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21st Feb 2022

Warnings as rats ‘the size of cats’ swim through toilets to invade UK homes

Kieran Galpin

Rat

‘People are scared and they should be’

Just when you thought 2022 couldn’t get any more 2021, huge rats that can tread water for three hours are invading UK homes via toilets.

Pest experts have warned that these rats can grow “as big as cats” (eat your heart out, Dr Seuss) and have now given advice on how to deal with these stealthy toilet critters.

Rat

Pest control expert Ian Helands, who runs Pests Be Gone, warned: “I have had more call-outs than ever from homeowners who have heard a noise, looked down into their toilet only to find a giant rat.

“No-one is safe. Rats are excellent swimmers with bendy bones and can squeeze into the smallest of spaces.

“They can hold their breath for three minutes and tread water for three days, and they are coming up waste pipes.

“They’re cunning and getting bolder and bolder. Basically, if they want to get into your home, they will.”

Rat

There are said to be 150 million of these rats in the UK, a number which is historically enormous. Helands explained: “This has increased by 25% each year over the covid pandemic.

“People are scared and they should be. There are more rats than ever and they are taking over. I have seen some the size of cats.”

Helands theorises that there was less food in concentrated areas like city centres with people working from home. Now, the rats have followed the food source and are entering our homes.

So let’s remember to put the toilet seat down, yeah?

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