A rat expert has said it’s likely you’re never more than 10 metres away from a rat in Brisbane, and residents are definitely seeing plenty of rats with Brisbane City Council revealing they received more than 3500 rat complaints in the past four financial years.

Dr Luke Leung, an associate professor at University of Queensland’s School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, said Brisbane’s subtropical climate was wonderful for rats.

Council monitors more than 1000 sites for rodent activity Credit:Clare Barry

“They are everywhere in Brisbane. Sometimes people see them crossing the road but they don’t usually like to come down to the ground, they like to climb trees,” he said.

“I don’t think people like to live with rats, maybe on average people in Brisbane might be no more than 10 metres from a rat, they have rats living in roof spaces, sometimes you can hear them."