How to find hiding mosquito in your room.

How to Lure a Mosquito Out of Hiding in Your Bedroom (Proven Methods)

So, there’s a mosquito in your room and you need to lure it out of hiding.

That buzzing in your ears drives you mad.

You hear it in bed and panic for the light switch.

Only to find that the mosquito has escaped into the darkness of your room. Your room is only so big.

Where could it have gone? Where is it hiding? What do I need to do to get it out here?

In this guide, we’ll talk about:

  • Different, proven ways to get a mosquito out of hiding in your bedroom (and kill it)
  • How to lure one out during the daytime
  • Where mosquitoes commonly hide in the bedroom
  • And more

By the end of this page, you should be able to get the bugger out and smack it so you can get some sleep tonight.

Sound good? Let’s get that mosquito outta here!

How do I get rid of mosquitoes in my room at night?

A mosquito sits on a leaf inside a bedroom plant waiting for prey.
There are some handy techniques you can use to lure one out. Then kill it.

So, you caught a glimpse of that darned mosquito hovering around your room and it’s 30 minutes until bedtime.

There’s no way you can sleep with something like THAT buzzing around, sucking your blood, and leaving you with a dozen blisters that itch like crazy for the next week. No way.

So how do you get the mosquito to show itself so you can kill it rightfully when it’s hiding in your room?

Here are some tips so you can sleep peacefully tonight.

Use the light trick

This is one of the most effective methods because it uses what mosquitoes are naturally attracted to- light.

But for it to work, you need to eliminate all other sources of nearby light.

So if you have multiple lights in your room, turn them all off except for the smallest one- a night light, candle, or even the bright light emanating on your phone’s screen.

All of these will bring the mosquito out of hiding because they gravitate towards light.

But before you do that, grab whatever you plant to smack the mosquito with so you have it handy rather than scrambling for it in the dark. A roll of newspaper, magazine, or one of those awesome electronic bug zappers.

Whatever you plan to use.

Oh, and don’t use your hands. If the mosquito has sucked blood lately, it’ll splatter everywhere when you smack it. Just FYI.

Next, turn off ALL the lights except for the target light. Leave that one on. It should only light up a small portion of your room. That’s the goal.

And now, we play the waiting game.

Sit a few feet away from the light and wait patiently like a tiger watching its prey. Soon, you’ll see the darned thing fly around the light like a moth to a flame, or so they say.

Go ahead and pounce. This is where you use your weapon of choice and kill the mosquito.

Smack it. Multiple times if you have to.

And if you can’t see well, then switch on the brightest light source in your room so you have precision accuracy when you kill that pest.

If you miss the first time, you’ll have to repeat the process.

But this time, you may have to wait longer until the mosquito deems the threat is over.

Thankfully, they’re not too bright. So repeat the process and lure that thing out so you can kill it.

Light and wall method

This one is similar to the method above but works well for tiny mosquitoes that are hard to see.

The same ideology applies- use a small, bright light. Except get one that’s focused and emits a beam of light rather than a broad output.

Use a flashlight, flood lamp, or even the light emitting from your laptop or phone screen.

Next, point the light at a blank surface. Use a wall, poster, door, or whatever else is in your room that has no obstruction.

Get something to smack the mosquito with. And find a hiding place.

Yes, you’re going to hide from the hiding mosquito. Face the irony.

Now, the trick here is to make sure the powerful beam of light is pointed at the surface with clarity. It should be bright enough for you to read under, but focused into a small circle or square on your wall.

Lean the light source or mount it with something so you don’t have to hold onto it.

Turn off all the lights in your room. Shut the doors and windows. And hide somewhere where you can still watch the bright light shining on the hard surface.

Wait for a few minutes.

The mosquito will eventually make its way to the light and fly around it. You may even hear it buzz by your ears!

If everything goes according to plan, the mosquito will land on the wall where the light is bright.

This is your chance to kill it. Even if it doesn’t, the whole point of this technique is that the light will cast the mosquito’s shadow onto the surface so you can easily identify it and kill the damn thing.

