A pest detector (1) for actively detecting pest activity within the environs of a structure. The pest detector includes a pest detection unit (2) that detects pest activity through the analysis of sounds of pest activity within a pest bait. The pest bait is typically timber or cellulose material (3). Upon detection of pest activity, a signal is sent to wireless transmitting device which transmits a radio frequency signal which includes data identifying the pest detector. Advantageously, the radio frequency is in the cellular radio frequency spectrum and is transmitted via the cellular radio network to a remote base station. The signal can be in the form of a short message service message. In this way, the pest detector can be remotely monitored and any pest activity dealt with appropriately. The pest detector can be used within a pest detection system and the pest detection unit can be retrofitted to known pest monitoring systems.
