Sticky traps

Posted by Martin MacKenzie on December 16, 2010 at 12:33am

As a pathologist who has just come over to the dark side, how do I dissolve the sticky stuff on my blue panel traps.

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  • Curtis Takahashi December 24, 2010 at 12:24am

    Hi Martin!

    A couple of things you could use:

     

    1. Goo-gone.  It's a citrus based cleaner.  kind of aromatic, but your traps will smell like oranges!

    2.  Histoclear.  Another citrus based solvent.  Much less odiferous than goo gone and available in gallon containers.  As I recall, it's also less toxic too.

    • Andrew Derksen > Curtis Takahashi January 20, 2011 at 9:34pm
      I am going to second Mr. Takahashi's recommendation for citrus-based cleaner. I used Citra-solv to remove thrips from sticky traps for slide mounting. It was efficient at removing them from the surface and then for clearing the remaining blobs of glue and dirt from their bodies. Plus, it smelled good, and it was remarkably cheap.
    • Curtis Takahashi > Andrew Derksen January 24, 2011 at 11:22am
      No Mr. required, that's my dad!  lol
    • Martin MacKenzie > Andrew Derksen January 21, 2011 at 9:06pm
      Will that solvent dissolve plastic petri dishes?  One of the solvents I used dissolved the dish and I found the insect legs etc became embedded in the softened walls of the petri dishes!
    • Andrew Derksen > Martin MacKenzie January 21, 2011 at 9:10pm
      Oops! It has been a few years, but yes - that could be an issue. I do remember ruining some specimens and a plastic dish. Thrips were small, so I continued forward using a watch-glass and a brush wetted with citra-solv.
    • Curtis Takahashi > Andrew Derksen January 24, 2011 at 11:21am
      yeah, I use glass petri dishes.
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