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Pest control experts have told MailOnline that sightings have been on the rise, particularly in urban areas where the animals have access to strewn food from takeaways and piles of rubbish bins.
A new interactive map showcases just how bad the UK's best problem is getting as experts warn numbers are only on the rise and rats as big as 21 inches - the size of a small dog - have been spotted
Rats - who eat just about anything - are becoming more resistant to poisons and are adept in finding hidden spots to nest and breed, meaning that their population is rapidly increasing.
From Tenby to Brooklyn, rats are in your walls and on the coastline (and they can squeeze themselves around the U-bend of a toilet pipe)
With rodent-borne diseases – like Lassa fever – on the rise, humans face a new ‘rat race’ to stop a spillover event