The short answer
- No. After reviewing the evidence, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission concluded there is no way to use glue traps without causing animal suffering, even when they are checked often and caught animals are killed quickly.[8][9]
- CDC tells homeowners not to use glue traps, and UC IPM says glue boards for rats are not generally recommended for nonprofessional use.[4][2]
- Snap traps are the usual first choice for mice and rats around homes; they let you see results and avoid poisons.[1][2]
- Glue boards tend to catch mostly young rodents, because adults can often detect and avoid the glue.[1]
- Never use glue boards outdoors, where wildlife gets stuck; indoors, put them in boxes or out-of-reach spaces so cats and dogs can't get caught.[2]
- In England, setting a glue trap to catch a rodent is an offence unless done under a glue trap licence (Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022).[3]
- Wales bans setting or using glue traps on any vertebrate animal, and Scotland bans using them on animals other than invertebrates unless the user is authorised.[11][12]
Why glue traps are considered inhumane
A glue trap is a restraining trap. The animal is held alive, so whoever set the trap has to find it and kill it. UC IPM notes that rodents caught on glue boards might not die quickly and will need to be euthanized.[8][1]
In its report to Scottish ministers, the commission noted that every group that gave evidence, pest control trade bodies included, acknowledged that glue traps cause animals to suffer. Where they differed was whether that suffering can ever be justified.[8]
- What happens on the board: a 2013 review of three experiments, cited in the report, found rodents became fully stuck, feet, body and eventually head, and some had their mouths glued shut from trying to chew free. One experiment reported eye damage and raw skin where fur was torn away.[8]
- A 2003 review of the humaneness of rodent control, quoted in the report, said glue traps carry the same major welfare costs as leghold traps: immediate and prolonged distress and trauma, then dehydration, hunger and sometimes self-mutilation when animals are held for long periods.[8]
- Killing the animal is the hard part. UC IPM says drowning trapped mice isn't considered humane, although trap makers sometimes suggest it, and that few options meet ethical guidelines for euthanasia. It points readers to the American Veterinary Medical Association's euthanasia guidelines.[1]
- Many people don't know what to do with a stuck animal. A 2015 UK poll, commissioned by an animal welfare group and cited by the commission, found over half of respondents either didn't know or named an action that risked an offence under Scottish animal welfare law; 9% suggested drowning.[8]
- There is a health angle too. CDC says glue traps and live traps can scare rodents into urinating, which can increase your chance of getting sick.[4]
- Given a choice, mice tend to avoid them. In a University of Chicago lab study, mice were far more likely to enter a live trap than a glue trap and were caught significantly faster by the live traps.[13]
Practical drawbacks
- Rodents caught on glue boards and other live-catch traps might not die quickly and will need to be euthanized.[1]
- Non-target animals, including pets and wildlife, can be caught.[2]
- They lose effectiveness in dusty areas unless covered, and extreme temperatures affect the glue.[1]
- They catch fewer mice than other traps. The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management (ICWDM) says glue boards have a lower capture rate and should not be the main tool for controlling mice.[6]
- They do worse on rats, which often pull themselves free of the glue, according to ICWDM. UC IPM says successful glue board trapping for rats takes a thorough knowledge of rat behavior and a careful survey to find their runways.[7][2]
- Pets and wildlife get caught. Between 2015 and 2019 the RSPCA received 243 reports of glue trap incidents in England and Wales, and over 73% involved pets and non-target wildlife, including cats, pet snakes, dogs, pigeons and owls.[8]
Where glue traps are banned or restricted
None of the laws below apply in the United States. There, CDC's rodent advice for homeowners is simply not to use glue traps.[4]
- England: since 31 July 2024 it has been an offence to set a glue trap to catch a rodent, or in a way that risks catching one, unless it is set under a glue trap licence. Licences are for pest controllers, for public health or public safety, and only where there is no other satisfactory solution.[3][10]
- England also makes it an offence to find a glue trap set in a way that risks catching a rodent and, without reasonable excuse, leave it that way. The law defines a glue trap as one designed, or capable of being used, to catch a rodent with an adhesive.[3]
- Wales: since 17 October 2023 it has been an offence to set a glue trap that is likely to catch any animal that touches it, or to use one to kill or take any animal. For these offences, "animal" means any vertebrate other than a human.[11]
