AN urgent warning has been issued over huge swarms of super-rats which are resistant to poison.
Experts are saying people may just have to start learning to live with the mobs of rodents.
The rats are said to be resistant to at-home pest control chemicals, and started flocking to houses during lockdown in search of food.
British Pest Control Association (BPCA) president Chris Cagienard said companies are now sending samples of rats they think are showing signs of resistance.
Of the specimens that have been tested over the past six months, only one came back as non-resistant.
Mr Cagienard the Daily Record: “Rat populations in the UK are not reducing, they are climbing slowly anyway and that was happening before Covid and that continues to happen.
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“It wasn’t necessarily that there were more rats, there were just more rats within the houses. There are a lot of products that we are starting to see resistance to.
“In certain areas of the country, these products don’t have an effect anymore, so we need to be careful.
“Usually, a professional pest controller would be aware of this and use other products accordingly.”
Mr Cagienard also warned DIY pest control, which can be bought from B&Q, could leave the resistant rats to “become more of an issue”.
He said: “That is the concern. Effectively, we are breeding more resistant rats because people aren’t aware of the problem.
“Our toolkit continues to get eroded. It raises questions of are we going to get the toolkit to be able to do the job or are people going to be more willing to coexist with rodents.”
Some Scottish cities are also experiencing “behavioural” changes, which has been becoming more severe over the past 10 years.
Mr Cagienard said: “For mice in cities like Glasgow, in particular, there is a lot of behavioural resistance, so they are basically learning to evade the control measures. That’s progressed considerably.
“There is a lot of training and learning required to make sure pest controllers have the knowledge to overcome this situation.
“Because we are a nation that loves to drop litter, there is always a lot of competition for food. Rodents are going to go for the kebab over the bait.”
