A KEIGHLEY mum says she is terrified one of her young children will be bitten by a rat after discovering an infestation in her home.

Kelly Firth, who lives in Bracken Bank, said she first began hearing the vermin a month ago. She said despite two visits by pest controllers the problem has not yet been resolved.

“It’s causing me a lot of stress and anxiety and making me poorly,” she added. “I know they’re still in the house because the noise they were making woke me up at four o’clock in the morning.”

Miss Firth, who has one-year-old boy and girl twins, and a four-year-old daughter, moved to Keighley five years ago and previously lived in a two-bed property in Braithwaite.

She moved to her current Incommunities housing association owned house about a year ago.

She said at first there seemed to be nothing wrong with the three-bed semi-detached house, though noted previous tenants had left a lot of junk behind which she had removed.

A month ago she first heard the ominous, telltale scratching which indicated rats were present, and since then the problem has persisted.

Miss Firth said she believes the rats had originally come from across the street and had discovered a gap in the outside of her house, enabling them to get in.

“They’re under the stairs, in the loft and I’ve even heard them behind the wall in the kitchen,” she added. “They make a lot of noise.

“My neighbour’s cat has been killing some of them and when pest control came out to put down poison they told me it was definitely rats.

“The rats did eat some of the poison but that hasn’t stopped them, so pest control are going to have to come out again.

“They’ve blocked up a gap at the bottom of the stairs, to stop the rats getting through into the hall.

“There must be a family of rats, and I know they breed very fast. I’m worried it could get out of control and they could get into one of the rooms and bite my children.”

Miss Firth said she understood her home is not the only property in the area to suffer from this problem and fears any solution might only be temporary.

And she added the issue is being exacerbated by damp in the house. She said it mainly affects the bathroom and one of the bedrooms, but has caused the whole house to smell of damp.

“I’ve got arthritis and my son has asthma and the damp doesn’t help,” she said.

“Our last place in Braithwaite was fine, but it only had two bedrooms, which is why we moved. Now I just want a different house fullstop. I don’t want to stay here.”

The Incommunities spokesman responded: “Following a customer report on November 26 our pest control team promptly visited the property, laid bait and identified an access point then carried out a follow up visit to check the treatment.

“A repairs operative attended last week to carry out the necessary sealing work.

“As part of this service the team often need to make a number of visits to successfully eradicate a pest issue.

“In this case they are due to visit the property on Thursday December 20 to check the matter has now been dealt with.

“We’ve also arranged with Miss Firth to visit her home this week to look into her report of a possible damp issue.”