Glue Traps for Mice: 7 Licensed Trade Picks (UK 2026)

Right, let’s get the awkward bit out of the way first, because it changes everything else in this article: glue traps for mice are no longer something you can legally pick up in the shops and slap down behind the fridge. If you’ve searched this term because your kitchen skirting board sounds like a tiny disco at 2am, you’re not alone — but the legal ground has shifted under this whole category in the last two years, and pretending otherwise would be doing you a disservice.

A glue trap for mice is a board or tray coated in a strong, non-drying adhesive designed to immobilise a rodent that walks across it. No springs, no bait stations, no electronics — just an extremely sticky surface and a lure scent. For decades they were a cheap, grab-it-off-the-shelf staple of British pest control, sold in corner shops and hardware stores up and down the country. That’s no longer the full picture, and understanding why matters more than any spec sheet.

Since the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 came fully into force in England on 31 July 2024, using one of these devices without a licence is a criminal offence for anyone who isn’t a professional pest controller. Wales moved first with a blanket ban in 2023. Scotland followed with its own prohibition under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, confirmed for 1 July 2026. Only Northern Ireland has, at the time of writing, no equivalent ban on the books. So this guide is written with that reality front and centre: it’s aimed at licensed pest control technicians, facilities managers researching compliant options for commercial sites, and anyone who wants to understand exactly where the law stands before they do anything else. If that’s not you, skip to the humane alternatives section — it’s arguably the most useful part of this page.

Quick Comparison Table

Every single one of these sits in the same regulatory box: legitimate stock for a licensed operator, not a product you can order to your home address and deploy in the airing cupboard. What separates them in practice is board size, adhesive tackiness in cold conditions, whether they come in a tunnel-style covered format (which cuts down on non-target catches like garden birds), and how they’re sold — most reputable UK trade suppliers now require proof of licensing before they’ll fulfil an order, which is exactly as it should be. Catchmaster boards tend to win on raw adhesive strength and bulk pricing, while Sorex and the tunnel-format options edge ahead on minimising accidental catches, which matters enormously given the welfare data driving this whole regulatory shift.

Compare current trade listings and pricing before placing a bulk order — availability shifts as more UK suppliers move to licence-only sales.

Top 7 Glue Traps for Mice: Trade Analysis

1. Catchmaster Pro Series 60RB Bulk Glue Boards — best for high-volume commercial contracts

If you’re running a pest control round with dozens of sites a week, the sheer volume math on Catchmaster Pro Series 60RB Bulk Glue Boards is what makes them a mainstay of the trade. These are flat, cardboard-backed boards roughly mouse-sized, sold in bulk cartons rather than the small consumer twin-packs that used to sit on supermarket shelves. The adhesive is a professional-strength, pressure-sensitive formula rather than the thinner coatings found on cheaper novelty products — in practice that means it stays tacky through a wider temperature range, which matters in unheated warehouses and loading bays where a lot of licensed placements actually happen.

Based on the spec comparison across trade catalogues, the 60RB’s main draw is cost-per-unit at scale: buying in bulk brings the per-board price down meaningfully compared with smaller retail packs, which is the whole point when you’re covering a large industrial estate under a class licence. Reviewers consistently note in trade forums that the peanut-butter-scented lure performs well against house mice specifically, though catch rates against larger rats are more variable — something to factor in if your infestation isn’t purely a mouse problem. This is a technician’s tool, not a homeowner’s shortcut, and it’s priced and packaged accordingly.

Pros:

• ✅ Strong per-unit value when bought in bulk cartons
• ✅ Reliable tack across a wide temperature range
• ✅ Well-established supply chain through UK trade wholesalers

Cons:

• ❌ Not sold to the general public under current UK law
• ❌ Less effective against large or juvenile-avoidant rats

Trade pricing typically sits around £30-£45 per 60-pack depending on the wholesaler, which lands as solid value for licensed operators covering multiple sites, but it’s an entirely moot point for anyone without a Natural England licence to use them.

