At the
Entomology 2013 conference, leading researcher Changlu Wang
reported that rubbing alcohol was fairly ineffective at killing bedbugs. To show this, Wang drew on research which showed that spraying a group of the insects with alcohol left about half alive four days later.
Bedbugs are parasitic insects of the cimicid family that feed exclusively on blood, causing itchy bites and generally irritating their human hosts.
In addressing another household tip,
Wang, who carried out the studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, also showed that mothballs were pretty ineffective too. In a second study, it was shown that mothballs failed to wipe out bedbugs after 17 days in a plastic bag full of infested clothes. Eggs and immature bedbugs survived the mothball treatment well, and only between 44 to 60 percent of adult males died.
Instead, Wang and his colleagues have patented a new bedbug trap, according to
Discovery. The new gadget is called the Climbup insect interceptor trap. For the device, the researchers use spearmint oil and Egyptian coriander oil as bait. The new pitfall trap consists of a plastic dog bowl that has been inverted, with the outer wall covered with a layer of dyed-black surgical tape. Once the bugs enter the trap, they cannot escape.
Wang has
published full details in the Journal of Economic Entomology. The article is titled “Effect of Trap Design, Chemical Lure, Carbon Dioxide Release Rate, and Source of Carbon Dioxide on Efficacy of Bed Bug Monitors.”
