You should buy a machete. Good for spider webs and moving things around a little bit farther away than arms reach.

Also my experience with rats has been rather positive, except that they are really resistant to anesthesia and will chew through their own skin and into their bowels sometimes if they have injection site irritation... which is gross. And what you might be thinking of is Hauntavirus, but that's usually more mouse pee rather than rats.

Agree on hornets. Fuck those guys.