"Lil Abner" wrote in message ...
I told my wife to set a few traps under the couters because they had
gotten into a box of macaroni.
She insisted on using glue traps and didn't bait them
This evening I killed a little mouse near the cat's bowl.
Looked outside a little bit ago and saw three apparently going for the
dog's bowl.
They ran under the mower and under the dog's house when I turned the
light on.
These are about two inches long minus the tail. there are probably a
bunch of them and their parents and grandparents.
We've never had a problem before but do now.
What's the best way to get rid of them?

Howdy Abner. Peanut butter on traps works best for me. Fasten a piece of paper around the trip and mash the peanut butter into it real good. Otherwise sometimes they will eat the peanut butter without tripping it.

Plug up all the places they can get into the house. Get a bunch of steel wool copper scouring pads and go all around the outside of your house, shoving them into any hole over 1/4-inch diameter. Cooper won't rust.

Clean up anything outside they eat, like fruit, compost fixings, standing water, etc.

No matter what they always find a way into the walls of my house from time to time.

I'm not a fan of poison, but it does the job here quickly. Vector control folks set out bait traps. They don't recommend using them if you have children scurrying around or small animals that can get inside them. They told me if the rat eats it and then a cat or bird eats the rat, the poison will already be neutralized and not affect them, but can't swear that personally. As for smell, dying rats tend to go to some remote place before the die, not near the house.