Homemade Mosquito Traps

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rambo

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For anyone wanting to make a mosquito trap from home, you're in luck. They are very easy to make and do not require many materials. To begin the process, you will need to obtain the needed materials, which are a plastic 2 liter bottle, duct tape, brown sugar, yeast, and something black to wrap the bottle with like electrical tape. The bait will be 100% organic and be safe to use outside or inside. It will be inexpensive, take only about five minutes to make, and it will be reusable. Whenever the trap is done being used, it can be recycled.

The first step is to cut the bottle in half around the middle. Try using a razor knife or another tool that is sharp for cutting. Razor knives are very sharp so you will need to be careful not to slice your own finger. When the bottle is in two pieces, you will need to assemble the bottleneck piece and bottom piece. The bottleneck piece while upside down will look like a funnel. Make sure to remove the cap before further assembly. Insert the neck piece while inverted into the bottom half. Make sure to not press the funnel to the bottom so there will be enough room to add the ingredients and some space between the liquid's surface and the funnel's tip. Next, you will need to use duct tape to have the funnel secured. This will also make it more difficult for any mosquitoes that enter the trap to get out. Then take the black material you chose, like black spray paint, black electrical tape, or black construction paper, and cover up the outer part of the trap. Doing this will keep your mosquito trap cooler and the bait will last for a longer period of time.

The next step is making the mosquito bait. This is when you will need the brown sugar, yeast, and water. The first thing to do is warm up water on a stove or in a microwave, making sure you will have at least 1 cup. Then you will need to measure out brown sugar in a 1/4 cup and add it to the 1 cup of your boiling water. Be sure to mix the brown sugar well to entirely dissolve it. Let the water and brown sugar mixture to cool off until you can put a finger into it comfortably. An alternate and more accurate method of checking the water is to use a cooking thermometer, due to the fact the liquid needs to be no lower than 120 degrees Fahrenheit and no hotter than 130 degrees Fahrenheit. This is because if it is too cold, the yeast will not activate correctly and if it is too hot, the yeast will be killed. When the mixture reaches an appropriate temperature, you will need to mix in the yeast, preferably around 1 teaspoon. Then, pour the liquid mixture into your trap that was assembled in the earlier step. The trap is now ready.

The best place to set your mosquito trap is in or around a shaded area. Try not to put the trap too close to areas like a deck or where people sit since the idea of making the trap is attracting mosquitoes away from those areas. A good example of where to place them are around the perimeters of your sitting areas or a fire pit. Mosquitoes like to come out during the evening to search for their hosts. The yeast inside the traps will create carbon dioxide, which is what mosquitoes are attracted to, therefore catching them before they reach your sitting or hang our areas. This is the reason they like to host on people, since we exhale carbon dioxide after inhaling oxygen. The traps can last a total of two weeks, working 24/7 during that time span.

Every week or two, or when the bottle has an excessive amount of mosquitoes, the mosquito bait will need to by poured out of the bottle and then refilled with another batch of the liquid mixture you created before to gain back effectiveness. The reason why the liquid mixture loses its effectiveness over time is because the yeast will eventually devour all the brown sugar, therefore no longer releasing the carbon dioxide needed.

There is, however, an alternate trap method that works like a spider web, but having a high powered fan. This method will definitely be more expensive than the inexpensive one, but could have a greater chance of capturing more mosquitoes. This mosquito trap will work by blowing a large amount of air through some fine wire mesh. The wire will need to be dipped, covered, etc with some rubbing alcohol to ensure the mosquitoes die once caught. A normal box fan can be used to catch the mosquitoes, but a fan with high velocity will be more effective. The wire mesh needed to put onto the fan will need to be extremely fine so mosquitoes will not be able to go through it. Regular cloth for hardware will not work, but normal mosquito netting, which can be found easily, will work.

Rumplestiltskin and hollowgirl like this.

Comments

    1. Kay Michaels Jul 5, 2017
      Looks like the mosquito repellent industries which thrive on making the repellents in different forms are gonna get extinct if this is followed by all.
    2. Harrysung May 24, 2017
      Wow! Thanks for an idea like this, I live in a boarding house where my roommates disagree to closing of the windows, this raining season. I will put up something like this because am tired of nightly mosquito bites.
    3. jeager May 23, 2017
    4. PriscillaKing May 23, 2017
      Interesting! I'll have to try this.
    5. Rumplestiltskin Jan 28, 2017
      Good Idea