Gotham Rat Wars

What next: Hail? Locusts? Darkness? Rat complaints to the city’s 311 hotline are set to shatter records this year, topping the 24,000 of the prior two years.

Indeed, New York rats have even starred in their own indie films: “Pizza Rat,” where one macho rodent drags a slice down subway stairs, then “Pizza Rat 2,” with its epic battle over a single slice.

And in last year’s gritty classic, “Rat vs. Pigeon in Williamsburg” — well . . . you don’t want to know.

“It’s like the Burning Man of rats,” says Nora Prentice of an Upper West Side gathering of the Rattus norvegicus community in a local park. “They’re just sitting there in a lawn chair waiting for you.”

City Comptroller Scott Stringer — who’s blasted officials’ cheesy response to the crisis — says he’s seen rats “walking upright, saying, ‘Good morning, Mr. Comptroller.’ ”

What’s behind the outbreak? A city Health Department rat expert, Caroline Bragdon, blames the spike in complaints, in part, on a new 311 app — which makes it easier to, uh, rat out the furry vermin. Plus, last winter’s snowfalls left garbage collecting on sidewalks — new feasts for city rats.

The good news? New York is escalating its War on Rats — boosting its rat patrol from less than a dozen rodentridders to 50.

Plans include traps, ratresistant trash cans and a bill to force restaurants to hose away sludge from their garbage.

“You’d much rather prevent rats from being here than treat them with poison after they’re here,” Bragdon says.

Fingers crossed: These are New York City rats. They won’t be giving up their real estate without a fight.