Rat in toilet!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This only happens in DC because of the antiquated sewer system and it crosses storm drains

We live in Bethesda. It happened to us. And on the second floor of our home!! The rat was huge, and fortunately, dead. I flushed it immediately. In retrospect, I should have taken a picture of it. DH and the kids still think I was having a nightmare. But this was before I had an Iphone handy. Still brings chills down my spine whenever I think of it.

STOP IT NOW. No more stories, keep that shit to yourselves.

It is actually comforting to me knowing that others have experienced this. I was accused of being in a drunken stupor when I told my DH what I had seen at his mother's home. Of course, he told her. She said I must have been drunk because in 38 years of living in that same Bethesda house, no such thing had ever happened. I now literally leave food scraps in the toilet whenever I am there, hoping a rat will take the bait and bite my MIL's ass.

I love this last post. Sorry that no one believed you! I'd be righteously pissed too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. The saga continues. It did not go down the toilet as I had thought but into the house as I found a hole in the bathroom this morning where it had chewed. Pest control came yesterday and left traps in the basement but obviously didn't get it. It chewed up our new bathroom but more concerned with it being in the home. Pest control is coming back today to set more traps. Ugh. Any words of encouragement appreciated.

Well. I read this entire thread last night. Most out loud to my husband as we are renovating a rowhouse now. I'm also sending this link to our contractor.

OP, I seriously have no idea what to tell you, I feel awful for you. I do have to say, 7 pages of this thread and it is ALL supportive, which was actually heart-warming because DCUM is a cold evil place most days. Something about this terror has united all of us, and that's actually nice to see instead of snark and nastiness.

My friend lives a block from us. Thought he had mice for years, as his dog would go mousin in the middle of the night. Turns out it was rats. He woke up to one eating the dog food the other day. It's horrible. He is beside himself over it. That said, if you have any sort of food you leave out, put it away. Water too.

To an earlier poster - yes, oddly rats can swim. Who knew, right? I was as shocked to hear that as I was that some squirrels can fly. W.T.F.

OP, the pest control people will guide you on this but you have to eradicate the rats. They tend to not leave a very small area that they call home, so there's not really a great chance that the rat moves on to a new abode. He's probably been in your general vicinity for his entire life. Catch him now before he dies in the walls. And this time, you have to catch him. No slamming the toilet shut and running off, though, as one poster wisely said early on - no amount of freaking out is overkill here.

OP, I am wishing you well. We had rats invade our house in upper NW last spring. We had a neighbor doing renovation on her basement and we suspect that it disrupted a colony. Lucky us. It happened suddenly and with a virulence that I cannot overstate. We had at least one rat come up through the basement toilet. We discovered the rats one night after our dog went crazy in a back bedroom on the second floor of our semi-detached house. The rat was successfully creating a cavern behind the radiator and into the wall. At first we thought that we only had the one rat. Boy, were we wrong. We had a pest guy come that morning and he confirmed that the infestation was severe. After the first night in which our dog "discovered" the rat, the infestation became increasingly and distressingly obvious. You could hear the animals in the very early morning hours coursing through the entire house (all floors) in the walls and on pipes. I won't go into all the details, but I will say, that if you have a rat chewing a hole in your bathroom, you have big problems. Please, please, please stay on top of this problem. Monitor your pantry and kitchen closely because they are smart and can get into almost anything. Stay on top of your pest control company. Keep us updated. I am so sorry that this is happening to you and wish you all the best as you work to eradicate these pests from your home.

Op here. Thank you for this reply. Ugh pest control came again and nothing found yet in the traps. How will we know if we get them all if there are more? Has anyone else had a backflow put on their sewer pipe? If so did it help? Can you recommend a company? Feeling discouraged as I have chikdren and don't want them around this. Even if we put a backflow in the main sewer pipe, it still won't cover the basement toilet, which that hole is covered now because of putting in a new floor. Our house is a wreck because of work being done. Throwing money into our house and not making any progress in any way. The nicest room in our house (literally) is that bathroom that we now are too afraid to use. I know - enough complaining!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. The saga continues. It did not go down the toilet as I had thought but into the house as I found a hole in the bathroom this morning where it had chewed. Pest control came yesterday and left traps in the basement but obviously didn't get it. It chewed up our new bathroom but more concerned with it being in the home. Pest control is coming back today to set more traps. Ugh. Any words of encouragement appreciated.

Well. I read this entire thread last night. Most out loud to my husband as we are renovating a rowhouse now. I'm also sending this link to our contractor.

OP, I seriously have no idea what to tell you, I feel awful for you. I do have to say, 7 pages of this thread and it is ALL supportive, which was actually heart-warming because DCUM is a cold evil place most days. Something about this terror has united all of us, and that's actually nice to see instead of snark and nastiness.