Even the smallest mosquitoes will still cast a large shadow on the wall that’s easily noticeable.

Swoop in and eliminate it. And there you go. You’ve baited the pest out of hiding and eliminated it.

Time to mosquito-proof your home so you don’t have to deal with these little nightmares anymore.

The parallel light source technique

A flashlight attracts mosquitoes out of hiding.
Use a bright light to bait mosquitoes out of hiding.

Props to the folks at StackExchange for this effective method.

It’s one of the easiest to do and only requires a flashlight for it to work. The best thing about this technique is that it works on both small and large mosquitoes- even ones that you can hardly see in the dark.

It’s similar to the light and wall method but uses a different positioning of the light source for visibility.

First, get a bright flashlight. Place it parallel to a blank wall off to the right or left of the “target zone.”

So basically, choose a large blank area on the wall.

And put the light to the left or right of it, facing the blank area. The light should be touching the wall so it casts a beam that covers a significant portion of the “target zone.”

Turn off all the other lights. Get a roll of newspaper, magazine, shoe, book, bug zapper/racket, or whatever else you have handy. And wait.

Soon, the mosquito will come out of hiding and fly towards the bright light.

When it hovers around the flashlight or lands on the wall, it’ll easily show up under the light.

The shadow of the pest casts to either side and you can go ahead and kill it.

Note that when you get up to smack it, you should avoid walking in front of the flashlight because the sudden change in lighting (from you blocking it) will scare it away.

This works for both small and large, fast, and slow mosquitoes.

Use the dual-room technique

This technique is a little more involved and requires that you have an area sectioned off from your bedroom for it to work.

A bathroom, walk-in closet, or whatever other areas with a door should do the trick.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Turn off all the lights in your bedroom.
  2. Go to the sectioned area and turn on the lights (bathroom lights, closet lights, etc.)
  3. Stand (or sit) at the farthest corner from your bedroom so you’re watching the door leading into your room.
  4. Wait for the mosquito to fly into this area.
  5. Shut the door behind it.
  6. Now the mosquito is trapped in this room with you. Go ahead and kill it.

The point is that the room is smaller so it makes it easier to spot and squish the bug.

Use beer

Mosquitoes are built to detect CO2.

This is how they know potential targets to bite and extract a blood meal from. Mammals exhale CO2 and they can detect this stuff from many feet away.

Your CO2 levels are highest when you workout or you’re in a room with poor air circulation.

However, we can create artificial sources of carbon dioxide as a lure station to get these suckers (literally) to come out so you can squash them.

Beer naturally will produce CO2 and so will yeast.

You can use either to start a reaction.

Leave it somewhere in your room and they’ll gravitate towards the source.

Simply pour some beer into a bowl and let it sit in the corner of your room and wait. or use yeast, sugar, and water. Mix one part yeast with three parts cold water and a few tablespoons of sugar

The solution will bubble and start to produce CO2 right away. You can use this to lure out a mosquito or you can use it to bring them to another area (out of your bedroom, perhaps).

This is one of the easiest and best ways to attract mosquitoes without spending a ton.

And who doesn’t have at least a 6 pack somewhere in their fridge?

Use a fan

A fan is a natural mosquito deterrent.
A simple fan keeps the mosquitoes away at night (or day).

A fan is your best friend in terms of mosquito control.

A moderately powerful box fan should be enough to blow away that pesky mosquito because of their poor capability of flight.

They’re terrible flyers and are also extremely slow- this makes them easy targets to smack.

But the point of a fan is that it can deter mosquitos simply by air currents. The powerful waves will carry them a few feet away as they can’t fly against the wind.

So if you have some kind of fan, position it so that it blows over the exposed parts of your body. If you have a blanket, wear it. And put the fan blowing over your face.

Any mosquito that tries to land on your nose for a blood meal will be greeted by a torrent of wind and pushed away.

Or if you don’t use blankets or roll out of them, position it over your body. You get the idea.

