Thanks! We're leaning towards just laying down poison rodent traps--we haven't seen cats in our back yard in over a year, so there's less chance of a cat eating a poisoned rat. We knew there'd been rodent problems in the house before we got it, as there were signs in the attic of a previous mouse infestation, as our inspector told us, but the neighborhood is next to prairie and a lot of construction, so there's a lot of rodents and other animals being displaced over the past eight years or so.

Plus, as the child of a wildlife biologist I know that statistically, being in a city, I am within six feet of a rat at all times. I just don't want to KNOW that I am!