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DIY Insect Traps: No Chemicals, No More Bugs, No Diseases!
Photo credit: bigstock
Summertime is just about done but bugs still abound, especially those darn mosquitoes. The worst thing about mosquitoes, more than the buzzing noise at night and itching from bites, is the fact that they carry diseases. Dengue fever is common in many other countries. Brazil has been in an almost constant state of emergency for the past two years due to dengue fever with more than 570 deaths from this disease in 2013. In fact the situation there is so serious that they have built an entire biotech factory in Campinas, Brazil, in order to create millions of genetically modified mosquitoes that will mate with the “native” female mosquitoes and produce offspring that will die before they become adults.
Besides mosquitoes, there are numerous other insects that cause us problems or are just plain annoying such as horseflies and wasps. However, you don’t want to use any dangerous or toxic chemicals around the house and definitely not around your children, so what can you do?
Take a look at the top DIY (Do-It-Yourself) all natural insect traps that can help keep your family safe and insect free this summer and next summer!
1. Mosquito Traps
As we mentioned, not only are these little stinkers annoying, they carry a wide range of illnesses from dengue fever, to West Nile virus, to malaria, depending on where they are located. Electronic bug zappers work pretty well but they are, well, let’s be honest, they are just too gross to put to work inside the house and the really big ones can also zap your electric bill. If you are looking for some short term protection (such as working in the garden for an hour or so), you can try burning some green cedar or pine tree branches. The smoke should keep them at bay for a short time anyway. But try making some of these plastic soda bottle traps and place them around your yard and inside bedroom areas. The bait inside will need to be replaced about every two weeks so make them easy to reach.
Save a few two liter plastic bottles. Cut off the tops and turn the tops upside down so that the drinking part is now facing towards the bottom of the bottle. Then, mix up the following:
1 Cup of sugar
1 Cup of very warm water
1 cup of water at room temperature
1 Teaspoon of active dry yeast
Mix the sugar and hot water, then stir in the yeast. Once it starts bubbling, pour it into the bottle along with the extra cup of room temperature water. Cover it loosely with some plastic wrap or a plastic bag and put it in a warm, dark place for about 48 hours. Then, place the bottle where mosquitoes like to hang out. This is a safe mixture even for your kid’s rooms, but you might want to keep it out of reach of very young children so they don’t decide to play with their new, dead, mosquito friends. (Ewwwww)
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