2. Catchmaster 72MB Max-Catch Glue Boards — best all-rounder for licensed technicians

The Catchmaster 72MB Max-Catch Glue Boards are the slightly larger sibling in the same manufacturer’s range, and the extra surface area is the whole story here. What most buyers overlook about board size is that it directly affects how long a trap stays effective once dust and debris start settling on the glue — a bigger board simply has more “clean” adhesive in reserve, so it holds up longer in dusty industrial environments before needing replacement.

On paper this means fewer site visits purely to swap out spent boards, which is a real labour-cost saving for a pest control business billing by the hour. The 72MB format is also commonly supplied in a lightly tented or fold-over design in some batches, giving a bit of weather resistance if it’s placed near an external door threshold — a detail that matters more than it sounds, since damp glue boards lose tack fast. Aggregated trade feedback suggests these perform consistently as a like-for-like swap wherever a technician was previously using smaller flat boards, without needing to change placement strategy.

Pros:

• ✅ Larger surface area extends usable lifespan per board
• ✅ Some batches offer light weather resistance for threshold use
• ✅ Straightforward drop-in replacement for smaller board formats

Cons:

• ❌ Bulkier, so less discreet in tight void spaces
• ❌ Still requires a licence and documented “exceptional circumstances” to deploy legally in England

Expect to pay in the £25-£40 range per pack from trade suppliers — a modest premium over the smaller 60RB format, justified mainly by the reduced replacement frequency.

3. Pest-Stop Glue Board — best British-brand trade pick

Pest-Stop, the professional arm of STV International (the company also behind The Big Cheese range), makes a flat cardboard-tray glue board that’s been a familiar sight in UK pest control vans for years. Here’s what to weigh with a homegrown brand like this: supply continuity. Because it’s manufactured and distributed within the UK rather than imported, technicians report fewer stock gaps during the kind of supply-chain hiccups that hit imported American brands from time to time.

The board itself is unremarkable in a good way — a standard flat tray, food-safe lure, no gimmicks — which suits pest controllers who want a predictable, well-understood product rather than novelty features. What the spec sheet won’t tell you, but reviewers in trade circles note, is that Pest-Stop’s glue can feel slightly less aggressive on very dusty surfaces compared with the Catchmaster range, so it rewards more frequent site inspection in genuinely grimy environments like old grain stores or disused outbuildings.

Pros:

• ✅ UK-manufactured with stable domestic supply
• ✅ Familiar, predictable format for experienced technicians
• ✅ Competitively priced against imported alternatives

Cons:

• ❌ Adhesive can underperform on very dusty surfaces
• ❌ Fewer size/format variants than the Catchmaster range

Typical trade pricing runs £15-£25 per pack, making it one of the more affordable licensed-use options on this list.

4. The Big Cheese Glue Board — best for contractors already using the brand’s other tools

The Big Cheese is the more consumer-facing sister brand to Pest-Stop, but its trade-only glue board line survives specifically because pest control firms already use the company’s snap traps, bait stations and attractants, and like sourcing everything from one supplier. That’s a genuinely practical reason to pick it: fewer supplier accounts to manage, consolidated invoicing, and a single delivery instead of three.

Based on the spec comparison, the board construction is broadly comparable to the Pest-Stop line above — both come from the same manufacturer — but The Big Cheese range is more frequently bundled with the brand’s own attractant products, which some technicians find boosts catch rates in mixed mouse-and-insect environments like commercial kitchens. Reviewers consistently note that brand familiarity among facilities managers can smooth over sign-off conversations, since it’s a name many non-specialists already recognise from high-street shelves (in the parts of the range that remain legal for public sale, like their snap traps).

Pros:

• ✅ Easy to bundle with other Big Cheese pest control products
• ✅ Wide brand recognition simplifies client conversations
• ✅ Consistent manufacturing quality with the Pest-Stop line

Cons:

• ❌ No meaningful performance edge over the sister Pest-Stop product
• ❌ Brand’s consumer-facing image can cause confusion about the licence-only status of this specific line

Price sits in the same £15-£25 bracket as Pest-Stop, so the decision here really comes down to existing supplier relationships rather than the board itself.

