Pest Control Kits

Start with the pest. The range covers rodent kits for mice and rats, insect kits for ants, bed bugs, fleas, cockroaches, carpet beetles, silverfish and moths, and seasonal wasp kits. Identify what you are dealing with before ordering, because the traps, baits and lures in each kit are matched to one pest and do not transfer between them.

Starter kits cover one room or one area of activity and suit a problem caught early - a few droppings, a single trail, one wardrobe. Ultimate kits carry more of each component so you can treat several places at once, which is what a spread or a returning problem needs. Each product page lists exactly what is included, so count the places you have seen activity and check the contents against that.

Because the components have to work together, and the usual mistake is buying half of what the job needs. A trap set without an attractant gets visited more slowly, rodenticide bait needs a tamper-resistant station to be used correctly, and treating without proofing just means the next lot walk in. Several of our mouse and rat kits include attractant gel - it is the item people most often leave out, and the one that most affects how quickly a trap gets found, so check the contents listed on the product page.

Some of our trap kits include attractant gel for baiting the traps, and others are trap and station only - the contents are listed on each product page, so check before ordering and add gel separately if it is not included. Separately again, some rat kits pair rodenticide bait with a tamper-resistant station: those are the ones with wheat bait or bait blocks in the name. Read our guide to when and when not to use rodenticides before choosing, because in most homes trapping is the right first step.

It depends which kit. Several are pesticide-free and work through traps, lures and physical measures alone. Others contain an insecticide, and the rat bait kits contain rodenticide approved for amateur use - that has to be used inside the tamper-resistant station supplied and never loose, because of the risk to pets and wildlife both from reaching the bait directly and from eating a poisoned rodent. Search for and remove carcasses as you go. Follow the label directions on every component, and site traps and stations out of reach.

Identify, proof, trap, treat, monitor. Work out what you have, close the obvious entry points, set the traps or lures where you have actually seen activity, use any treatment in the kit on the harbourage rather than out in the open, then leave one or two traps in place afterwards to confirm activity has stopped. Read our guides on choosing a mouse control method and choosing a rat control method.

Two symptoms with different causes. If bait keeps disappearing but traps are not firing, you are overbaiting - use a pea-sized amount so the animal has to work at it rather than lifting it off cleanly. If bait is untouched, the problem is placement or numbers: set traps tight against walls on the runs where droppings are, 50cm to 1 metre apart, handle them with gloves to keep your scent off, and give a wary rat several days to accept a new object before expecting anything.

That is a proofing problem rather than a trapping one - the kit cleared what was inside and the route in is still open. A mouse passes a gap of around 5mm and a rat around 15mm, so check around pipework, air bricks, door thresholds, vents and where cables enter the building. If activity returns after a full treatment cycle, or has spread across several rooms, that is the point to call a professional. Read our comparison of DIY versus professional pest control.