EVP MAN wrote:

Go with the snap traps!

Snap traps are cruel... how you like being pegged to the ground to be
eaten alive/starved to death... use live traps, and check them every
day. Too many people exonerate themselves because they use live
traps, but by the time the sicko morons check them all that's left is
a skeleton.

Poison works well but with one problem. That
rat can crawl and die in a spot where you can't retrieve him. The smell
is not very pleasant.

The odor of dead animals occurs anyway (animals die all the time)
but the poisoned animal incurs collateral damage by poisoning raptors,
scavengers, and pets. I'm always amazed at how many of those who rail
loudest about insecticides/chemferts, etc. are the biggest proponents
of animal poisons.

In most cases if people practiced better sanitation habits they'd
never have rodents making their homes in and around private
residenses... it's difficult in cities because of population density
and farmers with livestock will naturally attract rodents and folks
living on large rural properties will have all manner of critters
because that's the critter's natural habitat but folks who live in the
typical detached private residence in a subdivision will attract
rodents because one way or another they are feeding them. If there's
a bird feeder it will attract rodents, if one is feeding a pet they
will also be feeding rodents. It's pretty easy to block entry of
large rodents like squirrels and rats but it's nearly impossible to
bar mice. Anyone who feeds birds will also be feeding squirrels. Rats
can't subsist long on seeds alone, they need meat, rats eat people
food. I feed birds right outside my window, naturally I'm feeding
squirrels too, but I've never seen a rat eating my bird food (mostly
corn and sunflower seed). I've blocked all the places where
squirrels can gain entry but occasionally a field mouse will be brazen
enough to sneak in, it won't last long, I have six cats. The last
time I knew there was a mouse was because I saw six cats surrounding
the fridge... wasn't long before the mouse made a break for it, didn't
get six inches before in one quick motion Mooch scooped it up and
practically decapitated it, the mouse didn't suffer.

Here squirrels are entertainment:
http://i48.tinypic.com/eg22hx.jpg