Here’s Exactly How Rats Are Climbing From The Sewers Into Your Toilet

[protected-iframe id=”9a7c7bf973dd185d281675e7a1e00c87-60970621-16071739″ info=”//assets.nationalgeographic.com/modules-video/assets/ngsEmbeddedVideo.html?guid=0000014f-0e8d-dd5e-a75f-2fcd3e340000″ width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen=””]

Ever wonder if those urban legends about some kind of creature getting into a toilet and biting an unsuspecting pooper in the butt are true? 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.

Gothamist reports that this is not a drill. Yes, rats really do climb up into toilets to terrorize humans. In fact, they’ve spoken to exterminator Eddie Marco about it. According to him, an easy job is when you just flush the toilet. A hard job? Well…

“…about a month ago, one of my employees got a call from a guy with a rat in his bathroom. This guy had the lid down, but he had one of those fabric covers over the toilet lid that wraps underneath the lid a little bit. So the rat was able to cling onto that and pry the lid open! My guy went in and beat it to death with a snow shovel.”

If you live in New York, by the way, Marco refers to the rats-in-the-toilet phenomenon as an epidemic. The bad news? You’re going to have to watch your butt. The good news? For about $150, Marco (or one of his guys) will come down and drown it for you.

(Via Gothamist, National Geographic)