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You wake up Tuesday morning and find them — three small red bites on your arm, in a neat little row. You did not feel anything in the night. You did not see anything. But the bites are there. You pull back the mattress at the corner, and there in the seam is a small dark dot, then two more, then a few flecks of dried blood. And then you see one — a flat brown apple-seed-sized creature that scuttles into the seam when the light hits it. Bed bugs.
The exterminator charges fifteen hundred dollars, two thousand dollars, sometimes three thousand dollars to deal with a serious infestation. Heat treatments, repeated chemical sprays, professional equipment, multiple visits.
There is a trap you can build tonight, with three dollars of pantry ingredients, that catches bed bugs by the carbon dioxide they hunt for. The university entomologists who study bed bugs ran a peer-reviewed study comparing this exact home trap to the expensive industrial CO₂ traps the pest control companies use — and the trap with yeast, sugar, and warm water caught just as many bed bugs as the expensive industrial traps. Re
https://eliasyoder.com
You wake up Tuesday morning and find them — three small red bites on your arm, in a neat little row. You did not feel anything in the night. You did not see anything. But the bites are there. You pull back the mattress at the corner, and there in the seam is a small dark dot, then two more, then a few flecks of dried blood. And then you see one — a flat brown apple-seed-sized creature that scuttles into the seam when the light hits it. Bed bugs.
The exterminator charges fifteen hundred dollars, two thousand dollars, sometimes three thousand dollars to deal with a serious infestation. Heat treatments, repeated chemical sprays, professional equipment, multiple visits.
There is a trap you can build tonight, with three dollars of pantry ingredients, that catches bed bugs by the carbon dioxide they hunt for. The university entomologists who study bed bugs ran a peer-reviewed study comparing this exact home trap to the expensive industrial CO₂ traps the pest control companies use — and the trap with yeast, sugar, and warm water caught just as many bed bugs as the expensive industrial traps. Re
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00:00You wake up Tuesday morning and you find them, three small red bites on your arm in a neat
00:06little row. You did not feel anything in the night, you did not see anything, but the bites
00:13are there and you sit on the edge of the bed staring at them while the dread creeps up
00:18because you already know what they probably are. You go to the closet for the sheets and you pull
00:25back the mattress at the corner and there in the seam of the mattress where the fabric folds
00:31is a small dark dot. You look closer, two more dots, a few flecks of what looks like dried blood
00:39and then you see one, a flat brown apple seed sized creature that scuttles into the seam when the light
00:48hits it. You step back. Your wife asks what is wrong. The day stops. Bed bugs. The pest that has
00:58come back across this whole country in the last 20 years, that thrives in clean homes and dirty homes
01:05alike, that hides in the seams of your mattress and the cracks of your headboard and the folds of your
01:11couch and comes out at night by the dozens to feed on the carbon dioxide of your own breath. And
01:18the
01:18exterminator charges $1,500, $2,000, sometimes $3,000 to deal with a serious infestation. Heat treatments,
01:29repeated chemical sprays, professional equipment, multiple visits. Now I want you to sit with this.
01:37There is a trap you can build tonight with $3 of ingredients you already have in your pantry
01:43that catches bed bugs by the carbon dioxide they hunt for. The university entomologists who study
01:52bed bugs ran a peer-reviewed study comparing this exact home trap to the commercial interceptors and
01:59the expensive industrial CO2 traps the pest control companies use, and the trap with yeast, sugar,
02:07and warm water caught just as many bed bugs as the expensive industrial traps. Real science. Real
02:15research. Published in the Journal of Economic Entomology. Same chemistry the mosquito researchers
02:22in Africa use to study malaria. $3.00. Tonight. We'll catch bed bugs while you sleep and tell you in
02:31the
02:31morning whether you have them and start cutting the population while a serious treatment plan comes
02:38together. My name is Elias Yoder. I am Amish and I farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Today I am
02:47going to walk you through the trap, the four ingredient recipe, where to place it, why it works, what to
02:54pair it
02:54with, and the honest, sober word about when the trap is enough and when it is not, because bed bugs
03:02are
03:02the one household pest where I have to be very careful not to oversell what a homemade method can do.
03:10There are a great many things in this country that folks are paying good money for every month,
03:15and the old methods make most of those bills go away. I have put as many of them as I
03:21could think of
03:22into a book at EliasYoder.com. I will not push it again. If you want the whole collection, it is
03:29there.