- Scotland: the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 makes it an offence, without reasonable excuse, to use a glue trap to kill or take any animal other than an invertebrate, unless the user is authorised under a scheme the Act sets up. That section came into force on 1 July 2026.[12]
- The Scottish commission had recommended an immediate ban on selling glue traps to the public, a strict, time-limited licensing scheme for professionals, and a review aimed at ending their use altogether.[9]
- New Zealand: the report says an order made in 2009 prohibits the sale and use of rodent glue boards from 1 January 2015 except with ministerial approval, for limited uses such as biosecurity and conservation, food storage and processing, and settings that need high hygiene.[8]
- Approvals there fell from 24 in 2015 to 2 in 2020, and boards sold under approval dropped from 24,564 in 2015 to 48 in 2019. New Zealand's animal welfare advisory committee said the commercial pest industry appeared to have adapted well to other methods.[8]
- Victoria, Australia: glue traps were banned from public use in 2008, and in December 2019 the state banned the sale, setting and use of all glue traps capable of trapping an animal, commercial pest controllers included.[8]
- Tasmania prohibits glue traps for animals except with ministerial exemption, and a blanket exemption covers licensed commercial operators who follow industry guidelines. In Ireland glue traps are not on the list of approved traps, with provision for use under ministerial authorisation.[8]
Sticky traps for insects
Insect monitors and glue boards use the same kind of glue, and they can catch a mouse that walks across them. A lab-animal paper from the University of Chicago describes insect traps entrapping escaped research mice, so a sticky trap set for bugs can still catch a mouse.[13]
- Scotland's offence covers glue traps used on animals other than invertebrates, so insect traps fall outside it. For using sticky traps to watch for cockroaches, spiders and other insects, see the indoor sticky trap guide linked below.[12]
If you use them anyway
- Place them along walls where mice travel, and indoors only.[1][2]
- Put them inside boxes or stations, or in spaces pets can't reach.[2]
- If a non-target animal gets stuck, vegetable oil can usually loosen the glue.[1]
- Keep them away from children as well as pets and wildlife. UC IPM says not to use glue boards anywhere children, pets or desirable wildlife can contact them.[1]
- Don't put peanut butter right on the board; the oil dissolves the glue. ICWDM suggests putting it in a plastic bottle cap set in the middle of the board.[6]
- Check them often. The UK industry code recommended checks every 12 hours, and a Scottish government science adviser called the 24-hour interval allowed at the time "certainly too long" for a trapped animal.[8]
- Never touch rodents with bare hands. UC IPM says to use disposable gloves to handle dead rodents and to wash thoroughly after handling traps.[2]
Better options
CDC's approach is to seal up the holes rodents use to get in and trap the ones already inside, and it recommends traditional snap traps for homes.[4][5]
- Snap traps set along walls with the trigger toward the wall; for mice, space them no more than about 10 feet apart and use enough to finish quickly.[1]
- CDC's snap trap setup: put a small amount of bait such as chunky peanut butter on the bait pan, set the trap on the floor with the baited end against the wall so it forms a T, and check traps daily.[4]
- Rat-sized snap traps with expanded triggers, fastened along runways; a dozen or more may be needed in a heavily infested home.[2]
- Not every snap trap hits equally hard. A 2024 study from Germany's Julius Kuehn Institute measured spring energy, impulse and clamping force and found they varied among snap trap models and trigger types.[14]
- Electronic traps that kill by electrocution cost considerably more than other traps, but UC IPM says some homeowners have found them to give good house mouse control. Check them often and remove dead rodents.[1][2]
- Live traps aren't a humane shortcut. UC IPM, writing for California, says mice in multiple-catch live traps still need to be removed often and humanely euthanized, that moving house mice off the property is illegal, and that released mice can find their way back from as far as half a mile. Live trapping of rats isn't recommended for nonprofessionals.[1][2]
- A New Zealand review of glue board replacements, summarized in the Scottish report, listed live traps and breakback kill traps as common replacements, and rated ultrasonic, electromagnetic and ionic repellers as lacking evidence that they work.[8]
- Exclusion: sealing the gaps rodents use to get in, so new ones don't replace the ones you catch.[1][2]
- To seal holes, CDC says to fill small ones with steel wool and hold it in place with caulk or spray foam.[5]
Common questions
- Do glue traps catch more mice than snap traps?
