If you're squeamish about rats, you're in for a rough few months.
According to leading pest control expert Trevor Hayden, Ireland is set to experience a plague of so-called super rats, thanks to the mild winter and wetter summer.
"They are definitely getting bigger - not just here but across Europe," said Hayden in a recent interview. He went on, explaining that rats are developing "a resistance to certain types of poisons. What would have killed them in the past is no longer doing it."
As he tells it, calls for pest control in Ireland have at least doubled in the past year with rats now being able to eat the over-the-counter pellets. "Rats are constantly evolving and we have seen a build-up across Europe from rats to over-the-counter remedies like pellets. In some cases, rats are even eating the pellets."
According to Hayden, rats are now becoming more common in call-outs than mice or other rodents, with extension work or housing renovations drawing rats into homes. Thanks to the poor weather during the summer months, rats are being driven indoors during that time and refusing to leave, meaning rats are now a year-round problem.
Thankfully, we don't have a rat problem here. But if we did, we'd take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be safe.
