You can build an effective bed bug trap at home using two plastic containers, some masking tape, and a few other household items. The most reliable DIY design is a pitfall-style interceptor that sits under furniture legs and catches bed bugs as they travel to and from your bed. A second option uses yeast and sugar to generate carbon dioxide, mimicking the breath of a sleeping person to lure bugs into a slippery bowl. Both are inexpensive, and the materials are likely already in your kitchen.
The Interceptor Trap: Most Reliable DIY Option
Interceptor traps work by exploiting a simple fact about bed bug behavior: they live in hiding spots near your bed and crawl to you at night to feed, almost always traveling up furniture legs. An interceptor is a two-container pitfall placed under each leg. Bugs crawl up the outer wall, fall into the gap between the containers, and can’t climb back out because the plastic walls are too smooth.
This is the same basic principle behind commercial products like the ClimbUp interceptor, and you can build a version that works just as well for a fraction of the cost.
What You Need
- One small container that fits under a furniture leg (a margarine tub or small food storage container works well)
- One larger container that the small one fits inside, with at least a quarter inch of space between the walls of the two containers
- Masking tape or another rough-surfaced tape
- Glue (hot glue or super glue)
- Unscented baby powder or car polish (optional, but strongly recommended)
- A square of plywood or tile (optional, to reinforce the trap under heavy furniture)
Step-by-Step Assembly
Start by cutting four small pieces of masking tape, each at least as tall as the inner wall of the small container. Press these strips vertically inside the small container. This gives bed bugs traction to climb in toward the furniture leg, which is exactly where you want them. Without this texture, bugs might bypass the trap entirely because they can’t grip smooth plastic.
Next, wrap masking tape around the entire outside of the larger container, covering it from the base to the upper rim. This is the “ramp” that lets bed bugs climb up and over the outer wall. Once they drop into the gap between the two containers, the smooth, untaped inner wall of the large container traps them.
Glue the small container to the center of the large container so it doesn’t shift when furniture is placed on top. If you’re putting this under a heavy bed frame, slide a square of plywood or tile underneath first to keep the plastic from cracking.
For an extra layer of security, lightly dust the inner walls of the large container (the moat area between the two containers) with unscented baby powder or rub them with car polish. Both substances make plastic surfaces even slicker. Bed bugs grip surfaces using tiny hooks on their feet, and talcum powder clogs those hooks, making escape nearly impossible.
The CO2 Yeast Trap: An Active Lure
Interceptors are passive. They catch bugs that are already on the move. A yeast trap takes a different approach by actively attracting bed bugs with carbon dioxide, the same gas you exhale while sleeping and one of the primary signals bed bugs use to locate a host.
The recipe, originally developed by researchers and widely reported, is straightforward: mix ten tablespoons (about 150 grams) of sugar, two tablespoons (about 30 grams) of yeast, and one and a half quarts (about 1.5 liters) of water in an old coffee cup or tall container. As the yeast ferments the sugar, it produces a steady stream of CO2.
Place this mixture in the center of an upturned dog bowl or similar wide, shallow dish with smooth interior walls. Bugs follow the CO2 plume, climb up the textured outside of the bowl, and fall into the slippery interior where they get stuck. You can dust the inside with baby powder to improve retention, just as with the interceptor.
The yeast mixture stays active for roughly 8 to 12 hours before the fermentation slows and you need to make a fresh batch. This makes it more labor-intensive than interceptors, but it’s useful if you want to detect bugs in a room where you’re not sure they’re present, since it doesn’t rely on furniture legs as a chokepoint.
Why Sticky Tape Traps Don’t Work Well
A common first instinct is to wrap furniture legs in double-sided tape or set out sticky boards. In practice, this is unreliable. Bed bugs are surprisingly strong for their size. When a leg gets stuck on adhesive tape, they simply pull it free and back away. Sticky boards designed for other insects have the same problem. The bugs either avoid the adhesive entirely or power through it. Pitfall-style traps that use gravity and slippery walls are far more effective because the bug has no surface to push against once it falls in.
Where to Place Your Traps
Every leg of your bed frame needs its own interceptor. If you have a four-legged bed, that means four traps. Do the same for couches, upholstered chairs, and any other furniture where you sit or sleep for extended periods. Bed bugs will find the path of least resistance, so leaving one leg unprotected gives them a highway straight to you.
After placing the traps, pull your bed a few inches away from the wall. Tuck in all sheets and blankets so nothing drapes to the floor. The goal is to make the furniture legs the only route between you and the ground. If a blanket touches the carpet, bugs will use it as a bridge and bypass your traps completely.
For yeast traps, place them along walls, near baseboards, or beside furniture where you suspect activity. They work best in rooms where you won’t be sleeping, since your own CO2 output will compete with the trap’s signal and may draw bugs to you instead.
Checking and Maintaining Traps
Inspect your interceptors at least once a week. Look carefully in the moat area between the two containers for live bugs, dead bugs, shed skins, or tiny dark spots (fecal stains). Even finding a single bug confirms an active infestation and tells you which piece of furniture they’re targeting.
When you find bugs, flush or dispose of them, wash the trap with soap and water, dry it thoroughly, and reapply baby powder or car polish. Dust, skin cells, and debris accumulate in the moat over time, giving bugs enough texture to climb out. Clean traps work dramatically better than neglected ones.
What Traps Can and Can’t Do
DIY traps are excellent detection and monitoring tools. They tell you whether bed bugs are present, roughly how many there are, and whether a treatment is working. What they won’t do is eliminate an infestation on their own. Even a well-placed set of interceptors under every furniture leg will only catch the bugs that happen to travel across them. Bed bugs also hide in wall voids, electrical outlets, picture frames, and dozens of other spots that traps can’t reach.
The EPA recommends using interceptors as one part of an integrated approach that includes thorough cleaning, heat treatment of laundry and belongings, sealing cracks, and in most cases, professional pest control. Traps are your early warning system and your progress tracker. If you stop catching bugs in your interceptors for several weeks after treatment, that’s a strong signal the infestation has been resolved. If you keep catching them, you know more work is needed.