For three years, thousands of stink bugs have moved into our tiny house every fall. After soapy water traps, sprays, and even an electric zapper (roasted stink bugs smell worse), we built a trap that catches them day and night with no wet, rotting mess to deal with. It's a lit rice paper lamp sitting in a metal roasting pan. Here's exactly how to make it.
Watch the full build
What you need
Only three items are required. You can mix and match stores. Everything below is available from Amazon or Walmart.
Rice paper lamp
Ortho Home Defense Max
Metal oven roasting pan
Bifenthrin concentrate (Talstar P)
Pillowcase (for the frame version)
How to make a stink bug trap (step by step)
Set up the lamp
Assemble the rice paper lamp per its instructions. Use an approved bulb and keep the required distance between the bulb and the paper. The lamp has a light right in the center and lots of surface area for stink bugs to land on.
Take it outside and spray it
Outdoors, spray the whole shade with Home Defense Max until it's soaked. Keep spray off the bulb, socket and cord. Follow the product label for where and how it can be used.
Let it dry outside
Leave the lamp outdoors until it is completely dry before bringing it in. The active ingredient (bifenthrin) stays on the shade after it dries.
Spray the pan (optional)
We sometimes spray the roasting pan with Home Defense Max too, so any bug that falls in and doesn't die right away is treated on the way down.
Set the lamp in the pan
Sit the lamp inside the pan on a stable, level surface. The pan's slick walls mean bugs can't climb back out, and everything collects in one place instead of turning up all over the house.
Turn it on in a dark room
Pick a room where you keep seeing stink bugs, turn off the other lights, and switch the lamp on. Stink bugs go to the light, land on the shade, walk around for a bit, and soon fall into the pan.
Check it and empty it
Leave it running for days. We've gone up to a week without touching ours. When the pan is full, tip the bugs into a bag and throw it away.
Why this trap works so well
- Stink bugs are attracted to light. It's why you find them on windows in the daytime and on light fixtures at night. In a dark room, your lamp is the brightest thing there.
- Lots of surface area. The rice paper shade (or a pillowcase on a frame) gives them plenty of room to land and walk around, and fabric or paper soaks up and holds the insecticide.
- Slick-walled pan. Bugs that fall can't climb out.
- Contact kill. Bifenthrin works on contact, so stink bugs don't have to eat anything. Touching the treated surface is enough.
- Hands-off. It runs around the clock, and you only deal with the bugs when you empty the pan.
Prefer something bigger? We also built a wooden frame trap with a pillowcase, but the lamp is the easiest.
A trap alone won't solve it
A trap catches stink bugs that are already inside. To really cut them down, pair it with sealing cracks and treating the outside of the house. Our three-step plan to get rid of stink bugs walks through all of it.
The quick version: see it in action
Short on time? This is the trap in under a minute.
Frequently asked questions
Do stink bug light traps actually work?
In our experience, yes. Stink bugs are drawn to light, so a lit lamp in a dark room pulls them to one spot. Treat the shade and they die and drop into the pan. It's not uncommon for us to catch over a hundred in a single night at peak season. Results vary with how many bugs are around and how dark the rest of the room is.
What is the best DIY stink bug trap?
The best one is the one that deals with dead bugs for you. We tried soapy water traps, sprays, and an electric zapper first. The lamp-over-a-roasting-pan trap beat all of them for us because it works day and night and can go days without being touched.
Where should I put a stink bug trap?
Put it in a dark room, near where you keep finding them. They gather on the bright, south-facing side of a house, so a darkened room on that side works well. Turn off competing lights so the trap is the brightest thing in the room.
Can I use a stink bug trap outside?
It works on a screened-in porch. Keep it out of rain and wind, and keep the cord and bulb dry.
How often should I empty it?
We let ours catch for a few days or even a week without touching it. Empty it when the pan looks full.
What do I do with the dead stink bugs?
Tip them into a bag, seal it, and put it in the trash. Don't use the roasting pan for cooking afterward.
Will a trap stop stink bugs from getting in?
No. A trap catches the ones already inside. To cut down how many come in, seal cracks around windows and doors (they fit through gaps as small as about 3 mm, roughly two pennies thick) and treat the outside of the house. See our full three-step plan.