HEATWAVE RAT ATTACK Four-foot long, climbing up toilets and 1,000 in one room pest exterminators reveal the worst rats they ve seen

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1 HEATWAVE RAT ATTACK Four-foot long, climbing up toilets and 1,000 in one room pest exterminators reveal the worst rats they ve seen A plague of rats is spreading through the UK during the heatwave as some 'super rats' become resistant to to rat poison By Natasha Wynarczyk July 27, 2018 A COLOSSAL plague of rats is spreading through the UK and wreaking havoc as a result of the longest heatwave in nearly 50 years. These disease-ridden rodents can grow up to four feet long - twice the size of a typical house cat - and have been stealing entire loaves of bread and getting into houses via toilets after swimming through sewers. DANIEL JONES - THE SUN 'Super rats' have been caught by pest controllers around the UK

2 Experts say there could now be as many as 120 million rats in the UK - and believe that the number of rodents has risen alarmingly in recent weeks as they gnaw on excess food rubbish warmed by weeks of sun and early-ripened fruit. Rat expert Prof Steve Belmain said: The heat is increasing the rodents activity." The rodents carry up to 60 diseases that can be transmitted to humans through direct contact with their droppings and saliva - or by bites and scratches. These include salmonella and Weil s disease - a bacterial infection that can lead to organ failure and brain damage. Pest controllers' phones have been ringing off the hook as the nation tries to fend off the creatures and keep vermin at bay. Here they reveal some of the worst things they've come across in recent weeks. The four foot super rat Rats are bigger than ever as they feast on food left by humans Andy Hill, a pest controller at the Edinburgh-based Wee Critters Pest Control Ltd, told the Sun Online that he recently found a four foot rat on a call-out. "Thankfully it was already dead - but we measured it and found it was 130cm long from the head to the tip of it's tail - that's just over four foot," he says. Andy believes the reason rats are getting bigger is that they're living longer and have a better food source. "Bins in many areas are now only emptied fortnightly - leaving the rats lots of time to munch on rubbish leftovers - and people are chucking more and more food away," he says.

3 Pest controllers have been catching more rats in recent months And controllers are struggling to cope with the problem - with some saying they've noticed a staggering 35 per cent rise in the rat population. Andy says he's cleared numerous areas of rats - only to see them reappear a few weeks later. And his phone has been ringing non-stop as the city has become heavily-infested in the heatwave - just weeks before thousands of tourists descend on the Scottish capital for the Fringe Festival. Controllers are struggling to cope with the problem

4 "They're all over the city at the moment - and this is a problem that's just getting worse," he says. "You see them in daylight and in gardens which was previously quite rare. "It's likely the heat and the fact they need to find new water supplies is driving them above ground". Although, he says, every infestation is different, Andy has gone to numerous houses and businesses that have had between rats living and breeding there. Pest controllers will often find several rats during call-outs Coming in through toilets and stealing loaves of bread Andy says he was called to a house where a man had left a loaf of bread in a room for a few minutes and came back to find it completely gone. After questioning his family who had no idea what had happened to the food, he gave Andy a call - who discovered a rat had stolen it and hidden it slice by slice behind the oven. Rats have developed a taste for human food such as bread

5 And watch out when you sit on the loo - Mike Flynn, who works for Alpha Pest Control, tells Sun Online that just this week he was called to a home where a rat had climbed in through the toilet. You'd think the creatures might drown, but they can scale up pipes with ease, breathe underwater for three minutes and tread water for three days straight. "It's not something that happens on a regular basis - but I have seen this a few times in my 40- year-career," he says. Rats can scale pipes with ease - and get into homes through the toilet Mike has also seen rats thriving in some of the most hostile environments - including a car exhaust pipe. "There was a case on an industrial estate where workers were taking them home in their cars," he says. "They were living in the car park and managed to sneak into the car exhausts. "They are extremely smart animals, and very opportunistic in their search for cover, food and water. "However, they won't usually attack humans unless they are backed into a corner and feel threatened." Stealing pig food and exploding in numbers Alec Minter, director of PESTUK, says he recently went to a pet food warehouse which was infested with almost a thousand rats. "They were running all over the place, climbing up the walls and breaking into the food bags and eating it," he recalls.

6 Richard Harvey has been called out on many disgusting jobs Richard Harvey, a pest controller for 33 years with East Anglian Pest Control, had a similar experience, finding hundreds of rats living in chicken sheds. "There were so many rats that eventually the sheds had to be pulled down to sort out the problem." Female rats can have up to 2,000 descendents

7 Female brown rats can mate up to 500 times with various males during a six-hour period. They do this 15 times per year - so if left to breed unchecked they can produce as many as 2,000 descendants in their two-year lifespan. An extremely large rat caught by Richard Harvey Richard has also caught rats that are twice the size of a normal brown rat, particularly on farms where they break into the bags of high-protein food given to pigs to make them larger for meat. Mutant rats are resistant to poison Now, the main issue facing pest controllers is the fact that some rats have become resistant to poisons used. Normally, exterminators use poisons called anticoagulants which are mixed with the food used as bait and take around hours to kill the rodent.

8 Rats are all over the UK - and with greater access to food they're growing bigger and living longer However, rats in some places - including Central London and the Welsh Boarder - have developed a genetic mutation that has left them poison resistant. Andy says this is down to the fact that the shop-bought products people tend to use aren't normally strong enough to kill a rat. If a pregnant rat consumes it and her and her babies survive, the litter can be born with a resistance to the poison as the bacteria in their bodies will change to make it less effective - similar to when humans take antibiotics too often. Some rats are becoming resistant to poison