A dad has been left scarred after he woke up to a RAT nibbling on his nose.
The homeowner said the unprovoked bite happened the night after the rodent dragged his mobile phone from his bedside and chewed it beneath a set of drawers.
He called in pest controllers to eradicate the pests which scurried up from beneath the floorboards of the Victorian terraced house in Swindon and were immune to bait.
After getting into a cluttered cupboard beneath the stairs, they then spread through the house.
Justin Holloway, managing director of Prokill, who got rid of the rats, said: “In the 10 years we have been providing pest control services in Swindon this is the first case of an unprovoked bite that I have come across.
“They had tried to control it by buying some bait and scattering it around the house.
“That’s not a good idea if you’ve got small children.
“They [the family] became desperate and called the officials out.
“Whilst we were doing this work it became clear what had really tipped the balance was this man waking up with a rat on the end of his nose.
“It’s possible that the rat was disturbed by him.
“It’s entirely possible he scared the rat and the rat felt it needed to defend itself.”
The pest control experts sealed off the gaps in the floorboards at the home, and said the man, who had a toddler, was getting medical help for the bite.
“It always seems to be a bit worse each year,” said Justin.
He added anyone with a problem should call in pest controllers rather than try to tackle the problem themselves
Video captures moment UFO appears to zoom around above Sheffield United’s stadium
Jogger got the fright of his life when he stumbled across a 7ft boa constrictor while out running
