RATS are becoming “fearless” as they are forced to search for new food sources during the UK lockdown.

That is what pest controller Charlie Jones has found. He has seen a sudden surge in call-outs from people finding brazen rodents running through their homes in Brighton and Hove.

The 52-year-old from Kemp Town said: “I have noticed a lot of rats around, especially in the daytime. They have been quite fearless, going right up to people.

“It’s strange to have an animal, which is usually very scared of people, do this.”

But there is a simple explanation to this, Charlie says.

He said: “They are looking for food. Rats eat from the bins a lot, but there’s no one in the city to fill them up and restaurants and takeaways are closed.”

As a result, more and more of the animals have ventured into people’s homes in an attempt to scavenge for scraps, leading to Charlie receiving an influx of calls from horrified homeowners at a time when rat-sightings are usually rare.

The Argus:

“I usually hardly get any jobs at this time of the year,” Charlie explained.

“You might get the occasional doe rat having a litter in a house, but the high point for rats is usually between September and January. But in the last couple of weeks, especially in areas near the city centre, I am getting a lot of call-outs to people’s homes.”

In a recent job, Charlie was tasked with removing rats who had muscled their way into a household’s stockpiled pasta stores as the animals become emboldened by the city’s empty streets.

Charlie said: “People are seeing rats wandering around the high streets in the daytime. When they are hungry, they are fearless.”

He said they would usually look to travel short distances in their hunt for food, but had been forced to lower their defences as their appetite consumed them.

Charlie uses Hailsham-based business Pest Control Direct to source supplies for his work, and the company revealed it had seen one of its busiest ever Aprils during a time when demand for many businesses is plummeting.

A spokeswoman for the company said that some of this custom may have come from homeowners looking to deal with pest-problems themselves and ordering materials online as shops are shut. But she said there had been a whole host of pest controllers from across the country who had told them that demand for their services had skyrocketed since the introduction of the lockdown.

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Charlie provided advice to anyone looking to prevent rats from coming into their home.

He said: “The main reason they come into houses now is just because they are hungry. People have seen them in their kitchens in the day, which is unheard of.

“I would recommend that people call a pest controller, but also they should stay calm and make sure there are no packets of cereal or bread in any of their cupboards because that will attract them.

“Food has to be in solid containers, rats will even smell food through plastic and cardboard packets and tear through them.

“Also, disinfect surfaces because they will climb everywhere.”