ROSHIELD 2 x External Rat Snap Trap Control Protector Box - Rodent Safety Kit for Gardens, No Poison Solution - Green Professional Quality

I live in the country or just in it and have a large garden where we feed birds and hedgehogs. And inevitably the odd large rat... Of course, the thing about rats is that they need to be kept under control ASAP otherwise they will be out of control very quickly. So, I bought these along with many others over the years. This brand is the best. No doubt about it the quality of construction and general design is a winner. Not for the rat mind you... Few things to note. Rats are damned clever animals and very wary of traps of any kind. Some will avoid this and any other trap regardless so you need a combination of traps and poison. I prefer these kill traps because it's done and dusted and there is no body left to poison any other animal if eaten. From my use I'd say using the right bait - peanut butter - and located in the correct place which is along a wall where rats tend to run these give the best results possible. The actual traps inside are well made and easy to set with not too much risk of catching yourself if you take care. They locate positively in the container unit thus making a very solid trap indeed. Couple of things to note. I have a lot of hedgehogs around and while a full grown one would not get inside, smaller or young ones could with the consequent results not being ideal. Thus I put these on slightly raised levels so rats but not hedgehogs will investigate as well as the usual places such as outbuildings and sheds. Cats might get inside but they wouldn't go for the bait but for the dead rat or mouse in which case the trap is already activated. Small children need to be watched and I remove these when my grandchildren come over. Overall, a great rat trap.

We have a happy expanding band of rodents resident under our shed so I ordered two of these traps before they started looking for more living quarters. The traps turned up with pretty good instructions. A lot of people complain about the lock and there is a knack to it. The key must be rotated 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and held in that position as you open the box (this splays a couple of tines within the box allowing opening). A little fiddly but it works well once you have the knack. I handle the traps with gloves (even when unpacking) to avoid getting human scent on the traps. I've used a mix of nutella and birdseed as bait. The snap traps are powerful and relatively easy to set without risking fingers. The first night we had one juvenile rat, the second, two, one in each trap and the third night another. So, four rats in three nights is good going. They seem to be fairly humane as all the rats have died instantly. We tested the boxes to ensure our rabbit who roams freely in the garden cannot get into the boxes; so they are safe for her. The older rats may be harder to deal with as I suspect they get bigger by being more cautious but they may relax as the traps are around longer. I remove the rats each morning and rebait the traps in the evening. A good solid product that has worked well for us at a reasonable price. Update (29/04/20): The instructions recommend to leave the traps in place and keep them baited. They have dispatched a mouse but today, a few of weeks on have removed another rat. So, I'm really pleased with the traps and provided you follow the instructions carefully they work well and I thoroughly recommed them.

Good rat traps that have caught 6 rats since I put them out. I baited them with dog food.

I purchased 2 x Roshield Rat Snap Traps with the two external protector boxes a couple of weeks ago. I have used tunnel rat traps for years on farms and shoots to control vermin but didn't want to use any of those at home as our two Labradors have free run of the garden when they are not out with me. I was concerned that they could access ordinary traps and injure themselves. When the two Roshield traps and boxes arrived I thought that they were well made and exactly what I was looking for. I baited both of them with peanut butter, as recommended, and placed them out on the two rat runs I could identify. They stayed there for a week with no catches. I changed the bait using dog food (dry chicken and rice kibble) but ground it to a fine crumb, placed it in the bait container and scattered a few crumbs in both sides of the box entrances. Instant success as the next morning there were two dead rats caught in the traps. The following night another one followed but in the other box the bait had been taken but no rat! The trap was still cocked. I examined the trap with the box open and could see that it was 'operator fault'. I had failed to arm the trap properly. It is possible to engage the release sear with the trigger plate without the plate being properly in position. I found that the fail safe method was to cock the trap with one hand and use an old table knife to just lift the trigger plate slightly until it clicks into place. It should be clear of the bottom of the box by about 10mm. Having done that and re-baited there two more rats in the bag the following morning. These are absolutely first class traps and safe to use where dogs have access. The cable tie included in the kit works well as a 'bait taken' indicator but not as an external cocking mechanism as is suggested in the instructions. This is no big deal as you have to open the box to re-bait it anyway. I can thoroughly recommend these rat traps and they are an absolute bargain at this money.

