Mutant super rats are plaguing Britain’s restaurants, pubs and homes with experts revealing to MailOnline that rodents are becoming less susceptible to pesticides and more wary of control methods.

In the past week, video footage has emerged revealing the true extent of the terrifying rat invasions taking place in parts of the country.

It comes as piles of rubbish have overflown the streets amid a series of bin strikes. 

Reports of a rodent infestation outside a block of flats in Liverpool left tenants ‘petrified’ to leave their homes, fearing they cannot step out the door without a rat scampering over their foot. 

Meanwhile customers tucking into their food at a McDonald’s store were left screaming when a rat emerged from the seating area before scurrying across the fast food chain’s floor. And at a pub in Exeter, a large rodent was seen tucking into leftovers that had been sat on an outdoor table. The rat is seen sticking its face into a bowl before nibbling on what appears to be discarded bones from a meat dish.

Pest control experts 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 along the street. 

Paul Blackhurst, of Rentokil Pest Control, said: ‘Rats are opportunistic pests that are drawn to places teeming with available food sources. 

‘With unlimited access to leftover food from takeaways and rubbish bins, along with water and shelter, some urban areas have become home to what are often referred to as ‘super-rats’. 

‘Despite their namesake, these rats are not going to save the world. Rather, through genetic mutations, combined with neophobic behaviours, they have become less susceptible to some forms of common rodenticide and wary of methods used to control them.’

His comments come as young professionals and students living in a block of flats on Vine Street in Liverpool’s city centre have come face to face with the creatures.

Eve Bradley and Eireann Dobbins moved into their new home five months ago. They only realised there were rats living outside of the building after they had settled in. 

Frightening footage shows rats scurrying around the entrance of the flat. Ms Bradley, 22,  told the Liverpool Echo: ‘You can’t leave your flat when it does start to go dark without them running across your feet.

‘It’s getting dark earlier – they’re going to start coming out earlier and earlier.

‘One of the girls I live with, the rat was inside the lift with her. She didn’t see it until she was in the lift going down.’

The frightened woman, originally from Derry in Northern Ireland, said the ongoing issue has caused them ‘so much distress’. 

A spokesman for the accommodation provider Urban Sleep said the issue of rats is a ‘city-wide issue’ that it has been ‘proactively managing’ on its site for some time. Urban Sleep said it is now speaking with Liverpool City Council about next steps. 

Earlier this year, another resident was left shocked to find dozens of rats living inside a bin in London. 

A video shows some of the rats peering up at the camera while others appear to be jumping to get out of the huge council bin.  

And diners eating at a McDonald’s branch panicked when a seemingly large rat leaped across the restaurant floor.

As people screamed, children could be seen turning around to catch a glimpse of the rodent while two McDonald’s staff members appeared to coax it away with a broom. 

Customers tucking into their burgers and queuing to order their meals are seen staring at the rodent in disbelief while parents lift their children off the ground. It is unknown which branch the footage was filmed in.

The author of the clip wrote: ‘I had to crop the video because I was screaming too much.’ 

Earlier this month, another McDonald’s in Notting Hill, London, saw a rat invade its restaurant.

The giant rat, which customers said was ‘the size of a foot’ was caught brazenly running through the store, with diners left both laughing and screaming in shock.

The appalling footage showed the rodent scampering across the floor before hiding behind an oblivious diner’s chair, as others warned ‘there’s a rat, there’s a rat’.

Shocked diners crowded round the rodent, taking photos and videos on their phone.

Luke Scott had been wandering into the store when he presumed a robbery was taking place because of the loud shouts of terror.

Mr Scott, 47, who lives locally in the area said:  ‘I walked in and went to the self-service machines to try and get a milkshake, but the milkshake machine wasn’t working.

‘I was about to turn and leave, and then somebody shouted loudly. I thought it might be a robbery.

‘I looked around and a couple of people were jumping up and then somebody shouted “rat, rat”.

‘I just saw it run across the floor. I felt like people wouldn’t believe it unless they saw it, so I started filming.’

As it tried to escape, the rat got caught in between people’s feet and a customer’s bag, leading to the restaurant to be evacuated.