03:31Now, first, an honest word right at the start, because this matters. Bed bugs are one of the hardest
03:38pests in this country to fully eliminate. The trap I am going to show you is a real tool for
03:45detecting an
03:45infestation early, for cutting the population, and for knowing whether you have them. But a
03:52serious bed bug infestation, one that has spread into the walls, the carpet, the furniture frames,
03:58the neighboring rooms, often does need professional treatment to fully eradicate, whether that is
04:05professional heat treatment that raises a whole room to 140 degrees, or professional chemical treatments
04:12applied with the right equipment. I will not tell you the yeast trap alone wipes out a serious
04:18infestation. It does not. But for a small early infestation, for knowing whether you have them,
04:25for slowing them down while you plan, and for paired use with the other honest methods I will show you,
04:32it is the most valuable three dollars you will ever spend. Stay with me. Let me first tell you what
04:39a bed
04:39bug actually wants, because once you understand it, the trap makes simple sense. A bed bug is a flat brown
04:46insect about the size and shape of an apple seed. It does not fly. It does not jump. It walks.
04:54And it hides
04:55during the day in dark, narrow places. The seams of mattresses. The cracks in headboards. Behind picture
05:03frames. In the folds of upholstery. In the crevices of baseboards. It hides where no light reaches. At night,
05:12when you and your family lie down to sleep, the bed bug comes out to feed. And the way it
05:18finds you
05:18is the same way the mosquito finds you, by the smell of your breath. When you breathe out, you breathe
05:25out
05:26carbon dioxide. So does your child. So does your dog. The bed bug's tiny antennas pick up the CO2 trail
05:34from across the room. She follows the trail to its source. To the warm carbon dioxide pooling around
05:41a sleeping body. And that is where she lands and feeds. That is the whole game. Find the carbon dioxide.
05:50Find the body. Feed. Hide before dawn. So if you wanted to fool her. If you wanted to give the
05:58bed bug a
05:58different source of carbon dioxide to follow, somewhere away from your bed, into a trap she
06:04cannot climb out of, what you would need is a small container that releases carbon dioxide for hours
06:11during the night, surrounded by a slick surface she cannot climb back out of. And there is a kitchen
06:18thing that releases carbon dioxide for many hours from a few cents worth of ingredients. Yeast. When you put
06:26yeast in warm water with sugar, the yeast eats the sugar and breathes out carbon dioxide as it does.
06:33The same gas you breathe out, the same gas the bed bug is hunting for. The bed bug walks toward
06:41your trap
06:41instead of toward your bed. She climbs up the outside of the trap. She reaches the rim, looks down, and
06:49falls
06:50into the slick powdered surface where she cannot climb out. By morning she is dead and you have
06:56proof that you have bed bugs and the population in your room has been cut. This is exactly the same
07:04chemistry I showed you in the mosquito bucket trap a while back. Once you understand the principle,
07:10it works on more than one pest. Here is the parts list. Total cost, about three dollars. An empty plastic
07:18bottle, a clean water bottle, an empty coke or soda bottle, anything two cup size or larger. Wash it out
07:28and dry it. A plastic bowl, a Tupperware container, a plastic mixing bowl, even a deep plastic plate,
07:36about six or eight inches across. This is the trap basin. Plain table sugar, two to three tablespoons per
07:45trap, about 10 cents. Active dry yeast, a single packet from the grocery store or a small jar that lasts
07:54a long time.
07:55About one teaspoon per trap, about 50 cents. Warm water, not hot, not cold, warm. About as warm as a
08:06baby's bath.
08:07Too cold and the yeast does not wake up. Too hot and you kill the yeast. About one and a
08:14half cups per trap.
08:16Plain unscented talcum powder or baby powder. A small bottle costs about two dollars and lasts for many traps.
08:25Masking tape or duct tape, a few inches. A small plastic bag, a sandwich bag or a piece of plastic
08:33wrap.
08:34That is the whole list. Most kitchens have most of it already. Here is how to build the trap. I
08:41will tell it slow.
08:43Step one. Mix the carbon dioxide bottle. Take your empty plastic bottle. Pour in about one and a half cups
08:51of warm water. Fill it about two-thirds of the way up, not all the way, because the fermentation will
08:57produce
08:58foam that needs room to expand. Add two or three tablespoons of plain sugar. Swirl gently to dissolve.
09:06Then add one teaspoon of active dry yeast. Swirl gently again. Do not shake hard because shaking
09:15too hard can kill the yeast. Set it aside for 10 minutes. You will start to see tiny bubbles rising
09:22and you may see a thin foam beginning to form at the top. That is the carbon dioxide being released.
