked for you, asked Jennifer? He told her. I’m with you, she said.

“You have to think like a rat,” said Jennifer. “Where would I hide if I were a rat, and how would I get in when all the doors are closed? They find their patterns, movements, where to eat, and leave their urine and feces to communicate with other rats. “

When she tells people what she does for a living, they always react like they heard her wrong. “You’re doing something again? Rats? “

She got used to knocking on a customer’s door and having her look over her shoulder to wonder where the guy is? You always ask, is anyone else coming?

“They are surprised when I tell them it’s just me, especially the men. I’ve seen huge men totally freak out when they see a rat. It’s kind of funny. “

What isn’t funny is the rodenticide poisons that many companies are still using. They kill a lot more than just rats.

“I go to people with pets and ask, ‘Do you know the risk you are taking?'” She says. “If that dog or cat catches a poisoned rat, you have seconds to take it to a vet. It also kills our wildlife. That is why we are non-toxic. “

She has a job at Van Nuys that she needs to get to. Somewhere in the attic or in the walls or crawl space of a house a rodent has died and it really stinks. So far, nobody can find it, so Zena the Warrior was called.

“I have a great nose,” she says. “I’ll find it and get it out of there for you. I’ve never failed. “

Yeah, if they ever do What’s My Line? back, I bet the rats in my attic that no celebrity panel will ever guess what Jennifer Ortiz does for a living.

Dennis McCarthy’s column runs on Sunday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com.