https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSk79YcuIRQ
For rats, step it up to a 30 gallon trash can. I'd use galvanized, but you could go with heavy duty plastic if you anchor it.
Just went through a rat problem, and have been through it before. Patience with this type of problem is a necessity. What needs to be done depends on the circumstances.
Don’t assume there is only one entrance. Do a complete survey of your house to find additional ones (we have a terrier that helped with this). Make certain there is no food/water source inside the house. If they are trapped inside the house with no food source, they will eventually be attracted to your traps. In this situation, I’ve used a live trap with a trail of food leading to it (they will eventually go in and get trapped). I have used my wireless surveillance camera to verify entrance points and blocked them after the rat was observed leaving. It is best to do it this way rather than have a rat die inside the walls. This camera has observed rats escaping a spring trap (they are unbelievably quick). Once the rat is out and can no longer access your house, then you can go full ninja in return. Only use poison if you are certain a pet won’t be able to find it. I have had some success with a device that electrocutes a rodent (more so with mice, though). Note that young rats are difficult to differentiate from mice (mice have hair on their tails, whereas rats don’t).