It's a known fact that crime fighting quad, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, were born in the sewers and continued to live there whilst training to save the world from crime, they made a relaxing cosy hangout down in their sewer home. Whilst you might find a frog in the sewer, we are yet to hear of any vigilante groups making an appearance in anyone’s toilet from this route!
In truth, sewers provide an ideal combination of food, water and shelter for many animals from alligators to spiders. Humans put all sorts of items down the drain, recommended or not – think food particles from dirty plates, fat from fryers and sugary drinks. All these items are poured down the sink and let’s not forget the larger items of food waste that are flushed down the toilet in a bid not to block the sink! They are all heading in the same direction - the sewer.
For the right type of creature, such as a rat, sewer dwelling can provide a smorgasbord of delights, (it's understandable that the Ninja Turtles preferred to order a pizza). So its worth stopping to think about exactly what you put down your sink or toilet and who might be waiting at the other end for it...!
We mentioned alligators, while not a frequent sewer find, they have been seen crawling out of sewer pipes in Florida and similar areas, the good news is that its unlikely they would get far enough to make an appearance in your toilet. As to why they wander into (and out of) sewers, one can only imagine it’s cooler than above ground.
More and more news articles are reporting instances of snakes giving people a fright when they open the toilet lid, snakes seem to enjoy the channel of sewer tunnels and we can only deduce that some take a wrong turning somewhere and inadvertently end up in your loo!
Another species that are often found in sewers are lizards, no doubt enjoying the cool damp spaces. Most of those spotted have been on the small side, meaning they are capable of a shimmy into your toilet bowl, but not so small as they would go unnoticed...
Sewers offer a relatively safe environment from predators, in particular the human variety, add to that the huge area they cover and the plentiful supply of food and water and you can start to see that it would, in fact, be unusual NOT to find creatures making it their home.
These are just a few of the many critters than inhabit our sewers, and it will vary greatly according to location but wherever you are you can stop them from gaining access to your toilet and home by fitting a simple MultiFlap device to your toilet or drain – click here to find out more…
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