How to use
monitor traps
A monitor trap is a folded card with a sticky floor. It does not get rid of cockroaches. It tells you where they are, how many, and whether your plan is working.
Set them up
Use the same spots every week, so this week's count compares with last week's.
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1
Fold and place
Fold the card into a tent and set it flat against a wall, open ends along the edge. Cockroaches follow edges.
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2
Where they travel
Under the sink, behind the fridge and cooker, inside low cupboards. A few per room where you saw activity, more in the kitchen.
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3
Check weekly
Same day each week. Write down the count for each trap.
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4
Replace when full
Or when dusty. A clean trap gives a fair count.
Where, by bug
German cockroach
Kitchens and bathrooms: under the sink, behind the cooker, along shelf edges.
American cockroach
Near the drains, in bathrooms, laundry rooms and kitchens.
Oriental cockroach
On the floor, by damp spots, drains and leaking pipes.
Brown-banded cockroach
In several rooms, not just the kitchen.
Silverfish
In bathrooms and cupboards.
Clothes moths
A different trap: pheromone traps show if males are still flying.
Bed bugs
A different trap: interceptor cups under the bed legs. See below.
What the
count tells you
One sighting tells you little. The same traps, counted on the same day each week, show the trend better than a single sighting.
Falling counts mean the plan is working. With bait, a difference usually takes days to weeks, depending on how many there are.
One trap catching more than the others points to where they hide, and that is where the bait goes.
Count adults and young ones apart. In the German and brown-banded plans, a growth regulator stops nymphs from becoming breeding adults.
Still busy after a month? Call a pro, and bring your counts.
Bed bug
interceptors
Bed bugs need a different monitor. An interceptor is a cup that sits under a bed leg: bed bugs walking to or from the bed fall into its outer well and cannot climb the smooth walls. Like a monitor trap, it tells you what is there. It does not clear anything.
Pull the bed a little away from the wall and keep the bedding off the floor, so the legs are the only way up. One cup under each leg, set level.
Check the wells once a week, on the same day, and write down what you find. One bug in a cup is a sign worth acting on: compare it with the bed bug guide, or ask a professional to confirm it. Cups that stay empty for several weeks after the last treatment are the evidence that it is over.
Kids and pets
No poison, still sticky
Monitor traps have no poison, but the glue sticks to fur. Place them where pets cannot reach.
Bait, out of reach
Gel and bait stations go where children and pets cannot reach. Closed stations too.
The label wins
If our advice and a product label ever differ, follow the label.
Questions
How many traps do I need?
A few per room where you saw activity, more in the kitchen.
Will traps get rid of them?
No. They show where the bugs are and how many. Bait, sealing and taking away food and water do the work.
Can I spray as well?
Not near bait. Spray drives cockroaches away from it and can scatter them deeper into the walls.
Trap check
in the app.
Once the Shoo app is out, you will photograph a trap each week and it will count adults and young ones for you, then show whether the plan is working. Until then, the count you write down each week does the same job.
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