My friend lives a block from us. Thought he had mice for years, as his dog would go mousin in the middle of the night. Turns out it was rats. He woke up to one eating the dog food the other day. It's horrible. He is beside himself over it. That said, if you have any sort of food you leave out, put it away. Water too.

To an earlier poster - yes, oddly rats can swim. Who knew, right? I was as shocked to hear that as I was that some squirrels can fly. W.T.F.

OP, the pest control people will guide you on this but you have to eradicate the rats. They tend to not leave a very small area that they call home, so there's not really a great chance that the rat moves on to a new abode. He's probably been in your general vicinity for his entire life. Catch him now before he dies in the walls. And this time, you have to catch him. No slamming the toilet shut and running off, though, as one poster wisely said early on - no amount of freaking out is overkill here.

OP, I am wishing you well. We had rats invade our house in upper NW last spring. We had a neighbor doing renovation on her basement and we suspect that it disrupted a colony. Lucky us. It happened suddenly and with a virulence that I cannot overstate. We had at least one rat come up through the basement toilet. We discovered the rats one night after our dog went crazy in a back bedroom on the second floor of our semi-detached house. The rat was successfully creating a cavern behind the radiator and into the wall. At first we thought that we only had the one rat. Boy, were we wrong. We had a pest guy come that morning and he confirmed that the infestation was severe. After the first night in which our dog "discovered" the rat, the infestation became increasingly and distressingly obvious. You could hear the animals in the very early morning hours coursing through the entire house (all floors) in the walls and on pipes. I won't go into all the details, but I will say, that if you have a rat chewing a hole in your bathroom, you have big problems. Please, please, please stay on top of this problem. Monitor your pantry and kitchen closely because they are smart and can get into almost anything. Stay on top of your pest control company. Keep us updated. I am so sorry that this is happening to you and wish you all the best as you work to eradicate these pests from your home.

Op here. Thank you for this reply. Ugh pest control came again and nothing found yet in the traps. How will we know if we get them all if there are more? Has anyone else had a backflow put on their sewer pipe? If so did it help? Can you recommend a company? Feeling discouraged as I have chikdren and don't want them around this. Even if we put a backflow in the main sewer pipe, it still won't cover the basement toilet, which that hole is covered now because of putting in a new floor. Our house is a wreck because of work being done. Throwing money into our house and not making any progress in any way. The nicest room in our house (literally) is that bathroom that we now are too afraid to use. I know - enough complaining!

OP, are they using only the glue traps? In our experience, they did not work. The rats were too big/strong and you could tell that a rat was on the glue trap because there was hair, etc. on the trap, but it failed to adhere to the animal. In fact, on the second day of setting only glue traps, one of the glue traps that was laid in the basement near the water heater was gone! Completely gone! After that, the pest control company laid snap traps. I would be careful about this since you have children, but they were the only traps that actually caught rats. We actually went through two pest control companies before the issue got any better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. The saga continues. It did not go down the toilet as I had thought but into the house as I found a hole in the bathroom this morning where it had chewed. Pest control came yesterday and left traps in the basement but obviously didn't get it. It chewed up our new bathroom but more concerned with it being in the home. Pest control is coming back today to set more traps. Ugh. Any words of encouragement appreciated.

Well. I read this entire thread last night. Most out loud to my husband as we are renovating a rowhouse now. I'm also sending this link to our contractor.

OP, I seriously have no idea what to tell you, I feel awful for you. I do have to say, 7 pages of this thread and it is ALL supportive, which was actually heart-warming because DCUM is a cold evil place most days. Something about this terror has united all of us, and that's actually nice to see instead of snark and nastiness.

My friend lives a block from us. Thought he had mice for years, as his dog would go mousin in the middle of the night. Turns out it was rats. He woke up to one eating the dog food the other day. It's horrible. He is beside himself over it. That said, if you have any sort of food you leave out, put it away. Water too.

To an earlier poster - yes, oddly rats can swim. Who knew, right? I was as shocked to hear that as I was that some squirrels can fly. W.T.F.

OP, the pest control people will guide you on this but you have to eradicate the rats. They tend to not leave a very small area that they call home, so there's not really a great chance that the rat moves on to a new abode. He's probably been in your general vicinity for his entire life. Catch him now before he dies in the walls. And this time, you have to catch him. No slamming the toilet shut and running off, though, as one poster wisely said early on - no amount of freaking out is overkill here.

