Australian man charged after filming himself biting off a rat's head

Man who filmed himself biting off the head of a live rat says he doesn't think 'it was that bad.'

Matthew Maloney, 25, posted a video to his Facebook page on January 16, showing him grabbing a live, small white rat, biting its head off and swallowing it.

The electrician appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to inflicting unnecessary pain to a domestic rat.

Magistrate Suzette Coates ordered him to complete 100 hours of community service, pay court costs and banned him from owning a pet for three years.

She recorded a conviction and described his behaviour as 'rabid, narcissistic (and) attention-seeking'.

'I don't think it was that bad,' the electrician said outside court.

'There's a lot worse stuff you could've done - buy rat poison, rat traps.'

He said he agreed with the court's decision but didn't understand how the RSPCA could have proven the animal's death would have been painful.

'Who said it was in a lot of pain? They said it was in twenty-nine seconds of pain,' he said.

'I don't know how they could've proven that when they test on rats all the time.'

Asked if he agreed with the magistrate's assessment of his offending as narcissistic, Maloney said: 'Nah, it's all good'.

In court, his lawyer Nick Dore said his client's offending had come after a melanoma diagnosis.

'He has suffered a significant degree of ridicule and embarrassment,' Mr Dore told the court.

'So he should, Mr Dore,' Magistrate Coates replied.

She accepted he would have been 'somewhat destabilised' by the news about his health but said only a 'silly idiot' would've resorted to such attention-seeking behaviour.

'If that's what you have to do to get attention in life, it's a really sad indictment on you,' she said.