Yes, rats do climb up your toilet – here’s how

In Portland, Oregon, one pest control company says it gets ten to 15 calls a year for rats in toilets, and it’s easy to speculate that the numbers are higher in cities like New York.

Recently in Belfast experts have warned that the number of rats in the city are on the rise.

Rats are very efficient swimmers. We’re talking about the species that’s been finding its way aboard ships for as long as we’ve been building them, after all.

If you don’t like rats, you might want to sit down for this – but maybe don’t sit on the toilet. They can swim in water for up to three days straight and also hold their breath whilst submerged for up to three minutes. “The ribs are hinged allowing them to effortlessly collapse”.

“If a rat can fit its head through an opening, the rest is easy because of its internal acrobatics”, the film said.

A rats’ rib cage collapses so it can get through tight gaps. Eventually they can end up in the toilet, desperately trying to get out of it. A sewer system can be a great source for rats.

Rats are able to find their way where sewer lines are either in disrepair or broken.

A sewer system can be food-heaven for rats.

Rats are capable of treading water for as long as three or four days. They don’t turn up their nose at anything that floats by.

Watch this video to find out more about next time you open your toilet seat, you could see a rat.

People who are unfortunate to find rats in their toilet have been known to overreact. Well, National Geographic is here to make all of your fears real by explaining exactly how all manner of rear-hungry creatures are getting into your toilet bowl to give you a jump.

They’ve gone so far as to bludgeon, choke, and stab the nasty critters, and in some cases resulting in injury to themselves rather than to the rats.