Rat

What you sense as sick or negative, so can depict your fears or anxieties, frightening instincts or urges, physical sickness or anxieties about health. Perhaps also feelings of sexual repulsion, or using sex to gain material aims. But this was caused by the fallacy that rats carried the plague and are unclean, but rats are very clean.

It was found out by historical research that it wasn’t the rat that brought the plague to Europe but the gerbil was the culprit. Sometimes a rat in your dream can remind you of love that was betrayed, or intuitions about a person being a ‘rat’ or ‘ratting on you’ – doing things behind your back or underhandedly – or deserting a relationship when difficulties arise.

The rats can point to threatening things going on that you are not clear about, or a view of the underhanded side of yourself or others – the evil side of human nature, its dirt and squalor, or time gnawing away at your life. The unacceptable parts or oneself. In some dreams the rat has the character of most rodents, the gnawing inquisitive searching out of things. It can therefore relate to one’s anxieties, self questioning and worrying mind that disturbs or eats away at things like peace of mind or confidence.

Because we may have associations with rats used in laboratories they may suggest healing and sacrifice.

Pet rat: Quite different to general rat associations; vulnerability, instinctive intelligence, the caring feelings or drive to care; responsibility for caring. The rat is an intelligent creature, is a great survivor and explorative.

In China where various types of rat are cooked and eaten, the astrological symbols are replaces by animal symbols. The rat (sometimes referred to as a mouse) is the first of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. People born in this year are expected to possess qualities associated with rats, including creativity, intelligence, honesty, generosity, ambition, a quick temper and wastefulness. People born in a year of the rat are said to get along well with “monkeys” and “dragons”, and to get along poorly with “horses”.

RatsInHinduTemple

Here the rats in this Hindu temple are venerated, and are being fed.

In Indian tradition, rats are seen as the vehicle of Ganesha the elephant god, and a rat’s statue is always found in a temple of Ganesh – the elephant god the remover of all obstacles. In the north western Indian city of Deshnoke, the rats at the Karni Mata Temple are held to be destined for reincarnation as Sadhus (Hindu holy men). Rats are eaten by some people in India also.

Idioms: Rat on someone; rat race; smell a rat; feeling ratty; cornered rat; rats leave a sinking ship.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Am I confronting or remembering something that I feel is repulsive or evil?

Am I in a relationship that I intuitively feel difficulties about?

Am I being a rat in a relationship or situation? Is a worry or irritation eating away at me?

See animalsTechniques for Exploring your DreamsQuestions

Comments

-Mike R. 2014-11-18 15:11:18

I had a dream about rats burrowing themselves in my stomach all the way to the end of their tails. And then finding them in my stomach I.e. the ends of their tails looking like pimples or moles or skin tags on the surface of my stomach. Upon pulling out the rats from my stomach and discarding them, almost immediately upon hitting the pavement the rats hurriedly try to scamper back onto me and bury themselves up to their tails again in my stomach. Upon pulling rat after rat out of my stomach and literally searching my stomach with my fingers trying to discover more, my lil brother who is standing in the front yard in front of the car garage yells out upon seeing this craziness. As I pull the last rat out of my body, which has no scars or proof of the numerous rats that have been extracted, the car garage door behind to open and they ALL go directly into the car garage. At this moment my brother says, “yeah we’ve been having a lot of rats in and around the house too”. He asks if I’m okay, and then my dream ends. Please help with the interpretation of this, I’d really appreciate it. Thank you for your time in reading this disturbing dream of mine.

-Kay Love 2014-11-13 16:55:52

Last night I dreamed that I was at an event like a a banquet and this attractive guy was there and all of the women wanted him but he picked me. We some how began messing around and his shirt was off and I touched his shoulder and he had a pet rat on his shoulder. I was freaking out but he told me that everything was ok. Then I woke up.

    -Tony Crisp 2014-11-14 10:41:53

    Kay – Well you are certainly confident about your attractiveness – and you probably are.

    However, you are attractive enough to get the attention of all manner of men through messing around with them. But when you actually make contact with a man and strip him of his plumage you may find he is advised by rat his nature.

