something i noticed this morning was a build up of black specs around one of the areas i sealed up, which was apparently something trying to get in there that i think was a spider because i noticed a couple of large black spiders crawling along the baseboards on the other side. i've seen a couple of these, but i can't identify the species. they are never in a web. whatever they are, they are trying to get under the floor and can't, and i'm cleaning up a lot of shit they're leaving behind.
as for the rats, i'm confident that they're out of the laundry. they were leaving territorial markers, but i cleaned it all up and they've stopped. the increased light in the corners, the constant cleaning and lysoling and the placement of bleach around several spaces is working in repelling them, although i think they migrated into the furnace room, which is also dark and concealed. if so, i'll have to deal with that a little later. i am not done cleaning up the ceiling yet (these are roof rats, they're coming from the top down) and will need to buy a step stool to get up and look in there to do it. there's a hole that some pipes disappear into with a nasty draft that seems to be an entry point and that i need to clean out and get some insulation into, which i'm looking to wait until the end of summer to do. i will enjoy the hot air through the draft in the summer, but need to clean the place up. the wall in there us exposed, and rats can climb it, so i'm going to drape over it with some shower curtains left behind by the previous tenant, and may buy a few more. that will make it more difficult for the rats to move downwards, although they could still follow the broad pipes in, unless i can block that off. it's better, and good enough to use the space, so long as i'm constantly cleaning. another annoyance is that the kids upstairs are constantly jumping on the floors, shaking doewn dust and wood chips and dried shit, although i think i got most of that out with the shop vac.
one of my containers of bleach was dragged away. so, that tactic worked, and i'll have to see if it killed anything, in the end. however, the tactic i'm taking is expulsion rather than execution. i'm mostly trying to block entry. i do have glue traps intended to block their movement, but i'm not setting up baits with snap traps, although i bought a few. not yet; not unless i have to. everything, right now, is about bobbytrapping the space, with the expectation that they're smart enough to see the traps, jump upwards 90 degrees in the air, look at each other on the way down and say "i...i'm...getting out of here...", then spin around and run straight out by converting their legs into wheels, somehow. that is correct rattus mechanics, is it not? i think you get the point.
but, if they won't leave? yeah - there's glue traps for them to fall into and piles of bleach staggered around all over the place, including in places they sleep, and if they want to try to drag the bleach out and spill it everywhere all over them, it will probably kill them when they groom. but i'm giving them a choice to run away and find somewhere else to sleep, or to try to drag the bleach out, if they're stubborn. i want them to run, but if they choose to be stubborn, i have to kill them.