- Not as far as the evidence shows. ICWDM says glue boards have a lower capture rate than other traps, and a Scottish government science adviser told the commission it was not certain there was good evidence glue traps work better than conventional traps, citing a paper that suggested the reverse for mice.[6][8]
- What should I do if I find a live mouse stuck on a glue trap?
- Don't drown it or throw it away alive. UC IPM says drowning isn't considered humane and that a caught rodent will need to be euthanized, and it refers people to the American Veterinary Medical Association's euthanasia guidelines.[1]
- My pet or a wild animal got stuck. How do I free it?
- Both UC IPM and ICWDM say vegetable oil can be used to loosen the glue and release a non-target animal.[1][6]
- Are glue traps illegal in the United States?
- The laws in this guide are from the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. In the U.S., CDC's advice to homeowners is not to use glue traps, and UC IPM says glue boards should never be used outdoors.[4][2]
Sources
- University of California Statewide IPM Program, “Pest Notes: House Mouse, Publication 7483 (revised July 2025).” ipm.ucanr.edu/legacy_assets/PDF/PESTNOTES/pnhousemouse.pdf (accessed 2026-10-06)
- University of California Statewide IPM Program, “Pest Notes: Rats, Publication 74106 (revised June 2024).” ipm.ucanr.edu/legacy_assets/PDF/PESTNOTES/pnrats.pdf (accessed 2026-10-06)
- UK legislation (legislation.gov.uk), “Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022, section 1.” www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/26/section/1 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “How to Trap Up to Remove Rodents.” www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/rodent-control/trap-up.html (accessed 2026-11-10)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “How to Seal Up to Prevent Rodents.” www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/rodent-control/seal-up.html (accessed 2026-11-10)
- Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management, “House Mouse Damage Prevention and Control Methods.” icwdm.org/species/rodents/house-mice/house-mouse-damage-prevention-and-control-methods/ (accessed 2026-11-10)
- Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management, “Norway Rat Damage Prevention and Control Methods.” icwdm.org/species/rodents/norway-rats/norway-rat-damage-prevention-and-control-methods/ (accessed 2026-11-10)
- Scottish Government, “Scottish Animal Welfare Commission: report on the use of rodent glue traps in Scotland (Ethical analysis and critical issues).” www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-animal-welfare-commission-report-use-rodent-glue-traps-scotland/pages/6/ (accessed 2026-11-10)
- Scottish Government, “Scottish Animal Welfare Commission: report on the use of rodent glue traps in Scotland (Conclusions and recommendations).” www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-animal-welfare-commission-report-use-rodent-glue-traps-scotland/pages/8/ (accessed 2026-11-10)
- UK legislation (legislation.gov.uk), “Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022, section 2 (glue trap licences).” www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/26/section/2 (accessed 2026-11-10)
- UK legislation (legislation.gov.uk), “Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023, section 46 (prohibition on use of snares and glue traps).” www.legislation.gov.uk/asc/2023/4/section/46 (accessed 2026-11-10)
- UK legislation (legislation.gov.uk), “Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, section 1 (offence of using glue trap).” www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2024/4/section/1 (accessed 2026-11-10)
- PubMed (NCBI), “Schoenberger JM et al. Preference of Escaped Mice for Live Capture or Glue Traps and Relevance to Pest Control Programs. J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2023;62(1):38-47.” pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36755208/ (accessed 2026-11-10)
- PubMed (NCBI), “Walther B et al. Technical assessment of mechanical and electronic traps to facilitate future improvements in trap efficacy and humaneness. Pest Manag Sci. 2024;80(11):5543-5554.” pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38319070/ (accessed 2026-11-10)