Terry Walker, who caught the rat round the back of a property in Bournemouth, said it’s the biggest rodent he has ever seen in 20 years as a professional rat-catcher.
He caught a 19-inch rat in January 2017 only for another rat catcher to break his record by one inch last December.
Mr Walker, 53, warned rats are growing in size because of the amount and type of waste people are chucking out.
He had been working in a busy street in Bournemouth with his trusted companion, pet dog Max, when he found the rat behind a house.
He laid the giant rodent out next to a tape measure and found it was 21 inches from tip to tail.
The pest exterminator said: “I found it at the back of a property in a road in Bournemouth…it's a bit of a troubled spot. There are lots of vacant properties and commercial kitchens, it's a very industrious area.
"I had my dog Max with me, he's good at sniffing out the source of entry at properties. I was clearing some debris at the back of the building and this rat bolted out of it.
"Max reacted very quickly and just grabbed hold of it and shook it, killing it.
"Looking at it I could tell it was one of the biggest I'd seen so I decided to get the tape measure out and it was 21 inches, the biggest I've ever caught.
"The weight of it was absolutely unbelievable, it was so heavy.
"The average rat weighs about 350g, I think this was easily 650g."
As manager of TP Pest Control Services, Mr Walker has more than 20 years' experience as a rat-catcher.
He claims the animals have got much bigger in the last five years.
He said: "There's no doubt about it, I think there are definitely 2ft long rats in the UK. It's just a matter of time until someone catches one.
"If you go back a few years ago the average length was maybe 14 inches, but they are definitely getting bigger.
"I caught a 19in one last year and another guy caught one that was 20 inches and this is 21in. To my knowledge, those are the three biggest people have actually shown with a tape measure.
"I think it's because we are creating more waste, our society is getting more obese and the type of waste we are throwing away is fattier. That's what the rats are feeding on so they are getting bigger too.
"I don't think it helps that a lot of councils have changed to fortnightly bin collections. There's all sorts of accumulative reasons.
"Most of my work now is rats and it's growing year on year."
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