A woman is now overwhelmed with hundreds of rodents living in her Florida home after starting out with just four pet rats, 11 Alive reported on Wednesday.
Florine Brown, 29, is a nurse and lives in the historic Roser Park area of St. Petersburg. She didn't want to breed rats, but instead accidentally ended up in her predicament.
"At first I had three and then got one more and did know at the time it was a male," said Brown. "Then he mated with all my girls and they all got pregnant."
Her grandfather died last year and before he died, she only had a few rats she kept as pets. But he left his home to Florine and before she knew it, the rats had multiplied and were getting impossible to control.
"I liked having them even though it was out of hand because I liked doing something positive for them after my dad [grand father] died," Brown said. "They helped me move on and deal with the grief of losing him."
After keeping a few caged in her room, as many as 500 outside rats stormed her home. They were soon in her kitchen, bedroom, the stairs and on the couch, Brown said.
Brown's twin sister, Flora Brown, became concerned with Brown's rat hoarding and called the local SPCA for help.
The SPCA has taken 81 rats from the home so far. They took 50 older rats and 20 younger rats that were caged in her room as well.
"I just want them to go to good homes," said Florine Brown. "I tried asking for help catching them because it is hard to catch them because they will chew through their cages, but the pest control people said they only catch them to kill them I am not going to deal with that."
Brown won't be charged with animal cruelty due to the infestation, Patch reported. Animal rescue services agreed that she's done the best she could to contain them.
