Here in the deep South field rats used to be a given in old houses.
As most of the older houses were built above ground, the walls of the farm
house were ideal habitats to spend the winter..the sill plate is known as the
rat sill and unless you had a bevy of mousers... they chewed tru that in a
few years.
 What is more curious is the antebellem high bed..sometimes needing a stool
to climb into.
....I am told that this design served two functions ...
one they were rope beds "sleep tight" and therefore easy to adjust by
knoting..but more importantly the houses no matter rich or poor shared the
space with nocturnal mice and their larger counterpart the field rat.
(remember the species of Southern field rat is much different and cleaner
than a Yankee sewer rat)
A low bed could make an ideal nesting area a high bed would not...lastly the
third explanation of the high bed comes from some of my gentlemen friends who
swear their fathers passed down the legend that the high beds  were ....ideal
to mount your lover on...when you consider the amount of material the hoop
dress has ...ok ok I won"t go there..but it sure beats a toss in the hay and
the taste of green cheese.  Best Michael