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Eek! There's a Rat in My Toilet!

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A rat coming up the toilet - An urban legend?

I had heard stories of rats coming up toilets but always dismissed them as just an urban legend. That was until the morning I lifted the lid on one of our toilets to well.....here is the photo. I decided to call him Willard.

I'm not normally afraid of encountering wild creatures and don't have any phobias about snakes or spiders, but when I lifted the lid and found Willard dead in the toilet it caught me by surprise and I screamed like a little girl!

Fortunately for me (but unfortunately for Willard) he was deceased when I found him.

I did a little research and discovered that other people have found surprises when they looked in their toilets, too. On this page I'm sharing what I learned and what you can do to prevent rats and other creatures from getting into your toilet.

(Photo by VickiSims - Hey at least you can see by the photo that we keep our toilet clean!)

Am I the only one to find a rat in my toilet?

Or Have You Found a Rat in Your Toilet, too?

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Apparently there are a few others........

Here's another rat in the toilet

This one was alive!
rat in toilet
by stelladachicken | video info

69 ratings | 63,190 views
curated content from YouTube

Why do we think rats are creepy?

What is it about rats?

Rats are members of the rodent family and have many relatives that we think of as cute and cuddly like squirrels, beavers, guinea pigs, porcupines and chipmunks. Even their nearest cousin, the mouse doesn't arouse the same level of disgust and fear. Could it possibly be because of the scary movies we've all seen that involve rats?

The Rat

The Rat
Buy This at Allposters.com

Scary movies about rats!

Rat movies that give us nightmares

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There are very few films where a rat is the hero!

I could only find a few rats that portray a positive image

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So how do rats get in to the toilet?

Rats usually come up from the sewer

Rat-coming-up-sewerRats get up into toilets by following the scent of food washed down drains from your home to the sewer system. While searching for food they can climb up through your home's sewer pipe that connects to the sewer. Unable to reach the kitchen sink they can come up into the toilet bowl. They can also descend from your roof through your sewer pipe vent and fall down into your plumbing.

Can Rats Swim from Sewers into Toilets?

By Alison Behnke

Stories and questions about your home - truth or fiction? In this children's book Alison Behnke explores urban legends and true stories about your home. Ages 9 and up.
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What to do if you find a rat in your toilet?

Here are some suggestions for getting rid of a rat in your toilet

Rat in toilet -rileyroxx on flickrIf the rat is deceased you can simply scoop it out with a net, small bucket or other container and bury it or dispose of it in the garbage. If it is still alive it poses a challenge. You have a several choices:

1, Keep the lid down on the toilet until it either finds it's way back down the drain or drowns
2. Flush it back down the drain! Reportedly the best way to do this is to squirt a little dishwashing liquid under the lid into the bowl wait a couple of minutes then flush. Supposedly the detergent helps to break the surface tension on the water and make the rat more slippery to help make it more likely to go down the drain
3. Call a pest control expert to remove the rat from the toilet

Whatever you do, try to prevent it from jumping out of the toilet into your home!

(Photo credit: rileyroxx on flckr creative commons license)

I don't like spiders and snakes, but....

I'm not normally repulsed by any wild creatures. In fact, I'm likely to stop and take a closer look, but this old song popped into my head when I think about the rat in my toilet!

Track Artist Album  
Spiders and Snakes Jim Stafford The Best of Jim Stafford

Other creepy things people have found in the toilet

Which do you think would be the worst thing to find in your toilet?

In addition to rats, people have found and filmed Snakes, bats, frogs and spiders in their toilets. Which one would be the creepiest to you?

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How to Help Keep Rats and Other Critters Out of Your Toilet

Some Preventative Measures

type=text*Keep your kitchen sink rinsed clean and use garbage disposals as little as possible.

*Rinse out your kitchen sink drain at least once or twice a month using either 1 cup of bleach or, as an alternative to using bleach, 1 cup of baking soda followed by 1 cup of vinegar and rinse with boiling water.

