Australian shoppers have been left horrified after spotting a woman inside a supermarket with pet rats nestled on each of her shoulders.

The pet owner was casually waiting in line at the checkout of a Spudshed grocery store in Ellenbrook during peak shopping time on Tuesday.

Despite her nonchalant demeanor, onlookers said they were “shocked” at the sight of rodents in such proximity to fresh produce.

The startling photo, which was shared with Perth Now, showed a hairless rat and a black rat comfortably perched on the woman’s shoulders.

“It was 5 pm in the checkout line, it was busy, and I noticed a lady in front of me with what appeared to be two rats around her shoulders,” a customer told the publication.

“Why would she bother to bring her rats to the shops? It’s just not something you expect to see every day.”

The customer said that staff were only alerted to the issue once the woman was already on her way out of the store, and were “amused” by it.

But other shoppers were less than impressed.

“Customers were sort of shaking their heads,” the shopper recalled. “I was shocked she thought it was okay to come to the supermarket with rats and with all the uncovered fresh food.”

“It was incredulous that you’d find that in a supermarket. The last thing I want to find is rat turds in my shopping.”

Kidspot has reached out to Spudshed for comment.

It comes after a shopper saw a cat sitting inside of a trolley in a Canberra ALDI last week.

Upon closer inspection, she realised that it was an assistance pet, which is an animal trained to accompany a person with a disability or a mental health condition.

After snapping a photo of the pet, a customer posted it to the ALDI fans Australia Facebook group, writing, “Here is something that is rare to see in an ALDI store.”

“It is the first time I have ever seen an assistance cat anywhere in public.”