5. Rentokil Pro Glue Board — best for sites already on a Rentokil contract

If your business already has rodent control handled through a Rentokil service contract, the Rentokil Pro Glue Board is less a purchasing decision and more a continuity one. Rentokil’s professional-only stock isn’t typically sold as a standalone retail item at all — it moves through the company’s own technicians and authorised contract channels, which is itself a useful data point about how thoroughly the trade has locked this category down since 2024.

What most buyers overlook here is that going through an established contract, rather than sourcing boards independently, shifts the compliance burden onto the contractor. Rentokil’s technicians hold the licences, do the site risk assessments, and file the reporting Natural England requires — which is precisely the “exceptional circumstances” pathway the law envisages for cases like food manufacturing sites or hospital plant rooms, rather than a facilities manager buying boards off a shelf and setting them out themselves.

Pros:

• ✅ Compliance and licensing handled entirely by the contractor
• ✅ Consistent quality control across a large national service network
• ✅ Suited to sites needing documented, auditable pest control records

Cons:

• ❌ Not available for independent purchase outside a service contract
• ❌ Typically the most expensive route once labour costs are included

There isn’t a standalone retail price to quote honestly, since this option is bundled into contract pricing — a fair reflection that, for the highest-risk sites, buying the board isn’t really the product; the licensed service is.

6. Sorex Glue Board — best for food-manufacturing and warehousing environments

Sorex, a long-established UK rodenticide and trap manufacturer, produces glue boards aimed squarely at the food-industry end of the pest control trade — precisely the “large-scale risk to public health” category Natural England’s licensing guidance singles out as a genuine exceptional circumstance. Several of Sorex’s formats come in a tunnel or covered design rather than a flat open board, and that single design choice does a lot of heavy lifting on the welfare side: a covered tunnel dramatically reduces the odds of catching a bird, hedgehog, or someone’s cat, which was the single biggest driver of the RSPCA’s campaign against open glue boards in the first place.

On paper this means Sorex’s tunnel format is the more defensible choice wherever a licence has genuinely been granted, precisely because it minimises the non-target catches that made this whole product category so controversial. Reviewers consistently note that tunnel designs slightly reduce catch rates for the target rodent compared with a fully open board, which is a trade-off most licensed operators consider worthwhile given the regulatory and reputational stakes involved.

Pros:

• ✅ Tunnel/covered design cuts non-target species risk significantly
• ✅ Purpose-built for food-industry and warehousing compliance needs
• ✅ Backed by a long-standing UK rodent-control manufacturer

Cons:

• ❌ Slightly lower catch efficiency than fully open board designs
• ❌ Premium pricing versus basic flat boards

Expect £20-£35 per pack from authorised trade wholesalers, a reasonable premium for the reduced welfare risk the covered design provides.

7. PelGar Pro-Glu Board — best budget bulk option for pest control firms

PelGar International, a UK manufacturer better known for its rodenticide formulations, also produces a no-frills bulk glue board under its Pro-Glu line, and the appeal here is straightforwardly financial. Here’s what to weigh: for a small independent pest control operator without the buying power of a national contractor, per-unit cost genuinely matters, and PelGar’s bulk cartons tend to undercut the bigger-name imports on price while still meeting the basic professional-strength adhesive spec the job requires.

Based on the spec comparison, this isn’t the board you reach for when non-target risk is your top priority — it’s a flat, open design without the tunnel refinements of the Sorex range — but for a licensed technician working an interior industrial unit with minimal wildlife exposure, that trade-off between cost and coverage area versus welfare-optimised design is a legitimate, defensible call. Reviewers consistently note it as a solid “does what it says” option rather than a premium product, which for a lot of small pest control businesses is exactly the value proposition they’re after.

Pros:

• ✅ Competitive bulk pricing for smaller trade buyers
• ✅ Straightforward, no-frills professional-strength adhesive
• ✅ Backed by an established UK pest-control manufacturer

Cons:

• ❌ Open flat design carries higher non-target catch risk
• ❌ Fewer format/size variants than bigger competitors

Trade pricing runs roughly £15-£30 per pack, making it one of the more accessible bulk options for smaller licensed operators.