OP, I am wishing you well. We had rats invade our house in upper NW last spring. We had a neighbor doing renovation on her basement and we suspect that it disrupted a colony. Lucky us. It happened suddenly and with a virulence that I cannot overstate. We had at least one rat come up through the basement toilet. We discovered the rats one night after our dog went crazy in a back bedroom on the second floor of our semi-detached house. The rat was successfully creating a cavern behind the radiator and into the wall. At first we thought that we only had the one rat. Boy, were we wrong. We had a pest guy come that morning and he confirmed that the infestation was severe. After the first night in which our dog "discovered" the rat, the infestation became increasingly and distressingly obvious. You could hear the animals in the very early morning hours coursing through the entire house (all floors) in the walls and on pipes. I won't go into all the details, but I will say, that if you have a rat chewing a hole in your bathroom, you have big problems. Please, please, please stay on top of this problem. Monitor your pantry and kitchen closely because they are smart and can get into almost anything. Stay on top of your pest control company. Keep us updated. I am so sorry that this is happening to you and wish you all the best as you work to eradicate these pests from your home.

Good grief! The stuff of nightmares!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This only happens in DC because of the antiquated sewer system and it crosses storm drains

We live in Bethesda. It happened to us. And on the second floor of our home!! The rat was huge, and fortunately, dead. I flushed it immediately. In retrospect, I should have taken a picture of it. DH and the kids still think I was having a nightmare. But this was before I had an Iphone handy. Still brings chills down my spine whenever I think of it.

STOP IT NOW. No more stories, keep that shit to yourselves.

It is actually comforting to me knowing that others have experienced this. I was accused of being in a drunken stupor when I told my DH what I had seen at his mother's home. Of course, he told her. She said I must have been drunk because in 38 years of living in that same Bethesda house, no such thing had ever happened. I now literally leave food scraps in the toilet whenever I am there, hoping a rat will take the bait and bite my MIL's ass.

OMG. This is the most beautiful thing I have read all day. One can hope. I have the same MIL. My condolences.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me last week in Bethesda. Mouse, not rat, in a basement toilet that's only used occasionally, mostly by me (DH). Thank God it was the middle of the night and DW was asleep. The mouse was dead, I flushed and cleaned, and I've told no one. I don't have time to move right now.

I haven't been to the Real Estate section in months, but just came here to post a question whether this was common. Had no idea I'd find an up-to-the-minute 10-page thread.

Since it was dead, I assume it came up the toilet, couldn't get out of the bowl, and died trying. If it was already in the house from somewhere else, I'm not sure how it would get up the outside of the bowl and into the bowl. (Or why it would go there instead of upstairs to the kitchen.)

I've checked the whole house (surreptitiously) and found no other signs of mice--pantry's all OK, no holes anywhere, no signs of chewing, no unexplained noises in floors or walls. Here's hoping and praying this stays a rare occurrence.

[Anonymous]

If I saw a rat in our backyard, do we have a problem? Do I need to call pest control? I do NOT want to find a rat in our toilet!

[Anonymous]

Suddenly, the toilet seat locks for baby proofing look like a good idea! Eek!!

[Anonymous]

I had a nightmare about this last night. I cannot get this image out of my mind! Damn you DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Yes! Oh my gosh this happened to us as well just a couple of weeks ago. Basement toilet. My husband heard noises from the toilet and went to check just to find a huge soaking wet rat on the floor. I still cannot use that bathroom. Totally traumatized. The exterminator we called said it just need to climb 2 feet in the pipes to reach basement pipes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes! Oh my gosh this happened to us as well just a couple of weeks ago. Basement toilet. My husband heard noises from the toilet and went to check just to find a huge soaking wet rat on the floor. I still cannot use that bathroom. Totally traumatized. The exterminator we called said it just need to climb 2 feet in the pipes to reach basement pipes.

Oh my. So sorry. Op here. The $4000 fixture won't affect the basement toiket because it leads to sewer directly. Ugh. I am covering up the basement hole for now until we can figure this out. Someone said pour rat poison down toilets to get to them? I don't like the idea of killing all of these rats. Just want them to go away!

[Anonymous]

I am really regretting my decision to put in a basement bath. This is horrifying.

[Anonymous]

Someone said pour rat poison down toilets to get to them? I don't like the idea of killing all of these rats.

Remember natural selection theory. You'll just breed stronger super-rats with higher tolerance for poison.

Plus poison the fish in the bay, downstream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Someone said pour rat poison down toilets to get to them? I don't like the idea of killing all of these rats.

Remember natural selection theory. You'll just breed stronger super-rats with higher tolerance for poison.

Plus poison the fish in the bay, downstream.

Ok any other suggestions?? Love to hear them!

[Anonymous]

Dunno, I gotta check it out. The chlorine things in the tank, though they present the same issues, sound less harmful and maybe have a repellent effect rather than killing the poor bastards. And the toddler lid lock seems like a good idea (though I wonder if they can flatten themselves and crawl under the lid anyway).

I'm Bethesda dead mouse guy. I've gotta check this out more. Good luck.