*Never pour grease down the drain.

*Keep the toilet lid shut to prevent any unwanted visitors who come up the toilet from getting loose in your home

*Consider installing an SRVB (Snake-Rat-Vermin-Barrier) in your toilet waste pipe

(Photo by VickiSims)

Snake-Rats-Vermin-Barriers for Your Toilet

SRVBs Prevent Critters from Getting Into Your Toilet

SRVBs (Snake Rat Vermin Barriers) for your toilets may be difficult to find locally, but may be found on eBay. Snake-Rat-Vermin-Barriers can be installed on your toilet drain pipes to prevent snakes, rats or other critters from coming up into your toilets from the sewer.
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Rats in the Sewer in the News

Finding a Rat in the Toilet is Not an Urban Legend

Here are some additional stories about rats and other creatures being found in the toilet from several places around the world proving that my story is not that uncommon and that these problems are not urban legends.
KOMO TV Newscast about rats in the Seattle sewer system
It's a bathroom scare like no other. Your private moments in the bathroom shattered by a water-logged rodent: a rat in the toilet! It's such a concern in Seattle that the Health Department not only keeps a map of all the rat sightings, it hunts rats full time.
Seattle Times Newspaper article about rats in toilets and sewers
A rat in the toilet? Time to call the county's "sewer baiter"
From The Morningstarr in the UK
There's a rat in me toilet what am I gonna do?
The Crescent News - Defiance, Ohio
Squirrels, frogs can end up in the toilet.

What to do if a live rat is loose in your house?

Products to help you remove a rat from your home

If a rat takes up residence in your home you can either seek professional help from a pest control company or you can try trapping the rat yourself. Here are some products that you can use.
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Domesticated Rats make great pets!

They just have bad PR!

Pet rats - photo by skrewtapeDespite their bad public relations image, domesticated rats make excellent pets. They are not aggressive, diseased or dirty animals.

Rats as pets are very clean, social and fun. They are very intelligent and can be taught to use a litter box and to do simple tricks, such as stay and sit and will often learn their name. Rats will often develop a connection with their owner, becoming very affectionate and wanting daily attention. They also enjoy playing and snuggling with their owners.

(Photo credit by skrewtape on flckr creative commons license)

About Pet Rats

Information from the experts!

These pages are all about pet rats!
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More Information about keeping rats as pets

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  • JaguarJulie May 10, 2012 @ 2:12 pm | delete
    Well, EEK! is the right word for finding a rat in one's toilet and probably "Oh, sh*t!" too. I've not had the pleasure and think it would be pretty freaky ... more so if it is alive.
  • ResearchAddict Apr 30, 2012 @ 11:07 am | delete
    Oh my. This is creepy!
  • OhMe Apr 13, 2012 @ 6:15 am | delete
    Oh Me! I have heard of a Rat in the Toilet but never have had this experience. Thank goodness. Blessed.
  • SilmarwenLinwelin Apr 7, 2012 @ 3:59 pm | delete
    If I found one I'd probably try to save him!
  • KathyT Mar 3, 2012 @ 8:56 am | delete
    Hi again Vicki! Ok... when I saw this lens, I thought... "No way!" Out of sheer morbid curiousity I HAD to read this to see if it was for real.

    I nearly screamed myself when I saw the photos! Oh my gosh... and the snakes/spiders/ etc?

    I wish I wasn't so spooked by things like that, but I guess I just proved that I am! LOL!

    Up north (NH), we have field mice, but for some reason I'm not too freaked out when I find them. Can't do snakes or rats or icky spikers though. Or bats. :) So, bottom line: This is one of the most unique lenses I have had the honor of reading - you did an absolutely fabulous job! I wish I could bestow more than one blessing... :) Totally Squid Angel Blessed! :) Hugs, Kath
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VickiSims

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I'm Vicki and I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest near Seattle, WA. I enjoy the outdoors,hiking, camping, birdwatching, gardening, traveling,... more »

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