[JoeS21]

I found a very inexpensive room available to rent, but it is very infested with mice and/or rats. I know they might chew up belongings, but I don't care because I will put valuables in storage. I know they might cause a fire, but I don't care because I will get a smoke alarm. They might stink, but I don't care because I will keep my clothes in a suitcase. I could save money and drastically improve my life by renting this awful room. But I wonder, is there anything else I should know about living with lots of rats or mice in my room? Any advice? Any warnings? Will they bite me or cause serious health problems? ...as far as you know.

[TishaBuv]

Yes, they can bite and cause illness and their droppings are toxic. If you can afford to get into a place that is run better your all around safety will benefit. I’m sorry you find yourself in such a bad situation.

[Deejay14]

Do not do the mice and rats. They carry disease and other pests! There is also nothing good about hearing them about your room and crawling around in the walls. Bad idea in my book.

[Monkey1111]

Ugh, living in a rodent-infested apartment, brings back some rather unpleasant memories. You may think that you don't "mind it" while living away from them currently, but there is simply no way to overcome the revulsion of having to eat when there's mice and/or rats doing their business on your plates and on your kitchen counter. Plus, they can be quite noisy with the skittering and even squeaking in the night and all sorts of revolting situations. Also, sometimes, they will end up dying in the walls, which creates a horrible odor that cannot be remediated. They can carry disease.

While you might not necessarily catch one of these diseases, they can be very serious and result in serious or even life-threatening medical problems if you were to be unlucky enough to catch something from the rodents. So, if possible, I would avoid a place that you know is infested with rodents. I never caught anything from them while I was living amongst the rodents, but the instinctual and visceral sense of revulsion of seeing mouse excrement on tables, having to clean it off plates, etc., made it rather unpleasant to eat anything at home. I would eat home sometimes, but I often ate out so I could eat without having to worry about the rodent droppings being around. In fact, just coming across them while eating was rather nauseating and sometimes made me a lot less interested in eating in general while I was home. If possible, avoiding the rodents would be the best as there simply is no way to get used to them being around since they will literally do their business everywhere. I've even found mouse excrement in plates in the sink back when I lived amongst them. Plus, the process of having to deal with dead mice in traps all the time gets old fast.

However, if you have no other option and must live among the rodents because you can't find another place that you can afford, I would advise you to try to seal off any entry points. This was what I did in my rodent infested apartment. I used steel wool. They cannot chew through that. If you seal up all the baseboards and any other location where they could be entering your living quarters, they won't be able to get in. However, you have to look very carefully to make sure you find every nook and cranny in the wall, every tiny hole or crack where a pipe comes up. Literally any crevice that something could get in, and rodents can collapse their skeletons. So, you pretty much have to seal up anything with steel wool that you can fit the steel wool in, in any amount. It's quite time consuming to have to do, but in my experience, after weeks and weeks of being overrun by mice, it did keep them out. However, there's no guarantee. Sometimes, there could be crevices that are damn near impossible to find and it could be incredibly time consuming to find the crevices and be able to keep them out of the place. You don't know. Believe me, it's very frustrating when you think you solved the problem, and yet they're back. And even successfully sealing them out with steel wool won't do anything to prevent the insomnia-inducing squeaking or the irritating skittering sounds in the wall.

[Artchic528]

Rodents were responsible for spreading the plague that wiped out 2/3 of Europe's population. They carried the bacteria that caused it.

[Monkey1111]

Originally Posted by Artchic528

Rodents were responsible for spreading the plague that wiped out 2/3 of Europe's population. They carried the bacteria that caused it.

That's true. While there have been no modern cases of plague in Boston, there are plenty of other very dangerous diseases that you can get from rodents on the east coast. Some of these diseases can kill you, and getting one them is certainly a possibility while living amongst them.

[Artchic528]

Rats and mice will inevitably wind up in your food, eating it and incidentally, eliminating in it as well. I don't know about you but I don't want rat/mice poop in my morning Wheaties.

[Monkey1111]

Originally Posted by Artchic528

Rats and mice will inevitably wind up in your food, eating it and incidentally, eliminating in it as well. I don't know about you but I don't want rat/mice poop in my morning Wheaties.

That's true too. The only way to keep it safe is to keep everything in tupperware. That's what I did, but even when I managed to keep the actual rodents out of the food, the revulsion of hearing them skittering and seeing their droppings around as I was eating made it all but impossible to actually eat and wholly impossible to enjoy eating.

[possum220]

Originally Posted by JoeS21

I found a very inexpensive room available to rent, but it is very infested with mice and/or rats. I know they might chew up belongings, but I don't care because I will put valuables in storage. I know they might cause a fire, but I don't care because I will get a smoke alarm. They might stink, but I don't care because I will keep my clothes in a suitcase. I could save money and drastically improve my life by renting this awful room. But I wonder, is there anything else I should know about living with lots of rats or mice in my room? Any advice? Any warnings? Will they bite me or cause serious health problems? ...as far as you know.

Rats can chew through suitcases if they are not metal and nest in whatever they find. They can burrow unto your mattress and nest there. They can chew through electrical wiring and cause a fire. You may get a smoke alarm but find yourself overcome with fumes and dying in the fire. When we are asleep our sense of smell is also asleep. Yes they can bite you and if they have rabies you could die. You may be young but you are not invincible. Rats and mice have been around for thousands of years. Don't do it.

If you need to save money find another place without critters and share with another person so that the expenses can be shared.