Think you've got bed bugs? For $15, you can build your own bed bug detector with simple materials. You won't even need tools or special skills to assemble it, and it will work as well as professional exterminating equipment.
Rutgers scientist Wan-Tien Tsai designed an inexpensive, homemade bed bug detector that you can use to see if you've got bed bugs.
Photo: CDC/Piotr Naskrecki
Rutgers scientist Wan-Tien Tsai experimented with household materials that could be used to detect bed bugs effectively and cheaply. She eventually designed a simple but functional bed bug trap using dry ice, a cat food bowl, some paper, and talcum powder.
Bed bugs locate their blood meals by sensing carbon dioxide in the air. The dry ice, which is the solid form of carbon dioxide, lures bed bugs out of hiding. Tsai put 2.5 lbs of dry ice pellets into an insulated water jug, similar to one you can purchase at camping supply stores.
Now that Tsai had an effective lure, she needed a way to trap the bed bugs that followed the carbon dioxide trail. She placed her jug of dry ice pellets in a plastic cat food bowl. Tsai then used paper to create a ramp up to the lip of the bowl, so bed bugs could easily climb into the bowl. A little talcum powder in the slippery plastic bowl kept the bed bugs from escaping.
The trick, according to Tsai, is to close the lid on the insulated jug partially, allowing just enough carbon dioxide gas to leak out to attract the bed bugs. In her tests, she allowed the CO2 to leak from the container for 11 hours at room temperature.
More About Bed Bugs:
- Avoiding Bed Bugs in Hotels
- How Bed Bugs Made a Comeback
- Why It's So Hard to Eliminate Bed Bugs
- Share Your Bed Bug Horror Stories
Source: Do It Yourself Bed Bug Detector, Science News, December 18, 2009
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