A much safer way and legal in most places is to trap them. I've been trapping all summer, Rats, Mice, and Racoons with success. We had a really mild winter and were overrun with critters.
The downside was Racoons have seasons and nobody in multiple agencies could tell me what to do with any I trapped, legally.
The upside to a live trap is you can let loose the critters you didn't intend to trap, The downside is you have to figure out a way to kill the undesirables.
They say fruit works for Chucks, I've found Peanut butter works for most everything. I've even caught Cats with Peanutbutter bait.