He added: ‘The rat seemed fairly unafraid by the commotion. Everyone got their phones out and started crowding around. It seemed fairly relaxed; it wasn’t manic. It seemed quite confident.

‘Regardless of the tail, the body of the rodent was huge. It was about the size of my foot.’

In May another so-called super rat was seen scavenging on takeaway scraps left in a bin outside McDonald’s in Toryglen, Glasgow.

Grim footage, captured by two disgusted customers, showed the fat rodent feasting on the rubbish before scuttling away into nearby bushes.  MailOnline has contacted McDonald’s for comment. 

In another incident, shocking video from a pub in Exeter shows a rat enjoying a nibble on one of the tables, to the horror of a patron.

Mark Baker, who filmed the footage, was at the Mill on the Exe two weeks ago when he saw a rat eating from a plate at one of the pub’s outdoor tables.

The video showed him approaching the rat, which was as large as a pint glass, before it jumped into the plants beside the table and scurried off.

St Austell Brewery said that it had apologised to Mr Baker and that it was taking action to ‘manage the situation’.

A spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that Environmental Health are aware of this matter and are carrying out regular visits to monitor and assist with the situation, which is impacting riverside properties from the Weir down to the Quay, including the Mill on the Exe.’

‘We are working closely with Environmental Health and continuing to act on all advice. Last week, during their most recent visit to the area, they confirmed they were happy with the extensive measures we have put in place to help manage the situation that is affecting our external areas.’

Pest experts have said that rats – who eat just about anything – are increasingly resistant to poisons and are getting better at finding hidden spots to breed and nest.

Mr Blackhurst insisted more needs to be done to prevent further rat infestations.

He added: ‘This is why it is important for pest controllers to adopt innovative measures in order to help prevent infestations from occurring and to deal with them effectively when they do.

‘Effective, long-term control is only achievable through first understanding population changes and challenges, and then implementing bespoke solutions that combat them and that is why seeking professional, expert help is recommended for rodent infestations.’

His comments come after reports an infestation of rats outside a block of flats in Liverpool is making tenants ‘petrified’ to leave their homes. 

Steve Belmain, professor of ecology at the University of Greenwich said earlier this year that he could ‘easily imagine’ a plague of up to 300million rats being present in the UK.

Mr Belmain said: ‘Rats can certainly gnaw through concrete and metal, most normally soft metals such as tin, aluminium, copper and lead, but I have seen gnaw marks on steel, various hard plastics such as waste pipes and terracotta pipes – as well as concrete walls.’

The pests are so flexible they can push themselves through the U-bend of a toilet to gain access to people’s homes.

The largest rat caught and recorded in the UK was 21 inches long, which is the size of a small dog.

Experts fear that vermin such as rats and house mice carry diseases that are harmful to humans, with rat’s urine carrying diseases that may be linked to salmonella and leptospirosis outbreaks.

Recent figures show 78 per cent of rats and 95 per cent of house mice have genes that make them immune to poisons, which have been used as an exterminator since the 1950s.

Dee Ward-Thompson, the British Pest Control Association’s technical manager, said: ‘This rise in resistance could be due to a number of factors. 

‘However, it is most likely the spread has been accelerated by the application of rodenticides, by amateurs such as home and business owners doing it themselves or employing an unqualified individual to try to resolve the problem.’

Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine ‘is just the beginning’ and ‘the war will not stop there’, a Russian general recently promoted by the Kremlin has warned.

Colonel General Andrey Mordviche also said he expects future conflicts with European countries during an appearance on the state-run TV channel Russia-1.

The Russian president’s invasion in February 2022 raised fears of a wider global conflict, with some warning it was a precursor to a third world war, pitting Russia and its allies against NATO and the West.

While Ukraine has managed to pin Moscow‘s armies back in the east, Russian commentators have intensified their anti-NATO rhetoric, regularly calling for Putin and his generals to launch strikes on other European nations while spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda to the Russian people, as well as neighbouring countries.

Mordvichev’s comments provide some insight into what plans are being shared with Moscow’s high-ranking military officials, hinting that Putin intends on continuing his war for years to come, and possibly even push further West.

