Britain is overrun by armies of toxin-resistant ‘super rats’ who have blown up to three feet from head to tail after feasting on bird food, chips and greasy TV dinners – as homeowners recount how they stole food and over their beds .
Mark Moseley, who presented his pest control expertise to Lord Sugar at this year’s Apprentice, said the declining effectiveness of rodenticides and an increase in food waste caused by Britain’s growing population caused an explosion of rats.
The entrepreneur said the lockdown forced more rats to hunt for food in residential areas, where they were encouraged to stay by abundant food waste and people feeding birds in their gardens. Rodents also made nests in empty buildings.
It comes as homeowners shared their rodent horror stories, with one complaining that rats stole bananas from the fruit bowl at night and another saying a neighbor was forced to move out after rats started running across her bed.
Many believe the problem is exacerbated by less frequent garbage collections, with some residents having to wait weeks for their garbage to be taken out. Earlier this year, Leeds City Council had to to apologize after repeated missed collections were blamed on rat infestations on one estate.
A large rat crawls into a bird feeder post in a garden in Surrey. The rat population in Britain has increased in recent years
TikToker Lucilla Dartford shared a photo of a rat that entered her home to “keep her company” over the weekend (left). On the right is a photo shared by a pest control company
Rentokil told MailOnline that its pest control experts had seen a 6.4 percent increase in rat numbers over the year. Meanwhile, Mr Moseley – whose company PestGone Environmental operates in London – said the rat problem in the capital could become as bad as New York without action.
“The main factor is that they become resistant to the toxins that we put down,” he told MailOnline.
‘It takes between 70 and 80 million and as much as ten years to make a new product. It’s not something that can be made in someone’s shed.
‘There are also more people in the country, so that will lead to an increase in rats. There is more waste, so more food for rats. It’s a vicious circle.’
Mr Moseley, who was fired from the Apprentice in week eight, warned that bad household habits were causing rats to get fatter and more numerous.
“People will sit in their yards and feed pigeons. Rats come to feed on the bird food, which also attracts foxes that feed on rats,” he told MailOnline.
‘But rats are not only growing in number, they are also getting fatter.
“That’s because the foods we eat — like potato chips and TV microwave meals — are so fatty.
“The rats we catch with traps are the size of small cats. We’ve seen one as tall as three feet—that’s a foot and a half for the body and the same for the tail.”
Hordes of rats have taken over a hillside in the seaside town of Tenby in southwest Wales
A rat running along a sidewalk in Burley, a village in the New Forest
This photo shows insulation ripped apart by rats in St Albans, Hertfordshire
According to a widely quoted industry estimate, the UK rat population has grown by about 25 percent in recent years to about 150 million.
One homeowner said the rat problem in her house has gotten so bad that the pests are stealing whole bananas from the fruit bowl at night.
The mother of three said: ‘The first thing I noticed that we had a problem was when the fruit started to disappear from the shell.
“Now when I come down in the morning, the rats are ripped into bananas and some are completely gone.”
Another, from St Ives in Cornwall, said: ‘My neighbors and I have had real problems with rats since the lockdown when the restaurants closed and second homes stood empty.
‘They have crept between the rafters and into the adjoining attics in our street. I’ve had pest control several times but they keep coming back.
“It got so bad for one of my neighbors that they went into most of her house and ran all over her bed at night — she was forced to move.”
Have YOU been plagued by ‘super rats’? Email rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk
Gas worker James Green with a rat he found near Hackney Downs, East London in 2016. The perspective of the photo makes it difficult to see the exact size of the rat, although he claimed to be four feet tall used to be. Experts thought the animal was a Gambian possum that could have been kept as a pet
Mark Moseley, who presented his pest control expertise to Lord Sugar at this year’s Apprentice, said the declining effectiveness of rodenticides and an increase in food waste caused by Britain’s growing population caused an explosion of rats.
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