Traps can help you detect bed bugs’ presence. They can also help reduce their population by intercepting them. You can also use traps to isolate your bed from bed bugs. In this article we will see in detail how to use Traps for bed bugs.
Do Bed Bug Traps Work?
Yes, they do. However, there are different kinds of traps for bed bugs and their efficiency may vary from one another.
The Different Types of Bed Bug Traps
There are two type of bed bugs traps: Passive and Active
Passive traps
Passive traps do not use any kind of bait such as chemicals or food to attract them into the trap.
You should dispose of them in areas where they are likely to traverse during their journey to feed on their human host. So basically, in this case the human is the bait. To capture them, You should put adhesive or lubricant inside the trap, in order to capture the bugs.
An example of this type of trap would be the interceptor cups that are disposed beneath the bed’s legs. When they try to climb the bed’s legs to feed on you while you are asleep, the interceptor cups will capture them on the way due to the presence of glue within those traps.
You should also place interceptor cups beneath the legs of other infested pieces of furniture.
Scientific research discovered that black interceptors were more efficient to capture them compared to white interceptors as bed bugs were more attracted to black and red than white.
Fiber Trap is a trap that was recently put out in the market. It is made out of tiny fibers creating a tangled net. It intends with its small gaps to immobilize them when they traverse it. Fiber traps have been reported as being efficient in monitoring and capturing the bugs.
Active traps
Active traps use different kinds of baits to attract the bugs, such as food, heat or chemicals attractant and they sometimes use electricity. An example would be the carbon dioxide (chemical formula Co2) trap. They locate humans by the carbon dioxide we exhale when we breathe. Co2Traps lure them by emitting Co2 to attract them into the trap. If you want to have more details about those type of traps you can have a look at our dedicated article on CO2 Traps for Bed bugs.
Active traps work better when there is no one in the room. Indeed, for the Co2 Trap for instance: If you sleep in the room then you will exhale Co2 and you will then compete with the trap to attract them.
Another active trap which is effective in monitoring and reducing bed bug colonies is the pheromone trap. They use pheromones to attract a mate. A pheromone trap will lure bedbugs by emitting chemical pheromones to allure them, to then capture them.
Benefits for Using a Bed Bug Trap
Bed bugs traps could be an effective tool in such situations:
- For proving an infestation to your landlord
- Early discovery of bugs, which will be easier to handle than at its latter stages
- To monitor bed bugs survival after a treatment
- When there are bed bugs in your building and you want to ensure that you do not have any presence of bugs in your home
- When you got bite marks after a night at a hotel and want to ensure you did not bring back home bed bugs
How to use Traps for Bed bugs
Here are some Tips for choosing and using Traps to capture bed bugs:
- Use interceptor cups beneath each bed’s legs which will capture the bugs when they are trying to climb the bed’s legs to get to their food source – Sleeping Humans. By doing so, you will isolate your bed and prevent them from climbing on your bed for food.
- If there are pets in your home you should avoid using active traps. Indeed, those use bait and could lure one of your pets. Which could come in contact by curiosity or attracted by the smell emitted.
- You should not add Pesticides or chemicals to bed bug traps. Indeed, you will mostly find traps in bedrooms and not all pesticides are appropriate for sleeping areas.
We have seen in this article how to use traps for bed bugs. Now, you need to find the best bed bug traps on the market today. This is why we created a detailed Bed Bugs Traps Buying Guide, where you will not only find the best Traps available online, but also lots of helpful information regarding bed bugs and Traps.