Mosquitoes are poor flyers and can’t fly against artificial air from a fan. It also works the opposite way- they can get sucked into your fan and chopped up by the blades.

So a fan is both a mosquito repeller and a mosquito killer. That’s why it’s your best friend.

Protect your feet

Your feet and ankles are a mosquito’s favorite meal.

They’ve evolved to become attracted to the scent of feet because they know that the mammal they’re sucking blood from are less likely to smack them when they feed on its feet.

Your foot and ankles are hard to reach out of your extremities, so the mosquito knows to go down to your feet to drink blood.

This way, it has the best chance of biting you and escaping without getting smacked. Some aggressive mosquitoes can even be lured to follow the scent of feet in a perfect trail, like this bugger:

So when you go to bed and you know there’s a mosquito in your bedroom, wear some thick socks and pants. Tuck the pants into the sock for extra protection. If you can’t sleep wearing pants, then use a blanket.

That should offer a barrier from the mosquito so it can’t get to you in your rest. It should also help block the scent of your feet from filling up the room.

Even if you don’t think your feet stink, they do- to a mosquito.

They have extremely powerful receptors for smell and can detect moisture, CO2, and the location of their next meal.

Don’t be fooled.

If you have stinky feet, do something about it before bed. Wash them. Use powder. Or cover them up with some repellent made for mosquitoes. It works.

Use a mosquito net

If you live in an area with a lot of these buggers, consider buying a mosquito net for your bed.

Sure, it may seem like an unorthodox way of getting a good night’s sleep, but they exist for a reason. They work.

Get a high-quality net with fine and durable materials and hang it over your bed.

Some don’t even require any installation. They prop up like a stand-up tent and are placed over your bed.

You can use a net during peak mosquito season (summer) or until you can manage the situation so you don’t wake up with dozens of bites every single night.

Or if mosquitoes are a nightly event for you, then a net will do wonders.

You can use it temporarily until you find a solution. Or permanently. The choice is yours.

There are dozens you can find for cheap. Read some reviews. Do some research.

Where do mosquitoes hide in the bedroom?

A hungry mosquito biting skin.
A mosquito-free bedroom can be yours.

They can hide anywhere. Typically, you’ll find them hiding in dark, cramped areas that are out of sight.

This is why they’re so hard to find, especially at night when they’re waiting for you to sleep so they can suck your blood.

Note that not all mosquitoes feed at night. Some feed during the day, others feed at night, and some are a mixture of day and night.

Regardless, some of the most common hiding areas for mosquitoes in the bedroom are:

  • Closets
  • Drawers
  • Clothing
  • Bathrooms
  • Ceiling
  • Walls
  • Behind the door
  • Under your bed
  • On or under furniture
  • Shelving
  • Under desks
  • Computers, electronics, or other warm appliances
  • Near light or water sources

Wherever it is, you’ll need to bait it out using the methods listed above so you can kill it.

Or else you’ll be up all night walking around with a bottle of bug spray.

Do mosquitoes hide in clothes?

Yes, mosquitoes hide in fabrics and clothing are just one of them.

They also like blankets, drapes, curtains, and even carpeting. They’re not picky and soft fabrics offer them a soft surface that’s easy to grab and warm to the touch.

Your clothes are just one source. If you have a lot of clothes (like your closet or dresser/armoire), then this is just layers upon layers of soft, warm surfaces for them to nest and wait for their next meal.

They’re not picky of where they hide- they just need a source of shelter, mammalian blood, and humidity from water. This is why they’re so prevalent. Everything from the used tire trade to your own car is a possible home for mosquitoes.

How to lure a mosquito out of hiding during the day

A mosquito hiding in a bedroom closet.
Some mosquitoes come out during the day, while others only at night.

If you happen to spot one in your bedroom during the daytime, the process is slightly more difficult because it may hide somewhere until nighttime.

But this depends on the type of mosquito species you’re dealing with.

Some, like the common Culex, will bite only during the night. This is the one that bites you overnight and you wake up with blisters all over your skin!

