Large rats that attack in packs are terrorising residents of a Cape Town hostel, the Cape Argus reported on Wednesday.

Lundi Galanda, of the Dura Hostel in Langa, told the newspaper they could hear rats scratching their front door at night.

"Their eyes are lit up like the headlights of a car. They are like vampires because they only come out at night. They have eaten their way through the metal door... there is nothing they won't get through," she said.

The rats had apparently gnawed their way through peanut butter lids and plastic containers. Galanda shared the hostel with seven other families and it was packed with furniture, a stove, pots, and clothes.

Community leader Eunice Phatiwe, 65, has lived in the hostel for 40 years.

"The rat problem has got worse over the years and they are not scared of us. They attack around 8pm. When we sleep we cover ourselves with blankets, even in summer," Phatiwe said.

"They bite us in the face, head and feet... They know what they want and where they are going... they walk with a purpose like humans."

The city recently announced that R530,843 had been budgeted for rat poisons. This followed a recent tweet from provincial premier Helen Zille, who told her followers a rat bit her toe in her garden.