Quick little pmq question. The lady down the road babysits my son, and gas three kids of her own. There are vermin living around/under her porch, both front anf back, on her pmq. I don't mean mice, or moles, or bees, it's rats. Big, brown rats. I thought at first she was exaggerating when she told me, until I drove there today, and watched a big ol' mama rat and a couple of babies run across the road and under her porch, completely nonchalantly, and I walked right up to them to make sure they were indeed rats. I know what rats are, I had them as pets in college, but not like these ones. Definitely not escaped domestic ones. Anyway, she called CFHA, who laid some traps. You know those little wooden mousetraps with the springs? Picture those, but ten times bigger. They haven't caught anything. She called again, and they said they can't use poison in case a dog gets in there. So they told her there's nothing more they can do except lay traps. These little suckers are multiplying. I'm concerned, because I have a two year-old kid who goes there two weeks a month, and I don't want him getting bitten by these. I remember when we moved into this pmq 5 years ago, we had mice, and it took CFHA 6 months to send around a dude with a mousetrap. We took care of it ourselves by that point. I guess I'm asking if the best thing is for her to keep bugging CFHA? Can I do anything? If she hires an exterminator to come take care of them, is there any way to get CFHA to pay for it? I know when I had a sick groundhog in my yard, it was C&E that I had to take care of it myself, but with the rats, they said it was CFHA's business. So help? Any advice? Is this something CFHA should be dealing with? Or the health department? Anyone been in the same boat? (And for the record, I'm not being a big wimpy girl, I'm not afraid of them, just worried about what they could be carrying.) :-X
*Also, feel free to PM me if you don't want to answer publicly.