WAR!

My feud with a single rat has become a war.  There is at least one more, probably several.  One of them was just brave enough to sit in the hole in the wall (they didn't put it there, but they've expanded upon it.  why it was there, I'll never know) and stare at me, even with the light on.  They've also started to expand upon some damage left by the previous tenant, and have started a hole there.

I started off with getting rat traps, because had become aware of a rat in the air ducts.  Then I found they don't fit into the vents, so I grudgingly got poison, which they have utterly ignored.  However, I have now found that there is a single vent, which I can, if I'm VERY careful, get the trap into without setting it off, and it's plainly a rat highway by the fecal matter there.

Doing a bit of research it is some variety of roof/black rat, and the recommended bait is dried fruit, dried meat, bacon, nuts, etc.  If they like it better than peanut butter, fine, I'll replace it.  So there is a rat trap with a piece of oven-dried sliced ham tied to it with floss sitting in my bathroom's air vent.  And another on top of my fridge, which may or may not be a worthwhile spot.  And there's still the other one by their (now covered up) hole next to the drier where the first one met his doom.

I wish the electronic pest controllers worked, but I have found no evidence that they do in any studies, and a number of sites which point to either no results, or only results which are poor at best (I don't care if moths reproduce slightly less when exposed to certain types, or if the occasional rat is flustered by it briefly).  Now I'm considering glue traps, which to place in the vents would require cutting them up at least a bit.  If anyone has any other good ideas, please let me know.

Now I have to look under the trailer, and see what there is to see.  I can do some of it, but I can't go under there, too claustrophobic.  So, Sparky... I love you!  I'll buy you cheesecake!

On the bright side, there isn't a huge mess behind my drier which I had feared.  Maybe the wood panel covering up the hole will be a sufficient deterrent.  Can hope, at least.