How to Make a Wasp Trap?

Wasps are usually an excellent category of bugs for a garden since they help fertilize the plants and prevent the other bugs from causing harm to the plants. The wasp stings are common, especially during the warmer months when people are outside their houses for extended periods. The stings of these wasps can be very irritating and painful at first, but most people recover quickly from them without any severe outcomes.

A wasp’s stinger contains venom transmitted to a person when a wasp stings them. The initial sensations can include sharp pain, burning, redness, swelling, and itching at the area of the bite on the person’s body. Anaphylaxis is the most severe allergic reaction that occurs in a person's body due to the wasp stings.

Anaphylaxis occurs when a person’s body goes into shock as a reaction to the venom of the wasp. The venom of a wasp can also cause significant pain and irritation. Hence, everyone must know how to make a wasp trap to protect themselves from wasp bites. The following article describes different ways to build a wasp trap in detail.

Steps to Make an Effective Wasp Trap

The tools and things required to construct a successful wasp trap include a plastic bottle, a piece of rope or string, dish wash solution, a marker, a pair of scissors, a knife, grease or petroleum jelly, and sweet ingredients such as sugar or lemon juice that will help in making the bait solution for the trap. Various steps involved in building an effective wasp trap are discussed below −

Step 1 − Take a big plastic bottle or a transparent carton to see whether the wasps are trapped. You can use a 2L plastic bottle to demonstrate the wasp trap. Now make a mark around the area where the neck of the bottle is converted to a straight cylindrical shape. Then cut the neck of the bottle using a pair of scissors or a razor along the markings made earlier.

Step 2 − The next step makes the trap more effective. After cutting the neck of the bottle, take a paper napkin and lubricate the insides of the bottle with either olive oil or petroleum jelly. This will make it difficult for the wasps to climb outside the walls of the bottle once they enter it.

Step 3 − Now, place the neck of the bottle upside down on the other half of the bottle in such a way that it acts as an opening or an entrance for the trap. Use tape to hold the two parts of the bottle firmly. After attaching these parts, use scissors or any other sharp and pointed tool to make two holes on opposite sides of the edge of the funnel. Take a firm string or a small piece of rope like a shoelace and tie the ends of the hole in the funnel so that the trap can be easily carried and placed at an appropriate location.

Step 4 − During summers, use meat, grease, or both to make the bait for the wasps. Mix the above-made solution with water that would help in drowning the wasps. During late summers, use a solution of water, dish wash soap, and some sweet substance such as sugar or lemon juice to make the bait. For a 2L plastic bottle, the solution must be considerable enough to occupy up to 2 inches of the bottle when poured into it.

Step 5 − Take the previous step's solution and pour it into the wasp trap bottle through its funnel. During this step, be careful that the solution is not dropped on the bottle's opening; otherwise, it will stop the wasps from entering the bottle, and the trap built will fail.

Step 6 − The wasp trap is built successfully, and the bait solution is also prepared. Take the bottle and place it at a high place, such as on a table or hang it near a window or a tree branch using the rope or string used to tie the ends of the holes in step 3.

Step 7 − Check the wasp trap daily for any trapped wasps. If no wasps appear in the trap after some days, try relocating the wasp trap to some appropriate location where wasps are often found and then observe that trap daily for wasps. If no wasps are located in the trap, try using a different combination of the bait solution.

Step 8 − Maintain the trap at regular intervals; otherwise, it will not work effectively. For example, replace the tape used to tie the two parts of the bottle after 3-4 days. You must dispose of the dead wasps to return the bait solution first. Otherwise, more wasps will start to appear in the surrounding location.

An easy method to dispose of the dead wasps is to flush them in the toilet. After disposing of the dead wasps and the old bait solution, wash the bottle with hot water, pour more bait solution into the bottle, and apply grease or petroleum jelly, if needed, around the insides of the bottle. After doing the above, place the bottle at its location.

Conclusion

You must follow the above steps to create an effective and efficient wasp trap to protect yourself from venomous wasp bites. It is advised to avoid any contact if you are allergic to them. The odor of the bait solution will attract the wasps, and then they would enter the trap through the narrow hole, then drown in the solution, where they eventually die because they cannot get out of the bottle.

If, in any case, you decide to let the wasps go after trapping them, you should exercise extreme precaution since these trapped wasps are very aggressive, and after getting out of the trap, they tend to signal other wasps to their location. Hence it is understandable to release these wasps at another location where there are no people. You should also use gloves while handling these traps for extra safety.