PEST PLAGUE
Rats invade homes across UK after bin delays and floods as rodents swarm residential streets over Christmas holidays
A typical home has more than a dozen potential entry points for rats
RATS are reportedly invading homes across the UK after a perfect storm of bin delays and flooding.
The UK's estimated 200 million rats are legging it into households, while pest exterminators are being swamped with SOS calls.
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Mark Moseley claimed that families have returned from their Christmas holidays to find their homes invaded by the rodents.
He pitched his pest control expertise to Lord Alan Sugar on last year's Apprentice.
"It started at the end of last week, this weekend and tomorrow - it'll just be crazy," the founder of PestGone Environmental Ltd told .
"People have come home, they've found that their Christmas chocolates hanging off the tree have been eaten.
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"Rats have been in their properties; people have been away and have come back to find things not as they left them."
Journalist Caitlin Moran described how her house had been infested by the vermin in November last year.
Caitlin set up Ring cameras to investigate why rubbish was scattered over the floor overnight and discovered rats were accessing her property via the chimney.
"The first time I reviewed the overnight footage, I was treated to what was basically a Rat Studio 54," she said in the .
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";It was a big Rat Party. Rat Andy Warhol in the sink, with Rat Candy Darling walking all over the hob and Rat Grace Jones living it up on the table."
Residents in Glasgow also explained how they were overrun with rodents and "living in fear" after their bins were not collected over the festive period.
Peter Jordan, 65, told the : "We have rats out our back because our bins haven’t been collected since the middle of December.
"It is concerning because if they start breeding and come in force, they could come into our homes through the drains.
How to prevent rats in your home
Inspect properties thoroughly and seal up any external gaps, holes or crevices that could provide rats with a way in.
Remove potential nesting sites by keeping yards and gardens clean and tidy, cutting back overgrown areas and clearing any piles of wood or debris.
Ensure doors and windows can be closed properly and that drain inspection covers are well maintained.
Keep bins well maintained with their lids closed, dispose of rubbish carefully and don't leave leftover food lying around.
Compost heaps should be covered.
Areas around garden bird feeders should be kept clean and pet food bowls should not be left out overnight.
Click here to find a .
"I am worried because me and my wife have health issues so we don't need the stress."
Residents in Swindon claimed they saw rats picking through waste after bins were left uncollected for weeks by their local council.
A plague of wall-climbing rats have also terrorised tenants of a block of council flats for two years.
Locals living in the Overland Mews apartments, in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, said the disease-carrying vermin have been scaling walls, breaking into cars and gnawed through Christmas presents.
Meanwhile underground tunnels and nests in fields, gardens and woods have been flooded by heavy downpours brought be Storm Henk.
Emily Coxhead, 33, from Newbury, Berkshire, said "The floods have left our garden under water and now we've got rats in the loft above our bedroom."
The mum-of-two added: "We lie in bed at night and hear them running and squeaking above our heads - it's an absolute nightmare."
The rodents are getting into homes through cracks under the eaves - they are famous for being able to climb up sheer walls.
Others are getting down chimneys or crawling along drainpipes - there have even been reports in the past of rats appearing in toilets.
It's feared many are mutant rats up to 2ft long which are immune to shop-counter poisons and pose a serious health threat because they carry diseases.
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Back in 2018, Dorset-based pest controller Terry Walker caught a giant 19-inch long mutant rat.
The British Pest Control Association said a typical home has more than a dozen potential entry points for rats, which can squeeze through gaps as little as half-an-inch wide.
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