History WebVideo / RatsSMP

* FesteringFungus: After the explosion of the Boiler Room, a deadly invasive species of warped fungus begins to grow in the Mansion, concentrated at first in the garden, then in the destroyed Boiler Room as Owen decides to plant a mushroom to get rid of the bug infestation there. Inhaling its spores in large amounts is deadly to rats ''and'' humans, granting long-lasting Slowness and later Wither effects, the latter of which can be lethal; even inhaling too much of the fumes in which the fungus is burnt can kill in three days. So far, it has (directly or indirectly) claimed the lives of many of Scott's unnamed family members [[spoiler:and Owen (life #1)]]… but not Shelby, who's [[BrooklynRage from New York]] and is joked to be Built Different™.[[note]]In actuality, Shelby just downed a bottle of milk, which can clear one potion effect -- in her case, the Wither effect inflicted by the spores.[[/note]]

** On Day 64, the Maid writes a note about looking for mistletoe [[InvokedTrope so she can make a move]] on her crush, the Chef, during the festive season. The rats manage to find some to speed the plan along, and go on to corrall the two humans to the doorway between Kitchen and Dining Room to bring about their RelationshipUpgrade.

** Oli claims on Day 19 that he learnt how to write lust letters from reading ''[[Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey Fifty Shades of Rat]]''.

** On Day 57, the rats browse the library for books on {{dimension travel|er}} to help Sneeg find his way across the realms, only to find titles filled with scientific concepts incomprehensible for even some of the smartest rats, like atomic theory, evolution, global warming, microbiology, and relativity.

** Considering 5 out of 16 of the main cast members are members of Season 2 of the ''WebVideo/EmpiresSMP'', there have been several nods to that as well:

*** During his visit, Tommy is seen to own several oddly familiar Sheriff toys, which he claims to be his sons.

*** Most of the ''Outsiders'' veterans have mentioned having a distaste for mazes and being trapped in them -- Acho and Krow explicitly cite it as a "distant memory" or "''déjà vu'' trauma" on Day 1, while El mentions having "horrible flashbacks" and Owen saying he "did his time". On the opposite end of the spectrum, Kyle, an ex-Outsider who makes a guest appearance on Day 42, claims to love mazes.

*** Apo mentions having a nightmare about timekeeping in the Maze from ''Outsiders'' on Day 39.

* CourtroomEpisode: About halfway through the series, a trial is held for Oli because he [[spoiler:pushed Apo to be mauled by cats to save himself]]. El, acting as the judge presiding over the trial, declares Oli [[spoiler:neither guilty nor innocent but arranges a duel for the two parties to fight it out.]]

* KillItWithFire: Scott's preferred method of disposing of the FesteringFungus and its remnants.

* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: A few of the rats have decidedly unnatural fur/hair colours, like Acho (lilac), Lizzie (pink), and Scott (light blue). %%Acho's case is justified, being a former pet fancy rat living with ''unconventional'' humans (and his fur is revealed to be naturally white in his finale), but the other two have ''no'' excuse.

* DontTryThisAtHome: Acho's lore finale, "Freedom vs. Before", on Day 80 includes one such warning to the viewers not to [[spoiler:throw their pet rats into the washing machine]] and that such an extreme action is for lore purposes only.

* HalloweenEpisode: Day 16 takes place on Halloween, where the Mansion is entirely redecorated for the occasion, the rats have to track down costumes made for them by the Grandmother (but stolen by the Son), and carve pumpkins to trap Spirits following them around.

** On Day 16, several of the rats mistake various Halloween decorations for them being real, and quickly assume ceiling bats are out to kill their loved ones or the humans actually killed someone to get a skeleton in their Lobby.

** With 6 of the main cast members having previously been on the ''WebVideo/OutsidersSMP''[[note]](not counting ''Rats'' creators with guest appearances on ''Outsiders'')[[/note]], which ended about two months before ''Rats'', there are quite a few references to that:

* NeverLearnedToRead: Several of the rats are illiterate at the beginning of the series, often due to starting out in positions where they were never able to receive a modern, human-equivalent education. Most of them end up learning over the course of the SMP, but until that point, it causes some complications as being illiterate means being unable to read the quest books to obtain vital information, and hinders participation in certain events.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The introduction of the cats on Day 10 is hinted at in the Butler's journal note "Enough is enough" (found on Day 9), where he writes about introducing anti-rat counter-measures to keep the household in top-notch condition.

** After the cats are released on Day 10, Tubbo drops an anvil on one of them, because apparently, he was taught to do so [[Music/{{Lovejoy}} by a music video]]. It ''somehow'' lives.

** After the cats are released on Day 10, Tubbo drops an anvil on one of them. It ''somehow'' lives.

** Termites:
*** Similarly to the rats, it's stated that the termite guests have been living in the walls of the attic their entire lives up until they were found by the rats, which was about a week at most. In reality, queen termites can live up to ''a decade'' in optimal conditions, and even worker termites have an average livespan of a year on average.