    So I think your dream was telling you to be careful. Ask what is his track record with women, and he might be lying.

    Tony

-ran 2014-11-13 10:28:00

Hi,
This morning i dreamt that i ate a rodent, it saw the skin and black hair on it, having it in my mouth. No blood. I was eating it because i didn’t want it in the house. In this dream it was like eating the Ikea hotdog. Feeling hate towards it, while eating it. Please what does this mean!?

-jenisia hernandez 2014-11-09 17:07:08

I keep dreaming about a mouse , its not a scary dream just an odd one . In my dream Im nice to the mouse I defend it and love it but everyone in my house hates it .I’m always helping it survive in every dream its like me and the mouse have a bond or relationship. My family said it was disgusting but I loved it . The first dream I had it was a cockcroach but it then evolved into a little weird mouse and ever since then I keep dreaming about this mouse . What’s going on ?

-Hind 2014-10-28 7:07:02

I had a dream that I was carrying my baby niece and there was a rat/mouse chasing us and jumping on me , nibbling on my pants while carrying her. I kept running away in the dream and I hit my baby niece’s head in a sharp table corner and that’s when the rat/mouse stopped chasing us.

-sue 2014-10-22 12:11:23

I dreamt my son had a pet rat. The rat was clean and furry and slept on the sofa. He was brown with light brown tufts of soft fur. My son would rub his belly and talk to him like you would a beloved pet. At first I was repelled by the rat, but came to think it was harmless and cute. My son was excited and held up 2 small brown furry eggs and claimed that his rat was going to have babies.

    -Tony Crisp 2014-10-26 11:21:34

    Sue – Your dream son represents a part of you, a younger and less ‘civilised’ part of you that is not repelled by things that you find repulsive or even scary. A rat is such a creature that many people find repulsive, as many people find blood, internal organs, sex or normal human functions or parts repulsive.

    So what have you recently change your feelings about?

    Tony

-D.D. 2014-09-27 16:18:55

I dreamed of three dead brown rats on a silver plate and i felt a lot of fear and grossed out. I dont know where we were at but it was dark and couldnt see anyrhing but the dead rats, the silver plate and my husband nxt to me. I kept crying in my dream and my husband kept cutting up the rats. When I woke up I still felt my heart bit with fear and just looked at my husband. What does it mean?

-Maria 2014-09-26 15:56:21

Tony I dream of my husband eating big black wet rats and iam feeling naused when I see him with eating all these rats in a Hugh bowl,what does this mean. Can u please explain.

-katherina 2014-09-03 20:31:22

I dreamt three rats went out of their hidin place in my room, o tried waking my mom up but she wouldnt wake up, just kept sleeping. They tried to go near but i kept pushing them away with a stick. Then one stopped and looked at me and then they started killing the cockroaches that was in the room, they tried to go near again but i woke up, im kinda confused about wat the dream mean

-Victoria 2014-08-28 12:56:35

I had a dream that I was under a car and I was saving several rats from being killed with the mouse traps and all the rats were color orange light they were cute looking rats kinda like hamsters and when I finish saving them they all were relieve kinda like they were thankful. Can you help me what my dreams meant please.

    -Tony Crisp 2014-09-01 8:06:49

    Victoria – Your dream shows you as a caring person who feels love for animals, even those creatures seen as awful by others. So please read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/ and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing

    They were thankful because they were a real and living part of you. It shows that you are a very whole person – someone who accepts every part of themselves. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/animals/

    Example: I wondered what the arrows and javelins could be, and was it I throwing them, firing them at this beautiful beast? Gradually it clarified that we continually injure this wonderful natural process in us. Being aware is a special state that acts in all manner of ways for this great ancient beat that is our body or process that is behind our existence. It is the process of life which is there with us as we go through our conception. As that we are simply a mass of cells, which then slowly evolves into an aquatic creature with gills, and slowly on to form a body that can breath air. So we are very much an animal who has only recently become self aware. Consciousness is its eyes and ears, its fingers and mouth, its means of experience, and its way of learning. And whatever we feed back to that fundamental part of us is deeply felt.