09:29The bottle is now your CO2 source and it will release CO2 for the next 24 to 36 hours before
09:37the yeast
09:37exhausts the sugar. Step two. Prepare the trap basin. Take your plastic bowl. Wrap a strip of masking tape or
09:47duct tape around the outside of the bowl, the whole way around the outside, all the way up from the
09:53bottom to the rim. The tape gives the bed bugs a rough surface to climb up. Without the rough exterior,
10:00the slick plastic of the bowl stops them from climbing and they never reach the trap. Then take
10:06your baby powder or talcum powder and dust the inside of the bowl generously. Tilt the bowl around so the
10:13powder coats the entire interior surface, sides and bottom. You want the inside slick. That is what
10:20stops bed bugs from climbing back out once they fall in. Use a small brush, a piece of cloth or
10:27even your
10:28finger to spread the powder evenly. Step three. Assemble the trap. Take the lid off your CO2 bottle. Set the
10:36open bottle in the center of your powdered bowl, standing upright. The CO2 now rises out of the
10:43bottle and pools in the bowl. Because carbon dioxide is heavier than air, it does not just drift up and
10:49away. It collects in low spaces. The bowl becomes a small reservoir of CO2 that bed bugs can smell from
10:57many feet away. Some folks add an extra small step here. Place a piece of plastic wrap or a plastic
11:04sandwich
11:05bag loosely over the top of the bottle with a small opening to deflect the rising CO2 downward and into
11:12the bowl rather than letting it rise straight up. This is not strictly necessary. The CO2 pools either way,
11:20but it helps direct the gas where you want it. Step four. Place the trap. This is where folks get
11:27it wrong
11:27and where the catch number depends on what you do. Place the trap right against the bed where bed bugs
11:34are
11:34most likely traveling. Near the headboard, against the wall the bed is pushed against, or under the bed
11:40itself if there is space. Bed bugs hide during the day in the headboard, in the mattress seams, and in
11:47the cracks behind the bed. At night, they come out to find you. Place the trap on their path between
11:53where
11:53they hide and where they hunt for you. You can use multiple traps, one on each side of the bed,
12:00one at the
12:00foot, one against the headboard. More traps catch more bed bugs. Two or three dollars a piece. Build as
12:07many as you have rooms to suspect. Before I go on to the safety word and the next steps, let
12:13me pause
12:13for a moment. If you want help putting these old-fashioned home-saving methods to work in your own house,
12:19join our Amish home savings system and community. Esther and I are inside answering questions, and the
12:26community helps you stay with it. The link is in the description. Now, the safety word, and there are
12:32three of them with this trap, and you need all three. Safety word number one. Do not sleep in the
12:39room
12:39while the trap is actively producing CO2. Or more honestly, if you sleep in the room while the trap is
12:45running, the trap will not work as well, because you are a much bigger CO2 source than the trap is.
12:51The bed
12:52bugs will follow your breath, not the trap. For the trap to do its work, run it in the room
12:57while you
12:58sleep elsewhere for a night or two. A couch, a guest room, anywhere else in the house. After two or
13:04three
13:04days, the yeast exhausts the sugar, and the trap is done. Then check it for bed bugs and replace the
13:11trap
13:11if you want to keep running it. A small note. The CO2 from one yeast trap is not dangerous to
13:17people in the
13:17room. It is far less than the CO2 produced by a person breathing. But you want the trap to be
13:23the
13:23strongest CO2 source in the room, and you cannot do that with a sleeping person also breathing. Safety
13:30word number two. Keep pets and small children out of the room with the trap. The yeast water is mildly
13:36fermented and on its way to becoming very weak alcohol. It is not dangerous to drink in small amounts,
13:43but a dog who knocks over the trap and drinks the sweet yeast water can get an upset stomach. A
13:49small
13:49child who pokes their fingers into the talc coated bowl and then rubs their eyes will not enjoy it.
13:55Keep the trap in a room you can close, and keep the door closed for the days the trap is
14:00running.
14:00Safety word number three, and this is the most important, about the alcohol spray I will mention shortly.
14:0791 percent isopropyl alcohol kills bed bugs on contact, and many folks use it as part of bed bug
14:17treatment. And isopropyl alcohol is highly flammable. The vapor is flammable. The wet spray is flammable.
14:26Spraying alcohol on a mattress, a couch, a carpet, or near any pilot light, candle, cigarette, space heater,
14:35electrical outlet that might spark, or wood stove is a serious fire risk. Real fires have happened. Real
14:44homes have burned this way. People have been seriously injured. If you use alcohol as a contact spray,
14:52ventilate the room well with windows open. Never spray near any flame, heat source, or electrical equipment.
15:01Let the alcohol fully dry several hours before turning on any heaters, lamps, candles, or fireplaces
15:10near the treated surface. Do not smoke in the room. Do not bring a hair dryer near a recently sprayed
15:18mattress. Treat the alcohol like the fire hazard it is. Used carefully, it is a useful tool. Used carelessly,
15:28it has set houses on fire. That is the safety word. Mind it. Now, what to do beyond the trap?
15:39Because the trap alone is not enough for a real infestation, here is the honest plan.
