What Is a Mosquito Trap?

Mosquitoes are a serious nuisance and a danger during the warm months here in Connecticut. In an effort to enhance Bloomfield mosquito control, many families choose to craft mosquito traps that serve to repel and reduce disease-carrying mosquitoes in a given area. Traps can either be purchased, if you are looking for a more technologically advanced contraption, or they may be built using simple household items already available to you. From Mosquito Squad’s professionals, here’s a guide to mosquito traps and what makes them effective.

DIY Mosquito Traps

While Mosquito Squad’s barrier sprays are effective measures toward tackling your home’s mosquito problem, DIY mosquito traps can serve as an efficient first step to thinning out mosquitoes surrounding your most popular gathering areas. 

Yeast & Sugar Traps

To build a yeast and sugar trap, you will need: 

• Empty 2-liter plastic bottle
• Granulated white sugar
• Yeast
• Water
• Portion of black or navy cloth large enough to wrap around your bottle

Step 1: Cut the top off of your plastic bottle–just below the neck.

Step 2: Mix 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1 cup of warm water, and ⅓ tablespoon of yeast in your plastic bottle. 

Step 3: Flip over the top portion of the bottle that was cut off, so that it forms a funnel. 

Step 4: Place this piece, inverted, into the open top of your plastic bottle and firmly seal the edges with tape or glue. 

Step 5: Wrap the bottle in your cloth–using black or navy because mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors. 

Inspect your trap every few days, replenishing with sugar and yeast as needed.

Box Fan Trap

Mosquitoes are weak fliers, making it easy to divert their course of attack with strong enough airflow. To build this simple trap, all you will need is a box fan and a mesh screen. 

1. Attach your mesh screen to the backside of your box fan, to catch any mosquitoes that get sucked in.
2. Turn the fan on.
3. Clean the mesh screen every so often as needed, to make sure the mesh on the backside of your fan continues catching critters.

Stillwater Trap

Though still-standing water on your property is a huge no-no, its propensity to serve as a mosquito breeding ground can be used to your advantage when you build stillwater mosquito traps. 

As this trap mimics a breeding ground, it goes without saying that this particular trap is effective against only female mosquitoes looking for a place to lay their eggs. This will still make a difference, given that female mosquitoes are the only ones that bite. We recommend using a backup repellent along with the stillwater trap, however, as they still have the ability to bite before laying eggs. 

To create a stillwater trap, you will need:

• A bucket or large bowl
• Water, of course.
• Dish soap or other liquid detergent 

Fill your container with water, add a few drops of soap or liquid detergent, and mix gently to avoid creating too many bubbles. 

Purchasable Mosquito Traps

Outdoor 

Top-rated outdoor mosquito traps by customers include:

• DynaTrap Mosquito & Flying Insect Trap – utilizes UV light that radiates irresistible warmth, carbon dioxide scent technology, and a small internal fan that traps and contains mosquitoes. This trap is effective over ½ an acre. You can double or triple up on several of these traps to cover more area. 
• The Katchy Indoor Insect Trap is an indoor mosquito trap rated highly by customers. Much like the DynaTraps, this trap uses UV light to lure mosquitoes in, and an internal vacuum fan sucks them in to meet their sticky pad fate. 

Special Bonus: Tick Traps

Much like mosquito traps, tick traps can be an easy, cost-efficient method of tick control for yards consisting of common household items you can probably find stuffed in the back of your kitchen or bathroom cabinets. 

What you’ll need:

• Empty tubes from toilet paper rolls
• Cotton balls
• Petroleum jelly
• Scissors
• Tape
• A small plastic cup or jar

Step 1: Cut the toilet paper or paper towel tubes into 2-3 inch sections. 

Step 2: Spread sticky petroleum jelly over the external surface of each tube–this is the first level of your trap.