Glue Traps vs Humane Alternatives

Comparing glue boards against snap traps and live-catch traps isn’t just a spec-sheet exercise — it’s really a question of what a licensed operator, or a member of the public researching alternatives, actually needs from a device. A properly maintained snap trap kills a rodent instantly and is legal for anyone to buy and use across the whole UK, no licence required. A live-catch trap avoids killing the animal at all but demands the user check and release it within hours, or welfare problems creep in fast. Glue boards, by contrast, restrain but rarely kill quickly, which is precisely why they’ve been pushed into the licensed-only category — the RSPCA has been explicit that it opposes the manufacture, sale and use of glue-type traps outright, citing the “unacceptable suffering” caused by prolonged restraint.

For anyone who isn’t a licensed pest controller, this comparison basically resolves itself: snap traps and quality live-catch traps are the only glue-trap alternatives you can legally buy and use in England, Wales and (from July 2026) Scotland, and they’re also the options that avoid the welfare controversy entirely. For licensed technicians, the calculation is different — glue boards remain a documented, licensed tool for specific high-risk sites where alternatives have genuinely failed, which is exactly the narrow lane Natural England’s guidance carves out.

Looking at the table above, the regulatory direction of travel across the UK is unambiguous: every nation bar Northern Ireland has now restricted or banned glue boards for exactly the reasons the non-target risk column highlights. If you’re weighing up a genuine mouse problem at home, a snap trap remains the cheapest, fastest, and entirely legal starting point; a live-catch trap suits households that want to avoid killing the animal but are prepared to check it every few hours.

One tap could save someone else the confusion of buying a product they can’t legally use — share this comparison if it helped.

Legality by Region: Where Glue Traps for Mice Actually Stand

This is arguably the single most important section on this page, because the legal picture genuinely differs across the four UK nations, and getting it wrong risks a criminal offence, not just a wasted purchase.

England — Since 31 July 2024, using a glue trap to catch a rodent without a licence is an offence under the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022. Only professional pest controllers who’ve completed the RSPH Level 2 Award in pest management and the relevant Killgerm training module can apply to Natural England for a class licence (CL53) or a single-use individual licence (A15), and even then only for narrowly defined “exceptional circumstances” — think aircraft interiors, hospital operating theatres, or critical infrastructure at imminent risk. You can check the official Natural England glue trap licence guidance directly for the current application process.

Wales — Wales moved first and fastest, introducing a full ban on the use of rodent glue traps under the Agriculture (Wales) Act in 2023, without the same professional-licence carve-out that England retained.

Scotland — The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 confirmed a ban on the use, supply, and possession of glue traps, in force from 1 July 2026 — meaning that as of the date this article was researched, Scotland’s ban is already live. The Scottish Government has signalled openness to a narrow professional exemption for genuinely critical public-health scenarios, similar in spirit to England’s regime, though the detailed guidance for pest controllers is still being finalised.

Northern Ireland — At the time of writing, Northern Ireland has no equivalent ban in force; glue traps remain legally available there, though animal welfare campaigners (including the USPCA) have been pushing for legislation to bring it into line with the rest of the UK. Anyone in Northern Ireland considering one should still weigh the welfare evidence carefully even where it remains technically legal.

The full text of the underlying legislation, including its licensing and enforcement provisions, is available via Wikipedia’s summary of the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022, which links through to the official legislation.gov.uk record. Given how fast this area is moving — three of four UK nations have introduced restrictions inside three years — anyone in the trade should treat regional legality as something to re-check regularly rather than assume stays fixed.

Practical Usage Guide for Licensed Operators

For technicians who do hold a valid licence, correct placement and monitoring aren’t optional extras — they’re the legal conditions attached to using the device at all. Natural England’s class licence conditions require checking traps every six hours and responding to a triggered trap within two hours, which is a considerably tighter monitoring schedule than most people assume applies to “just a sticky board.”