    Perhaps this is not a very accurate description, but it is like a loving and willing dog that out of its instinctive being tries to do all that we ask of it, tries to grow, tries to learn. But it is so sensitive, so when we are angry with it, or frustrated, or direct criticism at it, it cowers, it feels failure, its exuberance diminishes. So also with this great wonderful beast within, this mysterious process of life that is at our core. It withdraws. But we can also call it out into further expression, enabling it to extend beyond its previous capabilities, by loving it, by acknowledging its wonder, by calling it forth. That is a wonderful way to lead our inner being forward, by loving it and working with it toward being more that we were.

    Try using http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson

    Tony

-Delicia 2014-08-09 10:01:21

I had a dream about two rats. It was very hard to kill but I killed one of them, I was in my house. What is the dream trying to tell me? I’m so scared

-Katie 2014-05-28 0:47:36

Hi, I had this really disturbing dream where I am at a school and my daughter kept running off and I had to keep chasing or searching for her, but finding her in the end. At one point in the dream I’m having a disagreement with a teacher about something, can’t remember what the conversation is about. Next thing I hear shouting and screaming from pupils and teachers that huge rats the size of small dogs approaching. I personally don’t get afraid of the rats as they pushing their way past me trying to enter the hall way. Then a few of them are trying to bite at me which I try and kick away. Then I wake up!!!!

    -Tony Crisp 2014-05-28 8:28:40

    Katie – When I first read your dream I thought it was about your duagther becoming more independent. But then as I explored your dream it gave me a picture of you as a young girl, who had a hard time at school, maybe slightly rebellious. But then it seemed that a teacher, or the school taught you ideas or views of life that are completely out of synch with what you feel inside you. The rats are these ideas that are still irritating you and you are, and need to, kick them out of your life. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing and http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/

    Tony

-Nathan 2014-05-07 6:57:55

Dream: I was sleeping in my bed, when I noticed two black rats running around my room. I got up and examined them trying to figure out if they were mice or rats. When I found out they were rats a screamed and was immediately scared of them. I then got a hold of myself then tried to chase them. Both of them escaped and ran into my kitchen where my cat was. I went into the kitchen and saw them both knawing at the floor boards trying to escape. I grabbed one of them to try and pull it away but it was too strong, and I was scared of it biting my finger off. I then ran into my room and got a platic bag and wrapped it around my left hand, then told my cat (poppy) to get it. She then chased one ot of the cat flap and into my garden. I then pulled the other from the floor with my left hand and as I grabbed it I noticed how gross the tail was and I could feel it on my arm. The rat then ran down my left sleeve and started running around in my shirt, until it came up through the neck (I was making a weird ‘eeeeh’ sound like peter griffin from Family Guy). As it poked its head through my shirt my cat came back into the kitchen and I told her to get it. Then I woke up

-Chelsea 2014-04-18 9:25:33

I had a dream that I was in a house that im assuming was my parents house but didn’t look like their house. well my dad was in his recliner and I was standing up talking to him and my cat was eating food and my little dog was running around on the floor when I noticed what she was doing I saw she was chasing two little mice she got scared and jumped on me so I put her down and grabbed the cat to put her near the mice she didn’t even notice them. well I turned around and there was this BIG black rat gnawing at my dad’s socks on the recliner when he noticed it he kicked his feet and the rat flew on my left hand and bit my left thumb my dad was screaming for me to hit it off of me but when I tried to it somehow latched onto my left sleeve behind my shoulder then my dad got up and I woke up… any ideas???

-Joyce 2014-03-27 14:30:00

Dream: my partner and I entered a house (not ours but it felt like it was our home). Anyway, as we walk in facing a staircase I can see a sticky triangle mouse/rat trap at the bottom of the stairs. A mouse/rat was inside this sticky trap which I though had caught it. But then it ran out towards us. As we tried to run away my husband jump on my back : ) then this mouse/rat jumped on the tail of my dressing gown trying to nibble away at it and my husband and I were trying to find away to get ride of the mouse which was still attached to my gown.

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