If you have to buy materials to make your own DIY bed bug trap, consider just ordering the university-tested traps that you know won’t let trapped bugs escape.
Bed bug traps are a key tool for ending your infestation.
Regardless of what kind of treatment you are going to do, you still need the traps. If you just think you have bed bugs or know you do, you still need to use traps. They are absolutely necessary and can tell you if you have bed bugs, or if your bed bugs are gone.
Isolate your bed with DIY bed bug traps and sleep again!
Whether you make your own DIY bed bug traps or purchase them, get them under your bed as fast as possible.
Bed bug traps are going to be the most effective if you have taken the steps to isolate your bed. You want to create a situation where there are no bed bugs on or in your bed, and they must climb onto the bed to get to you. When they try to climb onto the bed they will get caught in the traps and won’t be able to reach you to bite and feed on you.
Doesn’t sleeping safely in your bed sound like the best thing ever?
Meanwhile, you’ll be sleeping like a baby in your bug-free bed knowing they can’t reach you because you have taken the simple steps to prevent that. Check the traps when you wake up and either dispose of any insects in the toilet or in a sealed bag in your freezer to show your pest control operator.
You win when bed bugs die trying!
Your bed must have legs that can fit in a container. If your mattress is on the floor the traps can’t work, also you’re not helping if your mattress is on the floor, buy a cheap bed frame from anywhere. IMPORTANT! If you don’t isolate your bed or if blankets are touching the floor or the bed is touching the wall your monitors will be ineffective.
Make sure your DIY bed bug trap won’t break or crack.
I found that ceramic and plastic broke from the weight of the bed. It’s a lot of weight from the mattress, you, and gravity. I was using a metal futon frame with one mattress (no boxspring) and me (under 130 lbs) and the ceramic and plastic containers would break within a week. The bottoms would split or crack. I ended up using four metal dog food bowls (cheap from any supermarket) and they lasted 18 months until I removed them. You could place a smaller bowl inside a larger bowl to make the exact trap or put a plastic bowl inside the larger metal bowl. The plastic bowl will still probably crack but your bed bugs “probably” won’t be able to climb out.
Baby powder or talc is supposed to prevent bed bugs from being able to get any traction out of the cups/bowls so they can’t climb out. Keep in mind you will catch other insects as well and a fair amount of dust, lint, crumbs or whatever else is floating or falling into the traps.
You can add duct table or double-sided carpet tape to the outside of the bowls to help them climb in trying to get to you, which they are 100% guaranteed to do. Not like a money-back guarantee, more like if you are a bed bug you are going to find the food and go to it until you either get to it or die trying.
This is an excellent video showing exactly how to make a bed bug trap for your bed (or four-bed bug traps, one for each bed leg). I have a couple of comments about the supplies they use since I made my own traps for my bed as well, back in those miserable bed bug days. Here’s your video showing how to make a homemade bed bug trap or buy Climb-Up Monitors and start the end of your infestation with traps.
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