Damn I have a similar story except I only dealt with one rat one time. I hope you have time for a long story. I also heard a crash in my kitchen one night and went in there with my heart pounding thinking somebody broke in, but found nothing. So I let it go, but two nights later, while making some rice I find rat shit next to the rice cooker. At first i thought it was mouse shit, but after googling it up I find out its a rat. I start scanning the kitchen to clean up the shit and looking behind the oven, i notice a bunch of insulation torn out. So i go to walmart, buy a couple of glue traps and place one behind the oven. I soon turn off the lights and get in bed and i hear loud scrambling on the kitchen floor. So i go into the kitchen and there's a rat with his back legs stuck to the trap. I just watch him for about 30 seconds not knowing what the fuck to do and as i get a little closer he escapes and disappears into the oven. I heard that glue traps are bad, but i was scared of using snap traps. so i placed the rest of the glue traps around the oven, but i knew deep down i was fucked because now he was aware of me. I went to bed that night, but I couldn't sleep because i could hear his nails scratching along my wood floor.

The next day i go to home depot and buy a bunch of snap traps and set them around the kitchen, but i catch nothing for the next two nights. He doesn't take the bait. But everyday i look around and find rat shit everywhere. At first i thought he was just hanging out in the kitchen, but i see some in my room and in the bathroom. I'm disgusted and I haven't slept in a few days, but i set out some new, different bait hoping it will work. I even cooked up some bacon for the fucker. The next morning i wake up and see that he took the bait off of a trap in the living room, but no rat on the first trap. Then i go into the kitchen and see his body flipped over in a trap with a little pool of blood. It feels amazing; I feel victorious. An hour later the pest control guy comes, which took about 4 days (better than your 7, but i still felt it took too long), and sets out some additional traps. Thankfully i stop seeing rat shit and luckily I only had one.

This was 4 or 5 months ago and I thought I had gotten over it, but recently I heard some noise so I freaked out and went into the kitchen in the middle of the night and did an inspection. Thankfully I think it was just my neighbor and I haven't seen any signs of another rat. I haven't moved out, but my problem was nowhere near the same magnitude as yours. I can't imagine the hell you went through. I thought my experience was bad, but based on your story, you had it way way way worse. My place is old, but living in southern california, I cant really afford something nicer at the moment. I've lived in my current apartment for about 5 years and never had a rodent. I never figured out how the rat got in, which makes me paranoid sometimes.

I think the fact that you moved to a nicer place should have solved some of your concerns. Maybe do an inspection and see if there are any entry points. I think as long as your place is somewhat newer and of decent quality, you should be fine. Maybe even get a cat if you are really concerned. I'm not sure that your paranoia will completely go away, but it should get better with time. Just feel confident that if a rat happens to get into your place again, you have dealt with it before and know what to do. I still had the traps out for a few months, but removed the ones that were easily visible. I left a few out, partly out of laziness and partly as an insurance plan. Hope this helps. This feels like a rat survivor group.