In practice, that means glue boards should only be deployed where a technician (or their nominated backup) can realistically maintain that check-in schedule for the duration of the placement — not left overnight in an unoccupied building and revisited the next morning. Boards should be secured with tape or staples against skirting boards or along known rodent runs to prevent the animal dragging the trap into an inaccessible void, which both worsens the welfare outcome and makes retrieval far harder. A common first-30-days mistake among newly licensed technicians is over-placing boards in the hope of maximising catch numbers; in reality, fewer, well-monitored placements along confirmed pathways outperform a scattergun approach and generate a much cleaner compliance record if Natural England ever asks for it.

Documentation is the other half of the job. Every use under an individual licence (A15) requires a “report of action” within five working days, and class licence holders must submit an annual renewal report by 31 January. Building this paperwork into a standard job-completion checklist — rather than treating it as an afterthought — saves a scramble later and keeps a business’s licence in good standing.

Problem → Solution: Common Glue Trap Complaints in the Trade

Problem: A non-target animal is caught. Cover the animal to calm it, then work a few drops of vegetable or baby oil gently into the contact points to loosen the adhesive without pulling on the fur or skin, and contact a wildlife rescue or vet immediately if it’s injured or unable to move freely once released.

Problem: The adhesive has lost tack in cold storage. Adhesive performance drops sharply below a few degrees; swap to a board specifically rated for cold environments or increase check frequency, since underperforming glue increases the risk of a partial, prolonged catch rather than a clean one.

Problem: A client assumes glue boards are the default option. Lead with the legal reality — most UK sites no longer qualify for licensed glue-trap use — and pivot the conversation to snap traps, bait stations, or proofing work as the compliant first line of defence.

Problem: Dust and debris are reducing catch rates. Increase inspection frequency in genuinely dusty environments (grain stores, old outbuildings) and consider a larger-format board with more reserve adhesive surface, like the Catchmaster 72MB reviewed above.

Problem: A licence application was refused. Refusals typically come down to insufficient evidence that alternative methods were tried and failed first — document snap-trap and bait-station attempts thoroughly before applying, since Natural England explicitly wants to see that glue traps were the last resort, not the first call.

How to Choose Between Rodent Control Methods

1. Check your legal status first, not last. Confirm whether you or your business actually qualifies for a glue trap licence before comparing products — for the vast majority of readers, this step alone rules the category out.
2. Match the method to the risk level. A single mouse in a domestic kitchen calls for a snap trap; a food-manufacturing site with a documented, escalating infestation is the scenario licensing was actually designed for.
3. Weigh non-target risk explicitly. Covered or tunnel-format devices reduce the odds of catching birds or pets — a real consideration wherever outdoor or semi-outdoor placement is involved.
4. Factor in monitoring capacity. Any device that restrains rather than kills instantly demands frequent checking; don’t choose a method your schedule can’t actually support.
5. Consider total cost, not just unit price. Bulk trade pricing looks cheap per board, but licensing, training, and compliance reporting are real costs that a simple snap trap avoids entirely.
6. Ask what happens after a catch. Live-catch and glue methods both require a clear disposal or release plan before you set the first trap, not after.
7. Reassess regularly. With three of four UK nations tightening this law inside three years, a compliant setup today may need revisiting within months.

Common Mistakes When Sourcing Glue Traps for Mice

The single most common mistake is assuming a product still legally sold somewhere online is legal to use everywhere — plenty of overseas or marketplace listings for consumer-style glue traps are still visible to UK shoppers despite the underlying use being restricted or banned in most of the country. A second frequent error is treating “trade” or “professional” labelling on a product as sufficient compliance in itself; the licence sits with the individual or business using the device, not with the product packaging. Buyers also commonly underestimate the ongoing reporting burden, assuming a licence is a one-off approval rather than a recurring compliance obligation with renewal deadlines and per-use reporting forms. Finally, many smaller pest control operators skip documenting failed attempts with non-glue alternatives, which is precisely the evidence Natural England wants to see before granting an individual licence in the first place.

