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Mum disgusted as massive rats 'the size of cats' threaten to overrun her home - and seem to be IMMUNE to rat poison

Mum disgusted as massive rats "the size of cats" threaten to overrun her home - and seem to be IMMUNE to rat poison
Mum disgusted as massive rats "the size of cats" threaten to overrun her home - and seem to be IMMUNE to rat poison

Story and video from SWNS

A desperate mum says she is at her "wits end" as massive rats "the size of cats" threaten to over-run her home - and seem to be IMMUNE to poison.

Faye Joyce, 29, has been left afraid to sit in her own garden or even inside her home, as she claims she can hear the "super rats" scurrying around and making nests inside the cavity walls.

Faye, who has a seven-year-old son, claims the problem began when a row of garages out the back of her home started being used by fly-tippers - and the growing pile of rubbish has become "disgusting".

【ギャラリー】Massive rats overrun mum's home5

She says her landlords have spent £1,500 paying for a private pest control company to try and eradicate the rodents - but have been told that the problem is now "unsolvable".

And Faye, from Milton Keynes, Bucks., says she is now "fighting a losing battle" - as she cannot afford a deposit to move elsewhere.

The receptionist said: "I am paranoid every time I hear a noise.

"People say rats are nocturnal and wary of people, but these ones just don't care that we're here - it's like we're living in their house now.

"They'll run right up to you when you are in the garden, and they scurry around in my wall cavities all day every day.

"The pest control man who has been a few times says it's unsolvable now, and that unless everyone on the estate does something about it, it's only a matter of time until they're in the houses."

Faye added that the pest control company tried even stronger poison, after the vermin gobbled up the first lot and then returned for more.

But she said: "That had no effect either. They say the rats are building up a resistance to it.

"They really are super-rats. They're absolutely massive - they're the size of young cats."

Faye claims she has reported the huge mounds of flytipping rubbish out the back of her house to the council several times since June last year - but to no avail.

She said: "There's a big pile of rubbish that's been there since last year and there are also garages nearby that are full of rubbish.

"It's a breeding ground for rats, yet the council are not doing anything to clean it up.

"Sometimes you can hear so many rats rummaging around in there, it sounds more like a dog is in the rubbish.

"I've asked them numerous times. They've been out three times to inspect the site, but nothing has changed.

"They keep telling me I need to contact Environmental Crime, rather than Environmental Health - but they won't help me get in touch with them."

And Faye says her mental health is now struggling as a result of all the stress the rodent situation is causing.

She said: "I've got so ill. My mental health has never been so bad. The anxiety and panic attacks I am having are becoming more regular.

"I am trying to stay out the house with my son as much as I can due to feeling unsafe.

"I feel I'm failing as a mother because its my job to keep my son safe and with all this going on, I feel I am not doing so."

A study by the University of Reading in 2018 confirmed that there is a new generation of rats carrying a genetic mutation which makes them resistant to conventional poison.

The study stated: "The world is seeing a rapid rise in the occurrence of resistant rats and mice, which some people have coined 'super' rodents.

"In the UK we have nine known resistance mutations in rats and two in house mice.

"This means that resistant animals can survive doses of an anticoagulant [poison] that would normally kill susceptible animals.

"Resistant rodents have a mutation in their genetic code, a change from one sequence of bases to another, which prevents some anticoagulants from having any effect."