A woman has caused a stir inside a grocery store after she was being spotted at the checkout with her pet rats perched on each of her shoulders.

The woman was seen at the Spudshed grocery store in Ellenbrook, north-east Perth, during peak shopping time at about 5pm.

Other shoppers were ‘shocked’ to see the rodents around fresh produce.

The West Australian chain of grocery stores, owned by the Galati Group, said service animals, not pets, were only permitted to enter the store.

One shopper said they staggered to think the woman ‘thought it was okay to come to the supermarket with rats’.

‘It was incredible that you’d find that in a supermarket, the last thing I want to find is rat turds in my shopping,’ she told Perth Now.

Head of marketing for the Galati Group, Melissa Osterhage, said the rats hadn’t been spotted until reaching the check-out and the incident wasn’t ‘reported to the Ops team’.

‘Spudshed welcomes service animals but pets are not allowed in the store. There is signage displayed that communicates this to our customers,’ Ms Osterhage told the publication.

Daily Mail Australia approached Spudshed for comment. 

While rats are associated with the Black Death – a disease that killed about 50million people in Europe in the 14th century and transmitted by fleas carried by rodents – many have taken to keeping them as pets for their social and loving nature.

Contrary to the popular belief that rats are dirty creatures, when kept as pets in a clean environment their grooming habits make them quite hygienic.

The RSPCA describes rats as being ‘incredibly rewarding animals to look after’ because they’re ‘intelligent, highly social animals’.

‘They can form close bonds with their human carers, but have complex needs and aren’t easy to look after well,’ the RSPCA website reads.

One of the rats on the woman’s shoulder, a bald rat, is known for being more active than their genetic relatives but more likely to bite if threatened.