15:461. Heat treat your bedding and clothes. Wash all sheets, pillowcases, blankets, comforters, and any clothes near the bed
15:58in hot water, at least 120 degrees, and dry them in the dryer on high heat for at least 30
16:06minutes. The CDC and the EPA
16:09confirm that this kills bed bugs and their eggs at all life stages. Heat is the bed bug's true enemy.
16:192. Vacuum thoroughly and dispose carefully. Vacuum the seams of your mattress, the cracks of your headboard,
16:28the baseboards, the carpet edges. Bed bugs and their eggs come up in vacuum suction. Then take the vacuum
16:37bag or canister outside immediately and seal it in a plastic bag in the outdoor trash. Do not leave the
16:45vacuum in the room. The bed bugs will climb back out. 3. Steam treatment for surfaces.
16:53A handheld steam cleaner producing temperatures above 120 degrees kills bed bugs and eggs on contact.
17:04Steam the mattress seams, the headboard, the carpet edges, the upholstery folds. Slow and thorough. Heat does
17:14what chemicals cannot. 4. Encase the mattress and box spring in zippered bed bug proof covers.
17:24These are available at any hardware store for about $15 to $30 a piece. They seal in any bed bugs
17:33already in
17:33the mattress so they cannot escape or feed, and they prevent new bed bugs from getting in. The bed bugs
17:42trapped
17:42inside eventually starve. Leave the encasements on for at least a year. 5. When to call a professional.
17:52If after two weeks of trapping, washing, vacuuming, steaming, and encasing you are still seeing bed bugs or
18:01fresh bites, call a professional. A serious infestation that has spread into walls, carpets, and neighboring
18:10rooms genuinely needs professional heat treatment or professional chemical treatment with the right
18:17equipment. Do not let pride keep you scratching for six months when a professional can solve it in a day.
18:26The cost of professional treatment is real. $500 to $2,000 for most homes. But the cost of not solving
18:36it is
18:36keeping every night with creatures crawling on you while the infestation spreads to every room.
18:44Know the limits of the home methods.
18:47Now I want to take a moment because here is where it all matters.
18:51The trap I just showed you is real. The science is verified. The chemistry is honest. And it is
18:59one tool among several you need for a real bed bug fight. The pest control
19:05industry does not run commercials for the yeast trap because there is no money
19:10in a three dollar fix. They run commercials for the fifteen hundred
19:15dollar treatment. The treatment is real and sometimes necessary, but the trap is
19:22the thing you start with tonight, before you spend the fifteen hundred dollars,
19:27before you know how bad it actually is. A bed bug infestation that is caught
19:33early, when you first see a bite, when you first find one bug, can sometimes be
19:38handled with the trap, plus the heat laundry, plus the steam, plus the
19:43encasement, plus careful vacuuming. That is the path I want you to know, and the
19:49trap is the thing that confirms it. No bed bugs in the trap after several nights
19:54of careful trapping means you probably do not have an infestation, and you can
19:59stop worrying. Bed bugs in the trap means you do, and now you have a starting
20:04point, a known location, a known severity, and the beginning of a plan. That is the
20:11difference between fear and a fight you can manage. So here is what I want you to
20:16do. Tonight, if you suspect bed bugs in your home, or if you want a cheap insurance
20:22check just to know, build one of these traps. Three dollars in pantry ingredients,
20:27fifteen minutes of work. Set it up next to the bed before you go to sleep
20:32elsewhere for the night. In the morning, check the bowl. If there are bed bugs in
20:37the powder, you have your answer. If there are none after several nights of
20:42trapping with the trap properly placed, and the room undisturbed, you probably do
20:47not have an infestation. If the trap catches bed bugs, start the full plan.
20:53Hot wash all bedding, vacuum every seam and crack, steam treat all soft surfaces,
21:00encase the mattress and box spring, keep running fresh traps, and call a
21:05professional if you do not see real progress within two weeks. Treat the
21:10alcohol spray with the fire respect it deserves. Tell me in the comments below,
21:16Have you ever fought bed bugs? And if so, what worked for you, and what did not?
21:21And what part of the country are you in? Because bed bug populations vary across the
21:26country, and the more of you who share your stories, the more all of us learn. I read
21:32every single one. Next time, since we have been speaking of how heat is the bed bugs
21:38true enemy, I am going to show you the old way my people built the bedrooms
21:43themselves. The wood choices, the simple iron frame beds, the lime washed walls, and the
21:50small construction habits that mean a house in this country once went generations
21:54without a single bed bug because the place was built against them. It is the
22:00natural next step after today. Until then, build the trap, run it tonight, and
22:07remember that the cheapest tool in the fight is sometimes the one nobody at the
22:11exterminator's office has any reason to mention.
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