"I've gone to sleep and during the night a rat has come into the bedroom, climbed into the bed and has decided to chew on my foot," he said.
"It's made quite a big hole in my toe, going down to the bone, and ate underneath my foot.
"It bit my daughter's thumb first in the other bedroom, and then she came into me and said 'Dad, something's bitten me'. Being in Africa, you think of snakes and scorpions."
About an hour later, Mabbutt felt a bite on a thumb while sleeping, then saw his foot was covered in blood.
"Unfortunately the rat had had a nice meal and I hadn't been able to feel it," he said.
Mabbutt said he still needs daily hospital treatment for his injuries.
Mabbutt played 611 games in a 16-year Tottenham career.
