“I can still hear it swimming. Other toilets in the house are rodent free.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Beau Finley

Well this is terrifying and will likely haunt my dreams for months…from the Cleveland Park listserv:

“11:15 pm, on my way upstairs to bed, stopped in at the bathroom beside the kitchen instead of waiting until I got upstairs to pee. As I lifted the lid of the toilet – I saw a rat inside the toilet bowl. A full grown, not dead, Norway rat.

Seriously.

I can still hear it swimming. Other toilets in the house are rodent free. Doesn’t this happen only in the horror movies?

311 transferred me to animal control which was no help. They don’t do rodents and they don’t do private homes. DC water and sewer was no help and had no ideas. I can’t get in touch with my plumber for help or suggestions, he seems to be out of town, and so far, Adcock’s emergency number hasn’t returned my call.”

And to cement the nightmares, one resident responded:

“Around 15 years ago I found a live huge Norway rat in my toilet. My brave husband dispatched him and I called our plumber. He said they can climb and swim and defeat the built-in “protection” (the sharply curved trap section of the plumbing) and that nothing is wrong with the system. He also assured me that “it is a once in a lifetime event.” Well, we must be very special because over the years it has happened two more times. In all 3 events the rat was unable to get out of the toilet, if that is some consolation.“