Bed bugs infestations are notoriously difficult to completely eradicate, even after a pest control professional comes in to take care of the problem. Bed bugs are very mobile pests and can often be found throughout a home in areas you would not expect to encounter them. This makes monitoring and managing an infestation incredibly important. It is vital to monitor your home for bed bugs even after getting it professionally treated in order to be able to quickly react to the presence of any stragglers that could create another full blown infestation. Careful monitoring allows you to call back in the pest control professionals to handle the remaining pests and make sure you completely eliminate an infestation.
One very useful and successful method of monitoring the presence of bed bugs is the use of a device known as a bed bug interceptor. The device is fairly simple in its design and takes advantage of the fact that bed bugs are not very adept at climbing vertical surfaces that are slippery. The interceptor device is essentially a plastic bowl big enough to fit a bedpost inside it that has another outer bowl with vertical or almost vertical sides, referred to as a “moat”, that catches and traps any bed bugs unlucky enough to fall in. A light coating of talcum powder is also sometimes spread on the inside of the interceptor bowl to make the surfaces more slippery and, therefore, more difficult for bed bugs to escape. These devices are also known as pitfall traps.
When using bed bug interceptors, you want to make sure the bed they are being used on is not touching any walls or other furniture, as this will give them another surface to use to access the bed. You also don’t want any bedding or dust ruffles that touch the floor, as this will also defeat the purpose of the device. When using this device on a bed, you want to place each bedpost in its own interceptor device. This will help protect against more bed bugs making it onto the bed and monitor the bed bug presence in your home to see if there are still bed bugs infesting your home and give you an idea of how many. In addition to bed bugs, dust and debris will also inevitably end up in the bowls, so you need to clean them regularly, at least once a month. It is best to dump the contents into a plastic tub with smooth sides to see if any bed bugs have been caught before you dump any bugs into a plastic bag or soapy water and then throw them away in a trash can outside your home.
Have you ever made or used bed bug interceptors in your home?
