Rat in toilet!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:where in arlington?

Come on. You know it's south arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors just found a large coiled snake in their finished basement.

Someone I knew had just moved to NYC from Georgia. An artist. One day he saw a large snake in the apartment. Apparently he didn't think much about it--he just beat the shit out of it till it was dead. He was used to country livin' and I guess that's just what you do. Poor neighbor who lost his pet!

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Oh man, I am so sorry! I know it's difficult, but try to remain positive. The traps will work and you'll just need to work on getting that $4,000 cover to prevent this from happening again.

[Anonymous]

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.

Get a stinking cat, but make sure it is a mouser. That's the only way we were able to successfully eradicate our mouse. We would get rid of one and then a few months later another one would show up. Yuck. I really don't like cats but my husband was tired of me freaking the frack out. Three years later and no sign of a mouse, so I tolerate the cat.

[Anonymous]

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.

Get a stinking cat, but make sure it is a mouser. That's the only way we were able to successfully eradicate our mouse. We would get rid of one and then a few months later another one would show up. Yuck. I really don't like cats but my husband was tired of me freaking the frack out. Three years later and no sign of a mouse, so I tolerate the cat.

There's a huge difference between a mouse and a rat. A cat might get hurt fighting a sewer rat.

[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.

Get a stinking cat, but make sure it is a mouser. That's the only way we were able to successfully eradicate our mouse. We would get rid of one and then a few months later another one would show up. Yuck. I really don't like cats but my husband was tired of me freaking the frack out. Three years later and no sign of a mouse, so I tolerate the cat.

There's a huge difference between a mouse and a rat. A cat might get hurt fighting a sewer rat.

Several of my friends have cats who are good mousers who have also caught rats. My own cat has only caught mice. My friends cats have caught multiple rats, and killed them. the bad part is that these are not rats INSIDE the house, but rats outside that the cats bring back into the house to kill, or bring them in dead and eat them in the house. I couldn't handle that at all. I'm glad my cat is an indoor cat.

[Anonymous]

Can rats hold their breath? OMG.

I'm not afraid of mice - we get them occasionally (N. VA) -and we humanely trap them and release. A rat? I'd hire a killer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have friends of friends in Chicago who had to move out of their nice house because of a sewer rat infestation. There were rats, multiple, coming up out of their toilets and through the pipes.

Plumber has a screen to put over the pipe so hopefully this will help!!

How does poop get flushed if there's a screen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least you know you don't have snakes, OP.

I'd rather have a snake. They don't come up the pipes, right?

Only at Hogwarts.

Actually, I saw this on an episode of rescue 911, I'm still sometimes afraid to use the toilet. A person in an apartment building had a python and it got loose, it turned up in a neighbors toilet.

Also, to the op, we recently received some info from the county about rat control and it mentioned that rTs can fit I a 1/2 inch opening, so if there is anything in the bathroom of that size it may have gone that way instead of back in toilet.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't get a cat as a remedy. Unless you want rat guts spread all over the floor.... I'm so sorry you are dealing with this OP!!

[Anonymous]

Rats are SMART. We had one in our NW DC house's ceiling and it took months, multiples exterminators and many different types of traps to catch it. We probably spent $1000 when it was all said and done.
It would take the bait right off traps and never set them off. At one point we had something like 30 traps set (in the ceiling--not in our open living space) and it just tiptoed around them all day after day. The exterminators said that this is common rat behavior.
I hate rats with a passion.

[Anonymous]

I hate stinking rats. I saw a live one outside once while i was living in another state. It was as big as a cat, aggressive, and seemed arrogant by the way it was prancing around unafraid of people.

I live in a brand new an apart. now in the 9th floor, can the climb that high? Is there a way to make sure out vents have screens? Either way, I think I will not sit on the toilet at night with the lights off ever again.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thank you again for all the support!