"Charlie Bress" wrote in message
...
I have a neighbor who has been hearing scratching noises in the walls and
ceiling.
They apparently got in through one or more broken vents
Her exterminator suggests two approaches
One is to set out poison. The downside is that the critters will die in
the walls and smell up the house.
The other is to set traps. The downside of this approach is the higher
cost of checking and rebaiting traps.

What is the best way overall of handling this problem?

Charlie
Forget the poison, the rats will indeed die in the wall. They likely use the
wall interiors as nests, and forage at night. Find out where they are
leaving the house, and set and bait with peanut butter, a Havahart trap
(squirrel sized one) against that escape route, if it is near the ground.
Then you might catch successive incoming and outgoing rats. Once the rats
are gone, and no more trap action, cover the entrance to the house. The rats
in my area are extremely wary of conventional spring traps, and avoid them.
Roger