How to make a DIY bed bug interceptor trap to detect an early infestation

A bed bug infestation seems like something that came out from a nightmare, yet they are much more common than what you may think. If you believe there are bed bugs at your home or you already experienced strange bites in a line pattern then I strongly recommend making a bed bug interceptor trap to prevent any more bites at home. Remember, if you have already found the bed bug infestation or any of your family members appeared to be bitten then instead of a trap get an A1 bed bug exterminator Nashville service to assist you.

Making a DIY bed bug interceptor trap is rather easy, and can be very useful if you want to confirm if there are bed bugs at your home. A bed bug interceptor trap won’t reduce the infestation itself but could help controlling it, though the best reason to use one is to detect an early bed bug infestation.

The materials needed to make the trap:

  • Get 4 medium & 4 small plastic containers. (One for each leg of your bed)
  • Get 1 roll of duct tape (Or at least enough to cover all the medium containers’ outer walls)
  • Get baby powder (Unscented), diatomaceous earth or CimeXa (Preferably the latter)

The first step: Cover the medium containers:

  • Cover the outer area of the medium containers with duct tape.
  • Be sure all the outer walls of the containers are properly taped, which ensures the bugs will climb in but not out.
  • Do not cover the inner walls of the medium container as this would defeat its purpose.

The second step: Add the smaller containers in the middle:

  • Be sure the smaller containers you selected fit properly on your bed’s legs.
  • Ensure the smaller container does not touch the walls of the medium one.
  • Put the smaller container in the very middle of the medium container.

The third step: Add the powder inside of the medium container:

  • Add either talcum powder, CimeXa or diatomaceous earth inside of the medium container.
  • The powder helps by making the surfaces too slippery for the bed bugs to escape.
  • These powders can help in smothering & suffocating the bed bugs while they are unable to escape due to the plastic walls.

Remember, the main idea of the trap is to provide the bugs a way to come into the trap by applying duct tape on the outer surface, but making them unable to escape due to the powder and plastic walls. The shape of the containers really doesn’t matter, so don’t worry if they are too tall or small as the trap will be too slippery for them to come out. Be 100% sure the trap doesn’t touch any other area of your bed beside the legs and always ensure your sheets don’t fall to the floor or touch it as they could use it to climb up.

The bed bug interceptor traps must be placed on each of your bed legs, which is the reason you need a total of four containers of both medium and small sizes. You can also employ these interceptor traps on other furniture with legs, especially those where you may think the critters could be hiding. Even if the trap itself doesn’t kill them or takes a long time to do so, it is extremely effective at capturing bed bugs and rendering them unable to escape. If you don’t have duct tape at hand masking tape can also work, just be sure you properly cover the whole surface.

You can also try adding some duct tape to the inner walls of the smaller container to ensure any critter already on your bed gets trapped on its way out, just be sure you don’t leave them an option to scale the smaller container from within the medium container. Not all bed bugs live inside of our bed as they may prefer to go down and hide inside other furniture before waiting for the night, so by using these traps they could also get trapped on their way out.

Using a bed bug interceptor trap is a very reliable way to determine whether there are bed bugs on your home or not, especially if you employ them in other areas aside from your bed. You can try adding these traps to other legged furniture such as tables, cabinets and other pieces of furniture. Using a DIY bed bug interceptor trap is not only an inexpensive way to detect them but can also provide you peace of mind as you sleep during the night.