“There will be something there for sure,” he says, kicking an overflowing trash can. “Rats are like little survival machines; wherever you have reliable access to food waste, they will keep coming back.”
Coates’ prey becomes more visible in London the longer England’s confinement lasts.
What’s more, the animals are on the move.
Pest controllers say that because many restaurants and office buildings in London’s bustling city center remain empty, rats are forced to migrate to residential areas in search of food.
Families who spend more time at home – and eat all their meals there – have led to an increase in waste and this is attracting rats to suburban homes. Meanwhile, bird feeders – kept replenished during the winter – are encouraging rodents to bury themselves in backyards.
“We had the case of a lady who used to feed her beloved thrushes,” Coates told CNN. “When she called us, there were about 10 to 15 mice digging around the flower beds,” he adds.
Paul Claydon, another exterminator, based on the edge of Epping Forest, in the east of the capital, has seen worse. He says he recently killed a colony that was trying to dig a cage to eat an unsuspecting pet.
“We may be seeing and listening to them more often, working at home, in the office under the loft … but I’m afraid London may be in for a big surprise when it reopens,” says Claydon. “Especially if companies and properties that have had problems have not maintained their pest control plans.”
Coates and Claydon left long careers in other areas to start small businesses in what has become an expanding sector.
Coates, a veteran of the Iraq War, founded his unit five years ago and has since written an e-book called “War and Pest: from Basra to bedbugs”.
Claydon spent 25 years in IT at a financial services company before opening his business two years ago. “I wanted something that was recession proof, and he has been relentlessly busy,” he says.
Claydon says he normally receives about 10 rodent calls a week, but during confinement it has been “easily more than 20”.
The British Pest Control Association (BPCA), which represents 700 worm gatherers across the country, said its members reported a 51% increase in rodent activity during the first block in spring 2020, and a 78% increase in November, after another blockade They have not yet calculated the numbers for this year, but told CNN that sightings have increased, presenting a public health problem that many homeowners are left to resolve on their own.
“We can see mice now where we normally wouldn’t see them, because they are very desperate,” says Natalie Bungay, from BPCA. “Rats can chew very hard substances, like soft metals and bricks.”
When it comes to controlling mice, London does not appear to have a comprehensive plan.
The mayor’s office told CNN that the London Councils’ office is in a better position to answer questions on the matter. But they said they do not collect data on the matter because that is the job of each of the capital’s 32 neighborhoods.
A spokesman for the Richmond upon Thames neighborhood, however, told CNN that he does not collect data on rats and does not offer pest control services.
In 2017, after a video of rats coming out of a flower bed in the Harrow neighborhood went viral, conservatives in the Greater London Assembly (GLA) commissioned a report that found that more than 100 complaints were registered with councils each day .
No one knows for sure how many rats there are in London, although some private surveys of exterminators say they can reach 20 million. There are likely to be more of them than the city’s nine million human inhabitants, whose population growth is slowing, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Rats, however, can multiply quickly. Research by the pest control company Rentokil, cited in the GLA report, stated that just one breeding pair of mice can lead to the birth of about 1,250 a year.
The size of mice is also increasing. Claydon says it is not uncommon for him to catch a mouse measuring up to 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) today. Many, he says, require stronger traps and more poison to kill.
Bungay says that the best pest control starts with prevention. This means sealing any food residues outside the home in appropriate rubbish containers, keeping food locked inside the house and checking that all air vents are protected with steel mesh and cracks filled with steel and cement. The avid gardener should also be aware that compost heaps attract mice, she says.
London residents are also getting used to seeing their new neighbors and are alarmed by their boldness.
“I actually saw one come to me while I was walking,” said Jen Johnson, who lives in the eastern neighborhood of Tower Hamlets.
“I saw another one climbing an apartment block and shouted. I’ve lived in London for four years and I’ve never seen anything like it, ”she says. “They’re showing up in places that I used to think were scenic. But now it’s like, oh, there’s a giant rat over there. Oh, great.”
Tower Hamlets, which offers residents some free help with worms, told CNN that “anecdotally, our pest control team received fewer calls during the pandemic.” However, a district spokesman did not provide data to support this claim and said he did not maintain figures on the number of mice killed.
The city of Westminster, Harrow and Waltham Forest and Redbridge, both close to Epping Forest, did not respond with any comment at the time of publication.
CNN’s Oscar Featherstone contributed to this report.