We cannot say exactly what happened because it was rats doing rat things in the darkness of the basement. But there is evidence that a Rat came up through the toilet in his basement —twice.
We do have rats in our neighborhood. I believe I saw one in my friend’s House two years ago when she had a mice infestation. yeah she had mice, but this thing was a rat.
When the Victorian warehouse down the street caught on fire, rats came running out of it.
Before that it was decades ago but I saw a rat sunning himself on our patio in the middle of summer. DH says I didn’t see that but I know what I saw. Perhaps it was a Sick rat.