Rodents
Can rats swim?
Yes. Norway rat are strong swimmers and they use sewers and flooded crawlspaces. Roof rats swim if they must. A rat in a toilet is possible through a dry trap or a failed sewer line, but most “water rats” are using a broken lateral, a floor drain, or a flooded burrow — not performing a stunt through a healthy trap.
Sewers and laterals
Norway rats are the sewer rat of US cities. They burrow along laterals, enter through broken clay, and come up a floor drain whose trap dried out. If you have rats and a wet basement that smells like sewage, call a plumber and a pest operator who will look at the line, not only the dumpster.
A toilet entry needs a path around or through the trap. Keep traps wet. A house that sat vacant with dry fixtures is a different risk than a used family bath.
What swimming is not
Swimming skill is not a reason to pour bleach in a burrow or gasoline in a drain. Those are not legal pesticide uses. Map the water, repair the pipe, put a screen on the drain, and trap on the runway.
Species pages
The question is only the field note. Control sequence, legal notes, and identification live on the species article.
Norway rat
Rattus norvegicus
The Norway rat is the heavy, ground-dwelling commensal rat of US cities. It does not “decide” to live in…
Roof rat
Rattus rattus
Roof rats are the athletes of commensal rats: long tail, large ears, a nose that looks sharp compared with a…
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