Rodent Traps

Settle this before you buy, because trap sizes differ and a mouse is often too light to fire a rat trap. Droppings are the quickest tell: mouse droppings are small dark pellets, roughly rice-grain sized, and rat droppings are considerably larger and raisin-shaped. Mice squeeze through a gap of around 5mm, a pencil's width; a rat needs around 15mm. Our guide to telling mice and rats apart covers the rest.

We offer a variety of rodent traps, including snap traps, live capture traps, and electronic traps. Each is designed to suit different needs, whether you want a quick solution or a more humane, catch-and-release method.

The right trap depends on the type of rodent you're dealing with and your preferred method of control. Snap traps are highly effective for quick results, live capture traps allow for humane release, and electronic traps provide a hands-free, efficient solution.

More than most people buy, and the spacing differs by species. For mice, space snap traps every 50cm to 1 metre through the areas where you have found droppings. Rats range much further, so space traps roughly 1-2m apart in hotspots where droppings are concentrated, 3-5m along walls and the routes they travel, and around 10m apart outdoors. Set as many as you can on the first night: rodents grow warier of traps over time, so the first night is the easiest catch you will get. For a single room, three or four is a sensible starting point; for a loft or a whole ground floor, think in terms of a multipack.

Tight to the wall, at right angles to it, trigger end nearest the skirting, on a run where you have found droppings. Wear gloves so your scent isn't on it, and use a pea-sized amount of bait pressed into the pedal rather than a generous smear. Our step-by-step guides cover mouse traps and rat traps in full.

A set trap is a mechanical hazard, so placement matters. Keep traps out of reach of children and pets, or house the trap inside a lockable bait station, which lets the rodent in but keeps fingers and paws out. Always read and follow the instructions supplied with the trap.

Start by working out which of these you have.

Bait disappearing, trap not sprung. You are using too much. A pea-sized amount, pressed firmly into the trigger pedal or smeared just underneath it, so the rodent has to work at it rather than lick it off the surface. A generous smear lets it feed from the edge without ever putting weight on the pedal. This is the single commonest cause.

Bait untouched. Too few traps, or spaced too far apart. Wrong placement - traps go tight to the wall, at right angles to it, trigger end nearest the skirting, where you have found droppings, not out in open floor. Your scent on the trap, so wear gloves when setting. Or the rodent is wary of the trap itself, common with rats and with mice that have met traps before: leave traps baited but unset for two or three nights, then set them all on the same night. It is the step most people skip.

If placement and baiting are both right and a week still gives nothing, question the target rather than the method. Old droppings look much like fresh ones, so the activity may have moved on or already stopped - trap where you are finding fresh droppings, not where you first heard something. And scratching overhead isn't always rodents; squirrels and birds in a loft sound very similar and won't go near a rodent trap.

Catching steadily is a good sign, but if new ones keep arriving after a week, something is replenishing them. Usually one of three things: an unsealed entry point letting new rodents in from outside, a nest nearby that is still producing, or too few traps to keep up with the numbers. Work round the outside and close the gaps with proofing while you keep trapping, and add more traps rather than moving the ones you have.

For snap and electronic traps, always wear gloves. Release the rodent from the trap, using tongs or a shovel rather than your hands, and, still wearing your gloves, place it in a plastic bag. Seal that bag, place it inside a second bag, and put it in your outdoor bin. Clean and sanitise the trap before resetting it.

Check live traps regularly and release the mouse well away from buildings, in cover rather than open ground, so it doesn't simply return or fall to a predator. Wear gloves when handling the trap.

Live-catching rats is different: releasing a live-caught rat may be an offence, so we don't stock live rat traps and don't recommend catch-and-release for rats. Use a snap or electronic trap instead.

No new droppings where you were finding them, no fresh gnawing and no night-time scratching, for two to three weeks. Even once activity stops, leave one or two traps set to monitor - if anything comes back, the trap tells you before the droppings do. Our guide to monitoring for rodents covers what to look for.

Trapping clears what is already inside; it doesn't stop new rodents getting in. Seal the entry points - a mouse gets through a gap of around 5mm and a rat around 15mm - using wire wool, sealant, door sweeps and air brick covers. Then remove what drew them: food in airtight containers, bins closed, spillages cleared.