On moving day into my first college apartment. A rat came out from behind the fridge and started munching on food packed by the outgoing students. Since the rat was mostly white (rather than the usual gray) I asked if it was a pet. They reassured me it was. It still bothered me that they let it run around free.
Easier to call a rat a pet than to have to deal with catching it....
;-)
My apartment didn’t have rats but we did have plenty of cockroaches. Always had to be sure to cycle the toaster once before putting in any bread. Usually one or two dozen cockroaches would be seen scurrying away.