Rats are ubiquitous enough in D.C. that nearly everyone has a story (or many) of a close encounter, not to mention an opinion or two about what the city should do about the rodent problem.
As The 51st reporter Sam Delgado worked on a story about the D.C. government's efforts (coup d’rat?), we asked our readers to share their stories… in all their sickening detail. Read these tales (lightly edited for length and clarity) at your own risk. At least finish your lunch first.
“One night, I woke up at 5 a.m. feeling something crawling on my back. I caught a glimpse of a rat falling into my laundry hamper and then running into my closet. I tried to find where it went, but couldn’t, so I got back in bed and eventually fell back asleep. In the morning, I found a tiny hole in the corner of my closet, and I packed it with steel wool and covered it with several layers of duct tape (which is all still there). I asked my landlord to send an exterminator, who looked around, found no evidence of any points of entry, and basically just said, ‘Call us back if you see any more.’” — Ben
“My partner and I were returning home and noticed that the 10-gallon bucket we usually keep overturned was upright. When I went to flip it back, I saw it was full to the brim with water from recent rainstorms and that there was a bloated dead rat floating in it… the smell! We got a shovel to scoop out Lil Bloatie, but when the shovel touched the carcass, it broke apart into a million little pieces: tufts of fur, bits of skin, unidentifiable organs, an eyeball. Every time we tried to scoop out rat bits, they broke into smaller and smaller pieces, and now we had a 10-gallon bucket full of water and rat bits… in the middle of a D.C. heatwave.” — Stephanie Chan
“I ordered DoorDash, but didn’t realize it had arrived for 15 minutes. I eventually brought it up to my bedroom for a late-night meal and opened the bag. I pulled one container out and a rat immediately jumped out and into my face before scurrying around the room. I couldn’t find where it went so I set traps and closed the door. I left my house, went for a walk to plan my next course of action. When I came back, I realized it had chewed a hole through my window screen and thanked god it was gone. Jarring experience. Maybe the wildest part is that the food bag was still stapled shut when I picked it up.” — Anonymous
“We had a couple of rats get into the basement of our old house in Columbia Heights but couldn’t find any obvious entry points to close up. It turned out that they had chewed a tunnel through the concrete to get in.” — Michelle
“A week earlier, my friend had made a comment that she couldn't believe I wear tennis shoes after our beach volleyball games. I explained that the D.C. streets can get pretty gross, but, despite my better judgment, the next week I wore sandals. On the way to the Metro station, a rat not only ran across my bare foot, but changed directions, fully doing a 360 on top of my foot. It left a decent scratch and I ended up in urgent care with a tetanus shot and antibiotics. Which I threw up that night." — Emily
(One thing we learned: Rats are regularly running across our neighbor’s feet! This one was the most detailed.)
“I worked at a restaurant many years ago and a rat ran under the tables and up a guy’s pant leg. He got up, shook the rat out, and stomped it to death in the middle of dinner service. My manager said nothing. Just put a bucket over it and slid it away.” – Chrissy
“When my partner and I were first dating, we were walking along a city street in the evening. As we got closer, we saw an enormous rat sitting on the rim of the trash can. We paused, waiting to see if it would be startled and leave before we had to get closer to pass by. It did not leave. In fact, it looked us dead in the eyes. We eventually started slowly trying to walk by the trashcan without getting too close, and all of a sudden, the rat JUMPED STRAIGHT AT US! No physical contact was made, but it was a classic D.C. bonding experience that strengthened our budding love.” — Georgia
“Years ago, on an evening out on U Street, I heard rattling in an alley as I was passing by. I peered down the alley and tons of rats started cascading like water out of a trashcan.” — Caity
“Walking home from the 18th Street bars in Adams Morgan with friends, the hour was late and the lights were dim. We heard a horrible popping sound from just ahead. That particular section of the sidewalk was extra dark. My friend had stepped on a dead rat, exploding its bloated corpse. Heinous. An insidious memory.” — Monica
“Rats ate through my trash can, removed the remains of a blue crab dinner, and left the picked-clean shells neatly arranged, as if taunting us, outside the hole to their burrow in our little yard.” — Steve
“Rats invaded the tree box in front of my house in Adams Morgan last winter. I played whack-a-mole with dirt and rocks, and enlisted DC Health for abatement and poison assistance. A few corpses appeared, but burrow holes kept opening. So I went full on Caddyshack and flooded out the space with full hose strength. Nothing for close to a minute. I was despondent. But then about 8-10 baby rats broke through the surface in new places. I was disgusted. Until the 4-5 fat adults fled. But I ultimately didn’t accomplish anything other than spraying rats toward my neighbors. The only thing that solved the problem was destroying the tree box.” — John
“I went to check my engine’s oil this March because I had been hearing a clicking noise. Found a large, dead rat in my engine compartment partly under the radiator and part under the engine block. I also found several chicken and rib bones on my splash guard where it had been having a snack.” — Kate
“In our recently renovated rental row home in Petworth, we ended up with a full rat infestation. American Pest kept coming out and setting traps but they didn't seem to be improving the situation. They finally sent their district manager, and when he came to check the work, three rats ran across his hand. (He screamed.) … They finally sealed the house with chain-mail netting and metal sheets. But not before the day I was doing my makeup and, out of the corner of my eye, saw the hangers in my closet start to swing. I turned around and there were three rats sitting on my clothes rail. After we sealed the closet and the rest of the house, you could hear the rats every night throwing themselves against the metal for months and months.” — Amber Gibson
“First night in a house in Columbia Heights, ground floor. Left my window with a screen open. Awakened at 2 a.m. to teeth chewing a two-inch hole through it.” — Audrey
After 10 years of renting and street parking, we bought a rowhouse with private parking in the back. Less than a year later, rats chewed up a bunch of wiring in our car’s engine bay. It required a $6,000 replacement of the entire engine wiring harness and took about six weeks. (Luckily insurance covered it.) Three months later, it happened again. And now I street park!” — Ian
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