Building a bedbug detector for under $20

If you think you might have bedbug infestation (you have insect bites that are arrayed in a row or cluster), you can create a MacGyver trap that is just as good as the ones used by professionals. You cannot exterminate the bugs with this method, but you could detect them and contact exterminators.

The folks are Rutgers University experimented with various homemade contraptions until they built a trap superior to the ones used by exterminators for detecting an infestation. (They presented at the 2009 meeting of the Entomological Society of America)

Here are the stuff you'll need:

• Plastic food and water dish for cats (or a similar plastic bowl with smooth lining)
• Insulated 1/3 galloon jug sold in camping-supply or sports stores (Yay! to another excuse to visit REI!)
• 2.5 lbs of dry ice (~$1/lb). The dry ice is the bait. The CO2, which is mistaken as human breath, lures the bloodsuckers. 
• Gloves (because you should never handle dry ice with your bare hands!)
• Sandpaper
• Talcum powder
• Tape

Build the contraption with the following steps:

1. Put on gloves and place 2.5 lbs of dry ice pellets inside the insulated jug. 
2. Leave the spout open to let the CO2 evaporate. It should seep out completely in 11 hours at room temperature and no faster.
   If the CO2 is seeping out too rapidly, partially cover the spout. 
3. Overturn the food dish, scuff the outer rim with sandpaper to give the bloodsuckers better traction. 
4. Create a paper ramp on the food dish by taping the sandpaper (or other pieces of paper) to the dish. 
5. Make the inside of the food dish even more slippery by dusting it with talcum powder.
   Once the bedbugs get into the moat, they can't scuttle out of the steep, slippery rim. Bwahaha! 
6. Place the bait, which is the thermos/insualted jug with dry ice, in the middle of the overturned food dish.