Daily Archives: October 16, 2022

Bed Bug Tape

The easiest trapping method is to place double-sided carpet tape in long strips near or around the bed and check the strips after a day or more.

I got some carpet tape and some empty yoghurt containers. I put some masking tape over the containers incase the bed bugs can't climb up the bare plastic. I also sprayed a bit of hair spray on the masking tape to ensure some traction for the bed bugs. Then if you look at the far container, you will notice a white solid ring of carpet tape near the top. This is where I am hoping they will get stuck. Each bed leg will in one of these containers.

There is the option to isolate a bed using double-sided duct tape (also called carpet tape) to create the sticky barrier instead, although, carpet tape may be somewhat more expensive in length per foot than regular duct tape curled over'”something to consider if the taping method is used extensively. In any case, curled duct tape (with the sticky side out) can also be used in length on floors as a perimeter barrier to help quickly isolate or quarantine furniture (where it can span multiple feet on the floor around furniture or used to surround and isolate 'legless' beds with bases that are flush to the floor etc.).

The technique can also be used to help prevent bed bugs from crawling up along walls where warranted. Long strips of this taping method (i.e. curled duct tape over painter's tape) can be used on standard floors to cordon off, surround, and isolate infested furniture, to protect clean furniture, or as part of a treatment effort to help prevent bed bugs from crawling toward specific areas. If used this extensively, it then becomes particularly more important to apply a protective layer of painter's tape first to prevent the duct tape from damaging and/or ruining painted surfaces or from leaving behind a sticky residue when finally pulled up. It should also be noted that the width of the painter's tape can be as narrow as one inch (which is typically less expensive per foot than wider versions of masking tape) since regular duct tape, though much wider initially, will fit within the one-inch width of the painter's tape'”after the duct tape has been curled over on itself lengthwise.