Sticky, Smart and Still Essential

In an age when every tool seems to have a chip, signal or sensor, it’s easy to overlook the simplest ones. Remote sensing and AI dominate the innovation headlines in pest management, but some of our most valuable tools require no batteries or firmware updates.

Take, for example, the insect glue trap: a small square of cardboard coated with adhesive. Every pest control employee should have a few within arm’s reach, as they’re light, inexpensive and endlessly useful. For all our technological progress, few tools have proven as flexible, reliable and revealing as that sticky little square.

READING THE STORY IN THE GLUE. Sticky traps aren’t just passive monitors; they’re packed with information. Whether they’re full, empty or sitting where they fell off the underside of a sink, they always tell a story.

From a single trap, a trained eye can infer:

• Life stage ratios: For German cockroaches, primarily young nymphs suggest you’re close to a harborage; mostly adult males indicate that you’re catching travelers that wander farthest from the nest; a full range of life stages indicates a healthy, reproducing population.
• Movement patterns: Captures concentrated on one edge can show travel direction, indicating whether pests are coming out of a crack or heading into one.
• Seasonal shifts: A change in species mix may reveal exterior activity moving indoors. This may mean more spiders seeking mates in the fall, occasional invaders as weather cools or ants expanding foraging routes in spring.

A clean trap doesn’t always indicate no pests. It may mean wrong placement or wrong timing. Reading that nuance separates true pest professionals from the rest.

The insect glue trap remains a simple, reliable and indispensable pest control tool. ©razaklatif | iStock

BEYOND MONITORING. Pest management rewards resourcefulness. Field creativity can turn a challenge into a quick fix, and glue traps are a perfect example.

When baiting roaches in an apartment, I once found a narrow gap between a countertop and the wall that was an active harborage. The space was narrow and difficult to reach, so it presented difficulties when I tried to fit my roach bait gun into the crevice. I didn’t have a spatula handy, so I put a small dab of bait on the edge of a glue trap (with the cover still on), slid it into the gap and used it to position the bait deep inside the crevice.

That’s one of many clever adaptations:

• Some companies privately label their traps, as it’s an ideal place to print rulers, pest ID keys or QR codes linked to reporting tools.
• A printed ruler helps measure gaps or acts as a size reference when photographing captures for identification.
• The trap can also double as a notepad and is often handy for jotting down a message or marking where captures were found when there’s no paper around.
• Used traps make great training tools: review them during team meetings to discuss species ID, harborage clues and placement success.

GLUE TRAP REGULATION CONFUSION. Recently, glue traps have drawn scrutiny in animal-welfare debates, though most attention targets rodent glueboards, not insect monitors. Additionally, some proposed laws use wording broad enough to cover any adhesive trap.

At the federal level, the Glue Trap Prohibition Act of 2024 (H.R. 7018) was introduced (but didn’t get further than that) to ban glue traps for rodents. It defined a glue trap as a board or tray coated with non-drying adhesive designed to immobilize animals — and yes, insects are animals under taxonomy.

At the local level, several jurisdictions, including West Hollywood (2023) and Ojai, Calif. (2024), banned the sale or use of glue traps for any animal, explicitly naming insects in their definitions. Proposals in San Francisco and Austin have followed with similar, broadly worded language.

For now, insect sticky traps remain legal in most areas, but pest professionals should read each ordinance carefully and use glue traps appropriately. Place them inside stations or protected areas and avoid areas where non-targets could be captured. Thoughtful placement keeps these tools effective and defensible.

OLD TOOL, MODERN RELEVANCE. Technology will continue to evolve, and sensors will offer new ways to visualize pest activity. But they still depend on people who know how to interpret the story pests leave behind.

The humble glue trap reminds us that creativity and fundamentals matter as much as innovation. It rewards observation, patience and problem-solving: the same skills that define great pest professionals.

So, keep a stack of insect glue traps in your truck or bag. Use them to monitor, measure, teach and, when needed, improvise. Because in a business built on adaptation, the best tools are often the simplest ones.

The author is technical director at Sprague Pest Solutions, based out of the company’s corporate headquarters in Tacoma, Wash. She oversees Sprague’s technical and QA departments, focusing on product testing and approval, regulatory compliance and technical training. She also serves as secretary of the Urban Pest Management Technical Committee (www.upmtc.org) and is a member of the NPMA Technical Committee