How do you make a homemade mosquito trap? Do homemade traps work for these insects? How do you get rid of an infestation using a mosquito magnet? Find out!
Creative ways of ridding our homes of mosquitoes have been developed. These range from the use of chemical insecticides, organic insecticides, homemade insecticides, and the growing of certain plants. Traps have also been invented for mosquitoes.
This will be the focus of our discussion as we consider homemade mosquito traps.
While a mosquito trap is sufficient in itself, it can be combined with a variety of other methods. Whatever choice you make is up to you.
However our focus is to show you how to produce a DIY mosquito trap that works at the cheapest cost possible.
What Attracts Mosquitoes?
Have you ever wondered how mosquitoes will easily locate you even in the dark of night? If you think something attracts them you are right.
Mosquitoes are attracted by the carbon dioxide we exhale when breathing.
While being attracted by carbon dioxide, heat produced by your body enables them to home in on your location.
Are you looking for what repels mosquitoes naturally? See this guide.
Feeding Habits of Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes feed on blood and concentrate mainly on exposed areas of your body. These will seize the slightest opportunity to feed either indoors or outdoors.
Feeding is targeted at exposed areas of the body where blood is closest to the surface.
These include the elbow area, ankles, feet, wrists, and the neck. Mosquitoes may occasionally target your face.
Common Diseases Spread by Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are known to spread or transmit diseases very easily. Some of the common ones include Malaria, Zika virus, encephalitis, and West Nile. To halt the spread of this disease, preventive measures must be adopted.
Homemade mosquito traps are part of the preventive measures you can adopt to get rid of these pests.
Best Homemade Mosquito Trap Ideas for Indoor and Outdoor Removal
Homemade mosquito traps will cost you very little. You can produce more than one trap depending on how big your house is.
However, are they effective? Mosquito traps will get the job done, though not completely but it serves its purpose. When using mosquito traps, consider using other pest control methods.
These may include the use of insecticides, natural solutions like essential oil sprays and more.
Why Should I Use Mosquito Traps?
Homemade mosquito traps are cheap to construct. As a matter of fact, it works round the clock with absolutely no need for maintenance.
Unlike other devices that may require electrical connections and extensions, this is totally different. The materials required are cheap and can be sourced from your surroundings.
Every trap will need baits to function effectively. Homemade mosquito traps are no exceptions. Baits used for mosquito traps are organic and safe around your pets as well as kids. You do not need specialized tools to construct these traps as well.
These are sufficient reasons to consider this option.
Best Places to Place Your Mosquito Traps
A good homemade mosquito trap is never enough to get the job done. You also need to place these traps at the right spots.
What are these “right spots?” These are areas where mosquitoes congregate most. Normally these will include low-lying damp or wet areas. These are even more around wooded areas.
The other likely place is outdoors where you may be relaxing or doing any outdoor work.
While these pests may be found around our homes, keeping them outdoors is highly desirable. Mosquitoes will always find their ways into your homes. You can use your homemade traps indoors in addition to other treatment methods as well.
Other Things you need to Know
In order to control mosquito infestation, you will need to understand its behavior. These will include how it feeds, what attracts it, how it breeds, species that feed on blood etc;
We earlier mentioned that mosquitoes will be attracted to you by carbon dioxide released when breathing. The heat from your body will also attract mosquito.
What more? Dark clothing and sweat are also great sources of attraction for mosquito.
Mosquito Species that Feed on Blood
This is a bit surprising right? It is for many people who do not know that only female mosquitoes feed on blood.
Blood is necessary for the proper development of eggs laid by a female mosquito.
Humans are their most ready source of blood supply.
How Mosquitoes Breed
Stagnant water provides the ideal breeding environment for mosquito. Eggs are laid in stagnant water and reach maturity within a space of 10 days.
To prevent mosquito, stagnant water should be emptied to discourage breeding.
