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Brooklyn, NY - Half of Brownsville’s buildings are infested with mice or rats, and more than half of South Crown Heights households have roaches, according to a new city Health Department Web site.

“They should call this place ‘Mouseville,’ ” said Brownsville resident Dashawn Hampton, 23. “Mice and rats are everywhere. You see them around the buildings, and you can hear them crawling in your walls at night.”

Fifty percent of Brownsville residents reported seeing a mouse or rat in their building in the past 90 days, according to a 2008 Health Department survey.

That’s more than twice the city average of about 20% and almost twice the borough average of 26%.

Nearby South Crown Heights has a lower rate of rodent sightings - 42% - but has the worst roach infestation in Brooklyn.

Almost 56% of residents there see roaches in their households on a daily basis, according to Health Department data from 2008.

That’s well above the borough average of 33% and the city average of 29%.

“It’s disgusting,” said Renee Russell, 34, a Capital One Bank manager who lives in Crown Heights. “I see them every day.”

Brooklyn’s pest problem is mildest in Sheepshead Bay, where 93% of buildings have rodents and 17% of households have cockroaches.

Other less infested nabes include Park Slope/Carroll Gardens, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge.

The difference is that pest-infested neighborhoods have more broken-down buildings, said Daniel Kass, the Health Department’s acting deputy commissioner for environmental health.

“Where there are cracks or holes in the home, where there are a number of maintenance deficiencies, where there are leaks in the home, those are areas where there are high cockroach counts,” Kass said.

The same goes for mice and rats.

The pests can aggravate health problems such as asthma, he added.

The best way to prevent all kinds of pests, Kass said, is to make basic home repairs such as caulking cracks and crevices and patching holes in walls, and cleaning up garbage.

“People can do a lot on their own,” Kass said. “It takes a little bit of work, but it’s well worth the effort.”

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