When asked on Russia-1 if Ukraine was just a ‘stepping stone,’ Mordvichev – who is the commander of the Russian Central Military District – said last year’s invasion was just the beginning of Russia’s military ambitions.

‘I think there’s still plenty of time to spend,’ he said. 

‘It is pointless to talk about a specified period. If we are talking about Eastern Europe, which we will have to, of course then it will be longer. 

‘It is only the beginning. The war will not stop here,’ he added.

‘I think that all kinds of ideologists and instigators of this war will not stop here.’

Mordvichev, whose comments came in a video of him speaking to a Russian reporter while walking through forests and riding in a tank – seemingly in Ukraine, was promoted last week to the rank of colonel general. 

The top commander is well-placed, in charge of the Central Military District, and a close ally of Vladimir Putin crony Ramzan Kadyrov, the warlord leader of Chechnya.

Kadyrov has labelled the general Russia’s ‘best commander’.

As such, Mordvichev is in a position to know Kremlin thinking on the war.

Some pro-democracy advocates fear Putin is working to widen his political sphere of influence to eventually make a move against the West beyond Ukraine’s borders.

The Russian despot has outlined his vision to reunify territories that once fell under the now-defunct Russian empire and the Soviet Union, while claiming – in his attempts to justify his brutal invasion – that Ukraine should not have independence.

He also claims Russia is working to ‘denazify’ Ukraine and to protect Russian-speakers in the country from ‘genocide’. There is no evidence to support Moscow’s claims that Ukraine is a Nazi state, or committing any form of genocide.

Some of Putin’s most outspoken supporters, particularly on his propaganda-spreading TV channels, have even called for the Russian president to also launch assaults on NATO countries, including Poland and others in Eastern Europe.

They have done so while Russia’s official line claims the invasion of Ukraine was done for defensive reasons, citing the expansion of NATO.

NATO and its members say Putin’s invasion is nothing but an imperialistic land grab and an attempt to overthrow a pro-Western, democratically elected government.

Were Russia to attack any NATO member, the alliance’s Article 5 would be triggered.

The article states that if any NATO ally ‘is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members.’

In such an event, NATO would ‘take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked,’ the article states.

This would mean 31 armies – including those belonging to Britain, the United States, France and Germany – would be brought against Putin’s forces.

While Russia’s army was once considered among the world’s most advanced, Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine has highlighted its many weaknesses.

Ukraine’s smaller military, albeit heavily backed by modern Western weaponry and equipment, is currently carrying out a counteroffensive in the east of the country, working to push Russia’s armies back.

While progress in this year’s counteroffensive is proving slow, last year Kyiv’s forces were able to push Putin’s armies back from the capital before liberating vast swathes of land in both the north and south.

If Putin does want to launch an invasion beyond Ukraine’s borders, he’ll first have to find a way of defeating Kyiv’s armies that are inching closer to his own land.

The war has sown devastation across swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, killed or injured hundreds of thousands and triggered the biggest rupture in Russia’s ties with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Russia controls about 18% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014 and a swathe of eastern and southern Ukraine which it took control of in 2022 when it first invaded.

For several months, Ukraine has been battling to try to regain some of that territory and has retaken some villages but not yet made significant territorial breakthroughs against heavily fortified Russian lines which are strewn with thousands of landmines.

Ukraine says it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is ejected from its land. The West says it wants to help Ukraine defeat Russia – an aim Kremlin officials say is an unrealistic pipedream.

Speaking on Tuesday, Putin said that Ukraine was only likely to start peace talks when it ran out of resources and would use any potential cessation of hostilities to rearm again with Western help.

During an appearance at an economic forum in Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok, he said Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces had so far failed and that the Ukrainian army had sustained heavy losses.

‘I have the impression that they want to bite off as much as they can and then, when their resources are close to zero, to achieve a cessation of hostilities and start negotiations in order to replenish their resources and restore combat capability.’

Putin said many potential mediators had asked him if Russia was ready to stop fighting, but he said that Russia could hardly stop fighting when it was facing a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

For there to be any chance of talks, said Putin, Ukraine would first have to cancel its self-imposed legal ban on peace talks and explain what it wanted.