Different Types of Homemade Mosquito Traps
Having covered the basic information about mosquitoes, we need to focus on how to make homemade traps.
These are easy and cheap to produce as will be revealed shortly;
Plastic Bottle Trap
A plastic bottle trap can be made from a 1 or 2 liter plastic water bottle. This is an item you will always find around the home.
To make this trap, you need to remove/discard the cap.
The next step is to cut the bottle just at the point where the bottle starts to get narrow. This may also be called the neck of the bottle.
The cut part of the bottle neck should be turned upside down.
The narrow part which is now in the form of a funnel should be inserted into the open part of the cut plastic bottle. The inverted funnel should be pushed in gently. This should be sealed and held in place with a tape and eliminating any gaps in-between.
The lower section of the bottle should be painted black to attract mosquitoes.
The bait to be used in this mosquito trap is made of a mixture of water, yeast and sugar. This is very effective in attracting mosquitoes.
To make this mixture, you need to first boil 1 cup of water. 3 teaspoonful of dry yeast plus ¼ cup of brown sugar are required.
After boiling the water, the sugar should be emptied into it and stirred until fully dissolved. This should be allowed to simmer to ensure a drop in temperature sufficient enough to apply the yeast. To activate the yeast, the water should not be too hot or cold.
When this condition is met, the yeast should be poured in and stirred.
The bait is emptied into the bottle trap and placed in areas with the most mosquitoes. Within a short time, mosquitoes will flock into the bottle.
While it is very easy to enter, escaping is difficult. Mosquitoes eventually get exhausted and die off.
Why Yeast and Sugar are used as Baits
You may have wondered why yeast and sugar are used as ingredients for this bait. It is simply due to the carbon dioxide given off by the mixture. This attracts mosquitoes easily.
Garlic is also known to be very toxic to mosquitoes. This can be included among your ingredients. You can either choose garlic power or whole cloves.
Sprinkling this into the mixture will ensure mosquitoes get eliminated even when they escape the bottle.
The Fan Trap
Another homemade mosquito trap you can make is the fan trap. This is a bit crude but effective method to trap mosquitoes. So what do you need? You need to get a fan box and some magnets. A fine mesh is also required to do this.
To put this together, you need to attach your mesh to the side of the fan where the air blows in. Your magnet will help keep the mesh in place.
All you need to do now is simply run your fan. This should be done in the areas with the most mosquitoes. These pests are sucked in and trapped onto the fine mesh.
After some time, the mesh would have a considerable number of mosquitoes. You should spray the mesh with 70% isopropyl alcohol. This kills off all the mosquitoes.
While doing this, you should avoid spraying this mixture on the fan motor.
Other Ways of Getting Rid of Mosquitoes
Apart from homemade traps, there are other ways to protect your family from mosquito bites.
These are mostly preventive measures that include;
Limiting Skin Exposure
It is a well known fact that mosquitoes usually attack exposed skin. To reduce such occurrence, you should wear clothing that covers most of your body.
This will significantly lower the chance of getting bitten by mosquito.
Less of Dark Clothing
During the warm weather, wearing black and other dark colored clothing keeps the body warm. Mosquitoes will naturally be attracted to heat. This will automatically result in bites or feeding.
Avoiding such clothing during the warm weather is a way of keeping them away altogether.
Eating More of Garlic
Garlic gives off a pungent smell that drives away mosquitoes. Eating this will make your sweat smell of garlic.
Mosquitoes will not hang around such smell.
This is a natural way to get rid of mosquitoes in addition to the use of homemade traps.
Using Mosquito Nets
This is recommended most for parents with infants less than 2 months old. This provides an added protection and keeps mosquitoes away.
We have discussed some homemade mosquito traps as well as the feeding, and breeding behavior of mosquitoes. We have also provided the advantages of using homemade mosquito traps as well as other preventive measures.
These provide you with critical knowledge on how to control and avoid mosquito bites. These are cost effective and can be used with other insect pest control methods.