Others bite during the day, such as the Aedes aegypti. And others like the Asian Tiger Mosquito prefer before sunrise and before sunset. It all varies.

Of course, if you have one hiding somewhere in your home, you’re going to want to get it out before nightfall. Or else you won’t be getting much sleep.

The process is the same- make your bedrooms as DARK as possible. Shut the blinds. Use a single light source. And set up an ambush as you wait for it to come out- armed with your favorite roll of newspaper.

Use the steps above for reference.

What if my room is bright?

Sometimes, it’s easier to set up a trap if you shut off all other exits from your room.

That means closing the door, closets, drawers, and windows.

Now, you’re left stuck with a mosquito in your room. But it can’t escape. It’s time to hunt!

Start by disturbing the environment, furniture, drapery, blankets, etc. around your room. This will eventually make it fly out when you find out where it’s hiding.

You should be doing this until you see it buzz out. Give it a good smack for your time.

Where do mosquitoes hide during the day?

A mosquito hiding during the day in a plant.
Mosquitoes naturally hide within dense foliage.

Check common areas where they hide:

  • Blankets
  • Curtains
  • Drapes
  • Dressers
  • Closets
  • Clothes
  • Furniture (under and behind)
  • Under your bed
  • Between clothing
  • Blinds
  • On the ceiling or walls
  • Baseboards
  • Behind doors
  • Cracks and crevices

Get a flashlight and check tight areas.

Often, the light beam is enough to scare the pest out of hiding and it’ll come buzzing at you. That’s how you get it out in the daytime. Now you know.

Why are mosquitoes attracted to light?

Mosquitoes exhibit phototaxis, which is the attraction to light.

They’re equipped with very precise and sensitive visual and chemical receptors.

During the night, any sources of light will be an attractive bait to them and they’ll naturally fly towards it. They suspect a possible food source and go into hunting mode.

From my experience, mosquitoes are easily baited out by using blue light.

You can use this to your benefit by using electronics like your computer screen, laptop screen, phone screen (which attracts bugs by itself), tablet, etc.

When all the other lights are off and the only light source is the soft, blue glow from your electronic device, the mosquito can’t resist to stop hiding and fly towards it.

This seems to work much more effectively compared to traditional lighting from a bulb.

You can swap this light source for any of the above techniques and see how it works out for you.

Use this to your benefit when you need to lure out that one, single mosquito hiding somewhere in your room.

How many times can one mosquito bite you?

Mosquitoes will bite as many times as they can. They’re opportunistic feeders.

Only female mosquitoes bite and will draw blood for her eggs.

However, even after feeding once, they can bite again and feed multiple times.

A single mosquito will bite dozens of times in a single night if given the chance. This is why you never let them under the blanket or else they get trapped.

And also why you never sleep with one in your room.

Further reading

Here are some additional references you may find helpful on getting rid of the mosquito in your home:

 

Did you get rid of the mosquito in your room?

Asian Tiger Mosquito sucking blood.
A bedroom free of mosquitoes? We take that for granted.

You should now be armed with the knowledge necessary to get that pest to come out so you can “take care” of it properly.

With all of these available techniques, you’re sure to find something that’ll work for your situation. Then you can finally stop worrying about being bitten by a mosquito at night and get some shut eyes.

So, how’d it go? Which method do you try? Did you find the mosquito and eradicate it!

If you found this page helpful, consider telling a friend! Please let me know if you found it useful or any feedback you may have.

Thanks for reading.

 

1 thought on “How to Lure a Mosquito Out of Hiding in Your Bedroom (Proven Methods)”

  1. I can’t sleep until I have killed any mosquitoes in my room. I’ve learned a lot this week,chasing and killing them. One interesting thing….they know when you are after them if you miss and they get away….then, they learn to tuck their legs under their body so they look more like a mark on the wall than a mosquito!! Yes, they can disguise themselves!!! I learned to swat anything that wasn’t on the wall a few minutes ago.

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