Living With Rodents (and I'm NOT referring to Pico & Cocoa)

So, we have had a little issue with mice and rats. I know, it's absolutely disgusting, but our house has a crawl space and we think they live under the house and they come in through our broken doggie door at night because they love the dog food we leave out in self-dispensers. Usually, once we discover the problem, it's taken care of quickly but the rodents seem to be getting smarter and smarter and avoiding our traps. It gets tricky with small dogs, too, because you want to catch the mouse or the rat, not the pup! Anyhow... a few days ago we noticed droppings again (it's been a few months now since the last occurance) but haven't had any success with our glue traps. Well, the other night, Daniel and I were in our living room and we both see a mouse scurry across the room behind our TV stand. I grab a flashlight to investigate but can't find it. So I open the little door underneath the TV and there is the nastiest rat I've ever seen clinging to a speaker. I scream and run for the couch. The rat runs behind our ottoman - and then to our piano. So far we've pulled the TV stand out and the ottomon, now the piano. I can see it huddled inside the back of the piano and Daniel goes to get his knife. What is he going to do, stab it?? Get real. So we chase it from the piano, across the room and it's under our couch now. You know, Sandy will chase and kill cats and squirrels but would she help with this stinking rat? Of course not. I think she was preoccupied watching us scream and jump from furniture to furniture. Okay, so now Daniel is holding a knife and my tennis racket - ready for battle, a tennis racket? What is he thinking? He tells me to chase it out again. I do - he yells - and WHACK! He actually catches the rat with the tennis racket! Such skill!! I had to take a picture and now you can live the experience, too!

Here is our living room in total disarray!

Here is the amazing catch!

RIP you filthy little thing!