What to Expect: Real-World Performance for Licensed Technicians

On paper, a professional-strength glue board looks straightforward: place it, wait, remove a captured rodent. In practice, real-world performance depends heavily on environmental factors that spec sheets rarely mention. Humidity and dust dramatically affect adhesive lifespan — a board that performs well in a clean, climate-controlled unit can lose meaningful tack within days in a dusty grain store or an unheated loading bay. Placement along a confirmed rodent run, rather than a guessed location, is consistently the single biggest driver of catch success reported across trade forums, far outweighing differences between individual brands. And because the licensing conditions demand checks every six hours, the practical “performance” of any glue board is inseparable from the technician’s monitoring schedule — a superb board checked once a day still fails the welfare test the licence exists to protect.

Long-Term Cost & Compliance Considerations

For a pest control business weighing whether to invest in the training and licensing needed to use glue boards at all, the total cost of ownership extends well beyond the per-pack price quoted earlier in this article. The RSPH Level 2 Award and the Killgerm glue-trap training module both carry course fees and staff time costs before a single board is ever purchased. Ongoing compliance — six-hourly checks, two-hour response windows, five-day incident reporting, and annual licence renewal — represents a genuine labour overhead that needs building into job pricing for any site where glue boards are actually used. Set against that, the narrow range of sites that now legitimately qualify (hospitals, critical infrastructure, large food-manufacturing facilities) means most businesses will find the juice isn’t worth the squeeze compared with simply expanding their snap-trap and proofing service lines, which carry none of this licensing overhead and remain legal to sell and use UK-wide.

Safety, Regulations and Compliance Guide

Beyond the headline licensing requirement, several overlapping pieces of legislation shape how glue traps for mice can be used at all. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 already made it an offence to cause any captured animal “unnecessary suffering,” regardless of the trap type — glue boards simply made that offence far easier to commit inadvertently, which is a large part of why Parliament legislated specifically against them. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 separately makes it an offence to intentionally catch, kill or injure wild birds, which is directly relevant given how frequently open glue boards have caught garden birds by accident. Businesses operating under a licence also need to check their public liability and professional indemnity insurance explicitly covers glue-trap use, since some insurers have flagged the legislative change as a material risk factor requiring policy review. Given how much of this sits at the intersection of animal welfare law, licensing regulation, and insurance small print, larger pest control businesses in particular should treat a periodic compliance review — not just a one-off licence application — as part of standard operating procedure.

Glue Traps for Mice for Different Business Types

A single-operator pest control technician covering mostly domestic properties will, realistically, almost never have a legitimate use case for a licensed glue board under the current rules — the domestic infestations they typically handle don’t meet the “exceptional circumstances” threshold, and building a service around snap traps, proofing and bait stations is the more sustainable business model. A facilities manager at a food-manufacturing site, by contrast, sits squarely in the population the licensing regime was designed for, and should budget for a contracted, licensed provider like Rentokil rather than attempting to self-manage compliance in-house. A hospital estates team dealing with an operating-theatre rodent risk faces perhaps the clearest-cut exceptional circumstance in the entire regulation, but should still expect Natural England to require documented evidence that alternative methods were tried first, given how narrowly the licence is meant to be applied.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Glue traps for mice sit in a genuinely unusual spot in 2026: a product category that’s been quietly but decisively regulated out of ordinary consumer reach across most of the UK, while surviving as a narrow, closely monitored tool for licensed professionals dealing with real public-health stakes. If you’ve read this far hoping for a straightforward “buy this one” recommendation, the honest answer is that for most households, that recommendation doesn’t exist anymore — not because the products themselves changed, but because the law caught up with decades of documented animal-welfare harm. For licensed pest controllers, brands like Catchmaster, Sorex, Pest-Stop and PelGar remain legitimate, well-established options, each with genuine trade-offs in adhesive strength, non-target risk, and bulk pricing worth weighing against the specific site and its documented history of failed alternatives. Whichever side of that licensing line you sit on, the throughline is the same: check the current legal status for your region before anything else, because it’s shifted three times in three years and shows no sign of settling yet.

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