Oh, Yorkster!! I know exactly how you feel!! Honey brought us 3 big rats (dead, thank goodness) in a matter of weeks. I did choose to call the exterminator, and he put rat poison under my house (no access for the dogs), and put a poison trap inside a little fenced area that surrounds my a/c unit and hot water heater (again, no access for the dogs, and impossible for the cats to get into). He saw evidence of them under the house in the crawl space, but they were coming in and out through air spaces between bricks. He cautioned me to never leave uneaten cat or dog food outside.

Knock on wood, I have never seen another one. We occassionally will find a dead mouse outside, but they are the victims of the cats.

You might call and exterminator and just ask how they would normally handle it when there are pets around. He said the poison would kill my cats or hamsters immediately, but since I had big dogs the danger was much less significant for them. I didn't care. I didn't want any poison anywhere near any of them.

Good luck

[ November 25, 2001: Message edited by: Logan ]