‘Then we shall see,’ Putin said.

He also said that the West’s decision to supply Ukraine with cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions was a crime, but that while such supplies might prolong the war they would not change its ultimate outcome.

He also criticised the West’s decision to supply Ukraine with F-16 jets.

Asked if Russia needed to introduce a new compulsory mobilisation, Putin said that 1,000 – 1,500 Russians were signing voluntary contracts to join the military daily.

Over the past six or seven months, 270,000 people had signed voluntary contracts, Putin said – a figure slightly lower than the 280,000 that former president Dmitry Medvedev stated earlier this month. 

When it’s hot – like it has been this week – all many want to do is sunbathe.

But aside from regular flies, and now mosquitos, there is flying horror Brits should be worried about this summer. 

Experts have warned of a rise in ‘Dracula’ horseflies, which are immune to most insect repellents.

Seen generally in Mediterranean countries, the mix of hot weather and sudden downpours in Britain so far this summer has proved the perfect breeding ground for these silent bloodsuckers. 

They can spread dangerous infections and cause painful bites, and posing a potentially serious threat to public safety.

Female vampire horseflies feed off blood, leading to infections and painful swelling that may not be fully treatable with current antibiotics. 

Vampire horsefly bites generally take longer to heal compared to most other insect bites too, and have a high risk of becoming infected, particularly if scratched. 

Other effects of vampire horsefly bites include the swelling of limbs, dizziness, shortage of breath and a painful, itchy rash. 

Speaking to the DailyStar, Alice Duvall, from Amesbury, Wiltshire, revealed she suffered an ‘excruciating’ bite that left a ‘huge red blotch that began swelling right away.’

She added: ‘They’re really sneaky too – I never felt it land on me, I only knew when it bit me. It didn’t buzz or anything, like a wasp or bee would.’

Another victim, Dean Collins, from Brighton, said: ‘I was with my girlfriend in the park and was bitten on the leg by a horse fly.

‘Man, it’s so painful, far worse than a wasp sting.’

Another victim said: ‘I’m destroyed with horsefly bites. One got infected. Horrific’.

If bite victims go into anaphylactic shock they may find their throat swelling, meaning they could choke and potentially die without emergency medical treatment.

According to Antibiotic Research UK, the rapid rise in their population only magnifies the importance of developing new antibiotic medicine as soon as possible.   

Meanwhile, the British Pest Control Association has put the horsefly on its top ‘Bites to Avoid’ list – along with those from the black widow spider and mosquitoes.

It warns: ‘Literally designed to eat a horse, their bite is both impressive and painful.

‘The horsefly is a sanguivorous insect and therefore wants to bite you.

‘They can persistently chase you at a flying speed of around 15mph, and it’ll bite right through clothes.

‘It has mandibles that can rip and tear flesh apart.’

The BPCA advises removing standing water close to homes and paddling pools and hot tubs to help fend off horseflies.

The NHS says horsefly bites can be ‘very painful and leave the bitten area of skin red and raised’.

It’s important to know that symptoms include a rash, dizziness, weakness and wheezing, short of breath and swollen limbs.

And if you are bitten, it has been advised to dab the bite with antiseptic and cover the wound with an ice pack to avoid infection and swelling.

If scratched, the bites can take longer to heal as they are very itchy. 

What to do if bitten or stung by an insect 

According to the NHS, there are a number of steps to take if bitten by a horsefly or stung or bitten by another insect: 

• Remove the stinger or tick if still in skin if possible 
• Wash the affected area of the skin carefully with soapy water 
• Apply an ice pack or other form of cold compress for ten minutes at a minimum
• Elevate the bitten or stung area of the body if at all possible to reduce swelling 
• Avoid scratching the bitten or stung area 
• Avoid using any traditional home treatment remedies such as vinegar 
• Visit a doctor immediately if the stung or bitten area appears painful, swollen, red or filled with pus, as any of those symptoms may indicate an infection 

The NHS adds: ‘Bites can take a while to heal and can become infected.

‘See your GP if you have symptoms of an infection, such as pus or increasing pain, redness and swelling.’

A small town in Nevada is being terrorized by a ‘biblical’ infestation of cannibalistic Mormon crickets that have blanketed roadways, invaded buildings, and alarmed residents.

The two-inch-long pests that have taken over Elko, Nevada are not only devouring all the crops, but are also a traffic hazard leaving roads dangerously-slick after millions of the crickets were squashed by cars, with their entrails creating a slippery surface.

Residents are also dealing with the mob of insects blanketing the ground, crawling up walls, and infesting buildings.

Despite their name, the insects are technically large katydids that closely resemble grasshoppers, according to the University of Nevada, Reno. They don’t fly, but instead walk or hop. And while totally harmless to humans, the bugs are nonetheless frightening locals who suffer from insect phobias.

Skin-crawling footage shared on social media shows the town under attack along with several other Nevada counties as the swarm of insects moves across the state. 

‘When we looked out here the whole wall was just covered. That really, really freaked me out,’ resident Colette Reynolds told KLAS.

A spokesperson for the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital told KSL that the hospital had to deploy brooms and leaf blowers to clear the way for patients to get into the building.

The Nevada Department of Transportation has been plowing and sanding roads to get rid of the squashed bugs that have made the roads slick. 

‘You can see that they’re moving and crawling and the whole road is crawling and it just makes your skin crawl. It’s just so gross,’ Stephanie Garrett added. 

The plague-like images also show how dangerous the roads are now with the added layer of squashed bugs.

‘They get run over, two or three come out and eat their buddy, and they get run over, and the roads can get covered with crickets and they can get slick,’ Jeff Knight, an entomologist for the Nevada agriculture department, told KSL. 

‘The bigger issue is these afternoon thunderstorms and put a little water on that and it gets slick, we’ve had a number of accidents caused by crickets.’ 

Knight has been treating Nevada’s farmland for Mormon crickets since 1976 and has experienced about 40 outbreaks in that time. 

‘The band of crickets in Elko [Nevada] is probably a thousand acres, and we’ve had bands even bigger than that,’ he said. 

‘The drought is probably what triggered them to start hatching. Once they do they have the upper hand, so their populations increase for several years then drop off.’  

Knight added that the insects lay their eggs in the summer, which lie dormant in the winter and hatch in the spring. But the hatchlings were delayed because of the unusually rainy winter, he said. 

The swarms moving across Nevada can last four to six years before they are brought under control by other insects and predators, Knight told the Guardian.

‘[Population density] is what triggers them to say, ‘There’s too many of us here, we’ve got to start moving.’ 

Mormon cricket infestations are not new to the western United States and there’s not much residents can do besides just wait it out, entomologists said. 

Last year around this time, Oregon was also battling massive swarms of both Mormon crickets and grasshoppers.

Not only do the insects feast on crops, but they are also cannibals and will eat each other, dead or alive, if not satiated with protein. 

The area had been stricken with drought, which created ideal conditions for grasshopper and Mormon cricket eggs to hatch.

Mormon crickets are named after swarms of the insects destroyed the fields of Mormon settlers in Utah in the mid-19th century. 

They have continued to devastate corn, oats, wheat, rye and barley, some of the state’s most profitable crops, according to Utah State University. 

Vladimir Putin has led Russia to abject failure with his invasion of Ukraine, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group has said in an astonishing outburst.

Far from demilitarising Ukraine – Russia’s key war aim – Putin’s botched strategy has seen Kyiv amass ‘one of the world’s strongest armies’ through massive Western supplies, Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

The Wagner chief was once considered a close ally and confidant of Russia’s tyrant and had been nicknamed Putin’s ‘chef’. But in the latest of his increasingly frequent outbursts, Prigozhin has given a devastating critique of his war strategy.

He then warned of impending ‘revolution’ in Russia unless changes were made by the Kremlin leadership.

In an astonishing attack on military leaders, he said Russia would restore the death penalty and the guilty – he named defence ministry Sergei Shoigu and chief of the defence staff Valery Gerasimov as responsible for the war crisis – would be ‘hanged on Red Square’.

Prigozhin blamed both Shoigu and Gerasimov for losing more men in Bakhmut than in the entire ten-year Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979-89, which eventually led to the collapse of the USSR.

‘So the de-nazification of Ukraine, which we announced – we made Ukraine a nation, known to everyone around the globe,’ he said, mocking Putin’s warped purpose for going to war.

‘They are like Greeks at their peak, or Romans.’

He told interviewer Konstantin Dolgov – a prominent pro-war blogger: ‘We legitimised Ukraine, it became a country which is known to everyone.

‘As for de-militarisation… [this is] a painful issue indeed.

‘So if they had at the start of it 500 tanks – now they have 5,000. If there were 20,000 men who were able to fight – now there are 400,000. So how exactly did we demilitarise it?

‘Quite the opposite! We militarised it up to the brim.

‘I think Ukrainians today are one of the world’s strongest armies. They have high levels of organisation, training, military intelligence. 

‘They have various ammunition and moreover, they are able to switch between any system – Soviet, Nato, anything at all – with the same success. They take their losses philosophically.

‘All they do is to achieve the supreme goal, just like us during the Great Patriotic War [Second World War].’

Prigozhin’s armed force of convicts and volunteers – named Wagner private military company – has claimed to have taken Bakhmut but at a devastating toll.

He admitted that in Bakhmut his force had lost 10,000 prisoners freed to fight for Putin, and the same number of volunteers. Many experts estimate the Wagner losses to be higher.

Prigozhin then claimed Ukraine had lost 50,000 with 70,000 wounded.

‘During the [special military operation] I pulled out 50,000 inmates from jails,’ he said. Twenty per cent of them died.’

Adding to the latest of his outbursts, Prigozhin said he saw Shoigu and Gerasimov as guilty, not least for failing to supply Wagner with ammunition and weapons.

‘Without a doubt the death penalty will be brought back, because we are in a state of war,’ he said.

And the guilty people will receive their punishment – as a minimum, they’ll be hanged on the Red Square.’

He lambasted the comfortable elites in Russia who continued to live normally while cannon fodder troops at the front lost their lives in huge numbers.

Their sons must be forced to the war, he said.

He singled out the defence minister Sergei Shoigu, whose daughter and son -in-law flaunt their wealth on social media.

While last year it emerged the foreign minister Sergey Lavrov’s stepdaughter owns a £4 million luxury apartment in Kensington, London.

Mr Prigozhin said: ‘Everything might end as in 1917, with a revolution, when first the soldiers rise up and then their loved ones.

‘The children of the elite smear themselves with creams and show off on the internet, while ordinary people’s children come home in zinc [coffins] torn to pieces.

‘I recommend the elite of the Russian Federation gathers up its youth and sends them to war. They live fat, carefree lives, their villas should be stormed by ordinary people armed with pitchforks.

‘How can Shoigu’s son-in-law go to the United Arab Emirates and shake his bum around?’

Prigozhin warned of the real threat of Russia losing the war.

The warlord said he now ‘hardly believes’ it possible that Russia can see through one of the most optimistic scenarios of holding on to the territory it now has.

The ‘pessimistic scenario’, he said, is that Ukraine can ‘restore the 2014 borders, they will try to attack Crimea, destroy the Crimean Bridge, and cut off routes of supply. 

‘And most likely the scenario won’t be good for us,’ he said.

Russia ‘must prepare for a heavy war. What must we do – not to lose Russia? Because today we are in a state when we can lose Russia.

‘We must introduce martial law. We must call new waves of mobilisation. We must switch everyone to production of weapons.

‘Stop building skyscrapers, new roads, new infrastructure – and work only for the war. We must live like in North Korea for several years, and shut the borders.’

Analysts are also suggesting the head of Russia’s private army could be the man to topple Putin, by standing against him in next year’s presidential elections. 

The Kremlin is understood to be growing increasingly concerned by Prigozhin’s criticisms and his popularity.

At the May 9th Victory Day parade in Moscow, Putin pointedly excluded the Wagner group from his speech praising the efforts of Russian soldiers.

But without the paramilitary group’s soldiers, Russia’s campaign in Ukraine would collapse.