Is it safe to sleep with a rat in my room?

Whether it is safe to sleep with a rat in your room depends on whether it is a wild rat or a domesticated pet fancy rat, and the answer is very different for each. Sleeping in a room with a wild Norway rat or roof rat infestation is not considered safe for long term because wild rats can carry diseases like leptospirosis, salmonella, hantavirus, and rat-bite fever through droppings, urine, and parasites like fleas, ticks, and mites that can bite humans, they can contaminate food and surfaces, chew on electrical wires creating fire hazards, and their droppings can trigger allergies and asthma. If you must sleep in a room with wild rats, you should store food in sealed containers, avoid sleeping on the floor, wear gloves and mask when cleaning droppings, disinfect with bleach solution, and set traps to remove them quickly. Sleeping in a room with a pet fancy rat in a secure cage is generally safe, as pet rats are clean, groom themselves, and pose low disease risk when their cage is cleaned weekly, though some people may have allergies to rat dander. Pet rats should be in a cage with a secure lid, not free-roaming while you sleep, to prevent escape or injury. For wild rats, call pest control promptly rather than cohabitating.