Insect traps and monitors do two things: They capture crawling insects in your home or business, and they detect insect activity early so you can act before the bugs cause a major problem.
How do insect monitoring traps work?
The two most common types of insect monitoring traps are glue boards, also called sticky traps, and pitfall traps. Here’s a look at how they work, what bugs they trap, and where to use them:
Glue Traps – Also called sticky bug traps, these devices use adhesive to trap crawling insects like ants, cockroaches, spiders, silverfish, earwigs, stink bugs, crickets, sowbugs and more. Once stuck in the glue, the insects cannot escape. For best results, place sticky traps along hard edges (such as along baseboards behind furniture), in corners, and under sinks, bathtubs, and appliances.
The number of bugs stuck in a monitoring trap overnight indicates the severity of the problem. For instance, if a glue board contains more than 100 cockroaches after 24 hours, the problem is significant, and you should call a pest management professional for help.
Glue boards also can tell you where the bugs are coming from. If most bugs are stuck going in one direction, they likely came from the opposite direction. Armed with this intel, you can locate the nest or entry hole and take corrective action.
Pitfall traps – These plastic, saucer-like devices, also called interceptor traps, are used to capture and monitor for bed bugs. Place them under the legs of bed frames and any upholstered furniture where people spend time sleeping and relaxing. Bed bugs trying to get onto the bed or furniture will crawl up the rough exterior of the trap but then get stuck in the valley of the device because the inside of the trap is too slippery for them to climb up.
To kill bed bugs in pitfall traps, apply a light dusting of diatomaceous earth, a natural desiccant, to the devices.
Read more:
Natural pest control with Diatomaceous Earth
