Pacific Northwest Gardening: Raccoons and so on, 1 by Poochella

Poochella wrote:
Katymac I can just see your excited boxer pouncing around the house. You need the Ratzapper!
Since we constantly have grain/feed for goats, and sunflower seeds for birds, we consequently have rats as well. Not in the house, but the garage and area stumps are Hotel Rodentia here. I don't like poison for the same pet risk reason mentioned by Vizz. We tried traps and a) they're dangerous to human digits, b) they're really gross for the rodent who doesn't die instantly.

I think there's a thread on Garden Foes about the Ratzapper. 4 D size batteries operate it and it works like a charm and quite humanely, I guess. You can read about it at the link. http://www.ratzapper.com/ It's about the size of a thin shoebox. I can't tell from your post if you need to get it INSIDE your heating ductwork, or somewhere in the crawlspace. I believe it would fit inside the ductwork though.