Watch how easy it is for a rat to climb through drain pipes and up into any toilet bowl
Even flushing won't help you get rid of them.
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
This may not be the most useful or pleasant information to discover today.
Rats are incredibly flexible animals that are also excellent swimmers, thus making them the perfect creatures to sneak into residential sewers and climb their way up into your toilet bowl. Even if you flush, they will survive.
This video from National Geographic shows the disturbing dexterity of this most loathed of rodents.
Rats find it easy to make their way into sewers, crawling through grates and manholes from the street to begin their path to your bathroom. Their sharp claws mean they can scale any vertical surface. But what about the maze of bending pipes that make their way to the toilet bowl?
Well, rats' ribs are hinged at the spine, so they can squeeze through the tightest spaces once they've stuck their head through any shape or size of hole or opening.
Watch this video to find out more about next time you open your toilet seat, you could see a rat. This is not a horror film: it happens a number of times each year in Washington, D.C.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments