A woman panicked when she saw a giant rat running around her while she went to the toilet.
The terrifying photos show the enormous rodent sitting on the bottom of the toilet, its long claws and whiskers sticking out of the water.
The woman was left ‘screaming’ after the rat – which later drowned upside down in the water – climbed up the drain and hid at the bottom of her toilet.
Kieran Sampler, a professional rat catcher, said: ‘The rat climbed up another drain pipe and entered the toilet while a woman was sitting on the toilet.
‘We had to get it out, it was pretty bad. I’ve never seen it go down the toilet before.
“She screamed. Imagine sitting on the toilet and something bumps into you.”
Shocking photos show the rodent nestled at the bottom of the toilet, its long claws and whiskers sticking out of the water
Professional rat catcher Kieran Sampler (pictured) claims to have killed over 65,000 rodents
The 30-year-old man, who claims to have killed more than 65,000 animals, added: ‘I had a customer who had a rat living in the wooden slats of a bed – it’s bizarre what I’ve seen.
‘I had one where a cat brought the rat inside at night, so the family locked the rat in the bedroom.
‘I took my dog with me and he recognized the animal immediately, but the rat ran into the drawers of the bedside table.’
In 2018, Mr Sampler set up a Facebook page called Yorkshire Rat Pack, where he shares jobs and supports other rat catchers.
The father-of-one went on to set up his own company, Vermicure Pest Control, which operates across South and West Yorkshire.
He avoids using traps because otherwise the rodents would remain in a cage, which he says traumatizes them.
Mr Sampler, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has instead trained his two Lakeland Terriers, Poppy and Penny, to track down and kill the rats in the most humane way possible.
He said, ‘They kill the rats within seconds.
‘In my opinion it is more humane than using poison. That is why it has never been prohibited.’
‘It also works faster than poison – in the good sense of the word.’
The woman was left ‘screaming’ after the rat – which later drowned upside down in the water – climbed up her drain and hid at the bottom of her toilet
Mr Sampler, who serves about ten customers a day, says the number of people finding rats has increased in recent months.
He advises people to prune the greenery in their gardens, make their patio rat-proof and regularly clean up their dog’s poop so that dogs do not enter their property.
Mr Sampler said: ‘This winter is going to be a bad one. Farmers are calling me two months in advance now.
‘Winter is an important period for rats. They love leaves. If you have a lot of leaves in your garden, I advise you to cut them back.
‘I would try to put out fewer bird feeders. You can’t force people to get rid of them, because everyone likes them. But I would try to make them as rat-proof as possible.
‘A terrace is a nightmare, because rats love it. Try to secure it, because they like to crawl under it.’
‘Many people don’t clean up their dog poop right away, but it does attract them.
‘If they go inside, there’s a good chance there’s a problem with the sewerage.
‘When they get into the sewer, they eat human waste and human feces.’