Well made and as advertised, but not for me. I knew I had a rat, as I found the rat runs and set up a night vision camera overnight and had the displeasure of watching a very large rat walk over and under my decking and down my path. When I say a big rat, this thing was very well built and had obviously been well fed in the field to the rear of our home. The trap/bait boxes seem to be well engineered and the great feature that everyone will find useful will be the activation indicator using the tie-wrap, very useful, as I could see if the trap had activated from my bedroom window, no need to open the box every day. But, there are some short-comings for my circumstances. Knowing the size of the rat I faced, I was a bit concerned about the power in the trap and thought it could have done with bigger springs and dragons teeth to grip the rat. I did buy such a trap, but it did not fit in the case, so I had to use the supplied traps. I cannot stop thinking that my concerns about the trap might have been justified, as the first night that the trap was armed (4 nights left unset to get the rat accustomed to the box), the trap activated, but no rat. Apart from that incident, I caught a rodent every time I set these traps and they instantly killed the rodent, but the problem was that I was catching wood mice, which I am happy to live in peace with, they just got in the way of any potential rats who wanted to have a go at the bait - albeit, if Mr Rat had a close shave on night one, he would probably be trap shy for life. The real problem for me, that resulted in me disposing of these boxes, was part of the design. The rat needs to walks in a few inches and the trap is right in front of the rat, no curves to keep out children or pets. My cats had ignored the boxes for the first few days and had been confined to barracks due to rain for the first few nights I caught wood mice, but on a brighter day, I removed the wood mice and left the traps unset and let the cats out. My wife began shouting about the cat, I looked outside to see both of our cats going bonkers over the mouse smell in the boxes, each cat was at a different box. One cat had a front leg fully in the box and if it had been activated, the consequences would have been awful. On seeing this, I did for a second feel sick until I realised I had not re-set the traps. My experience was that I need boxes with more powerful traps and for the trap to be out of reach of a pet and I have sourced such boxes from Amazon, but they are not so well engineered as these boxes. Summary - Very well made, really useful activation indicator; but watch out for pets. if I ever get a mouse problem in the loft (or anywhere else the cats do not go), this will be my trap & box of choice, it might also be if I had a problem with smaller rats.

These traps and the boxes are really good . Young rats were coming from our neighbours garden ( turns out they lived under their shed ) and we could see the entrance they had made to gain access under the edge of our decking . Well , we didn’t want them taking permanent residence as they got bigger under our decking so we lifted two of our deck boards and placed the baited traps along the joists and loose laid the boards back down . Next day two dead young rats ! Day after two more young ones dead and then the day after that one dead large rat ! So far no more but at least we know that if any dare to stray under our deck they have a high chance of not getting out ! I will say that we used peanuts wedged into the bait hole . Wedge the peanuts in because if any larger rats come in there’s a small possibility they could reach and pick up the bait without triggering the plate ! This way they have to work at getting the bait and triggering the trap in the process ! These traps are so easy to use and cleaning is simple too and I highly recommend them as they are more humane , they kill instantly and don’t need poison to bait them . .

During the first lockdown I set up a more elaborate bird feeding centre (originally just a window feeder) partly through boredom as we were all stuck at home, the birds are entertaining. Set it up along a hedge opposite a window so we could be entertained and bring more nature to us. I didn't forsee that would include RATS! We're two fields away from horse stables, hedgerows and some scrubland link our garden to the stables so I guess they've made rat runs from there since discovering the bird food. First time we saw anything was in broad daylight and noticed movement in the hawthorne hedge, didn't know rats could climb trees and run along thin branches! They were looking at ways to get onto the feeders. Then found a big rat on one of the bird feeders (it's one of these based on a slim metal pole you stick into the ground). Amazed that they'd been able to shimmy up a shiny painted tube. Watched them and they do it with ease. Some grease smeared all up the pole stopped that. After getting over the initial shock of seeing a rat I thought well, what harm are they doing, I'm a nature lover and they're only part of nature so I thought I'd leave them to it if they were just going to feed off the seeds that fell to the ground. But then we saw another and another and after a few months some baby rats, a whole family of rats! We started to worry about our neighbours and their reaction if they saw our garden full of rats or the rats were to go into theirs. I then started finding evidence they were digging and burrowing at the foundations of the house and neighbours fence. They were also putting off the birds when they were near the feeders. Enough was enough. I bought two Roshield rat trap boxes through Amazon and caught nothing, a few weeks later I tried the Roshield bait boxes and again nothing, just more rats! I put a wildlife camera near the entrance to these boxes to find out what was going on and mice were frequently going inside to eat the seed and bait (little teeth marks in the bait, not rat teeth) but the rats just investigated from the outside sniffing around but they could obviously smell a rat! They never went inside the boxes. I also tried the Roshield bait spray and the boxes were outside for months so the new plastic smell would have gone. I also tried a roller fitted to the top of a 25 ltr bucket of water but only caught mice that way. Rats are too smart, not wary, they'll happily come out in broad daylight if it's quiet. So I spent a lot of money and bought an air rifle, now all the rats are gone...... for now.

I got this two pack of traps to deal with recent rat sightings in the garden. These seem pretty good and larger than I realised with two entrances and easy to use trap. Included was the enclosure, trap, metal rod (when using poison blocks not included) and cable tie. A key is also included to allow locking of device. These seem pretty effective and have so far caught a few mice however my only criticism is that the cable tie snapped in one which I had to replace and one of the traps is hard to engage. Otherwise I would recommend these