Rat Dream Interpretation: Insights from 26 Unique Sources

Rats keep a close relation to sickness and death. In Egypt and China they embodied the evil deity of plague.

Dreaming of rats is not exactly pleasant, as they symbolize degenerative passions that are consuming you, such as rancor, jealousy, hatred, avarice, etc. It deals with those thoughts and feelings that you hide or reject, but that you have inside.

If in the dream you are aggressive towards the rat it is a sign that you have the capacity to dominate the situation. However, the dream could also reference a certain attitude of the dreamer: you may be behaving like a sewer rat in real life, and your subconscious is reproaching you.

Some superstitions believe that rats have human souls. Generally, their actions should be observed in dreams, and corrected if they are found in your behavior.

Rats probably symbolize those contents of your unconscious that may terrify you on first glimpsing them. They are emotions or instinctive impulses that at some time in your past gave rise to guilt-feelings (or fears of punishment that were later transformed into guilt-feelings) and were therefore repressed. You now need to rehabilitate those rejected parts of yourself, accepting them into your conscious life. Stop trying to get rid of the ‘rats’. As in the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, getting rid of your ‘rats’ means losing your ‘children’ - that is, the parts of your personality that are weak and undeveloped and need all the nurture and care you can give them. (For repression)

A rat in one’s house in a dream means that he will emigrate from one land to another.

If the person seeing the dream owns a house, it means that he will sell it. Rats in one’s house in a dream also represent thieves one must guard his house against, or that he must guard himself against the betrayal of a close acquaintance. Eating a rat in a dream means backbiting others, or earning unlawful money. In general, rats in a dream represent insolence, causing damage, fornication, adverse marital conditions, or problems in the upbringing of one’s children. Catching a rat in a dream means suffering from humiliation and despise.

Dreaming of a black or brown rat is a sign of illness or treachery ahead. In European tradition, rats are associated with theft of foodstuffs and the spread of disease, and therefore seeing brown or black rats running free is a warning to see your doctor and to be careful whom you trust.

Seeing brown or black rats in cages, however, is a sign that small irritations in your life will be dealt with. Catching a rat in a trap indicates freedom from worry and a release of tension.

White rats, on the other hand, are a sign of protection from beneficent forces or entities around you.

The rat is a symbol of fears and anxieties, or is the diseased or devious part of a dreamer or his or her situation. It can also represent something which is repulsive in some way. The dreamer may be experiencing disloyalty from a friend or colleague. Other associations are of dirt and squalor, or of time gnawing away at our life and the unacceptable parts of oneself. By contrast, dreaming about a pet rat suggests the opposite: vulnerability and the responsibility for caring.

A rat, or rats, in your dream points up the fact that someone is very jealous of you and/or your accomplishments and will work against you in any way possible, it is a dream of warning to be on the alert for enemy attack, (the backbiting kind).

If you see a white rat it means the same but you will have help from unknown forces.

To hear rats running, or gnawing in the walls, shows that you have been wasting your time and should move on to greener pastures.

What the dreamer senses as sick or negative inside self; physical sickness or anxieties about health; feelings of sexual repulsion, or using sex to gain material aims; intuitions about a person being a ‘rat’, doing things behind one’s back or underhandedly, or deserting a relationship when difficulties arise, seeing the underhanded side of oneself. Also time gnawing away at our life. Idioms: rat on someone; rat race; smell a rat; feeling ratty.

To dream of rats, denotes that you will be deceived, and injured by your neighbors. Quarrels with your companions is also foreboded.

To catch rats, means you will scorn the baseness of others, and worthily outstrip your enemies.

To kill one, denotes your victory in any contest.

See Mice.

These nasty rodents in your dream portend trouble through active but hidden jealousy; however, if they were white, you will be protected by benign forces.

If you heard them gnawing but didn’t actually see them, the dream is a warning that you are wasting your life in meaningless pursuits.

An omen of enemies whom you do not suspect.

If you see more than One Rat, then the coming trouble will be a serious one, and may overwhelm you.

To the lover, it foretells a fortunate rival. White Rats may be sometimes seen; if so, you will get through your troubles successfully.

The rat signifies a tainted or devious part of our personality or a situation we are in. It can also represent something that is repulsive in some way. We may also be experiencing disloyalty from a friend or colleague. Also consult the entry for vermin in this section.

Rats are often associated with the decaying conditions of poverty (“rat trap”) or illness. To betray someone is to “rat” on them.

Dreams of rats can also indicate a need to take some time out from the “rat race.” (See Mouse, Rodent).

You have a secret enemy who is working against you. Someone who appears to be a friend (though not a close one) is really an enemy. He or she is not so much plotting against you, but is learning your secrets to use to his or her advantage.

In general; deception is around you.

To kill a rat; you will achieve success in your endeavor.

To catch a rat; you will win a fight against a wrong doing.

To set a rat trap; Don’t give up a battle that you will soon win.

To dream of rats indicates deception that offends the dreamer.

To kill a rat indicates that the dreamer wishes to be free from an alliance that involves passion and perhaps hatred.

Warning signal in a dream—nagging thoughts and doubts.

If this is a frequently occurring dream and is accompanied by fear, it would be a good idea to seek therapeutic advice.

Dreams of a rat represent someone dishonest, disloyal, corrupt energy in your life. Someone or something is unhealthy for you and is gnawing at your -worth and power.

Betrayal of self; gossiping, judging others. Letting things gnaw away at you. Identify the problem and work to correct it.

If in a dream you till a rat, the augury for business success is excellent The larger the rat, the better is the augury.

If your dream features a rat, you are worried about your finances.

Symbolic of a person with low character, morals, and ethics

One who is deceptive, unlike the mouse; see “mouse”

See rat under animals.

See Animals