DO IT YOURSELF: INSULATED DRY ICE CANISTERS FOR CO2 BAITED MOSQUITO TRAPS

Carbon dioxide (CO2) baited traps are the industry standard for mosquito surveillance programs, with dry ice commonly used as a reliable CO2 source to attract host-seeking females. Commercially available insulated dry ice cans serve as a widely adopted sublimation canister for this purpose. However, the closure of BioQuip in 2022 created a shortage of affordable, standardized sublimation canisters, leaving many programs dependent on aging equipment or suboptimal alternatives. Here, we present an in-house protocol to assemble insulated dry ice canisters constructed entirely from commercially available materials. Canisters were assembled using a standardized and replicable design and evaluated against legacy BioQuip canisters and other modified insulated canisters. Performance was assessed over 24-h deployment periods to capture overnight field use. The do-it-yourself (DIY) insulated canister outperformed all other tested designs after 24 h. This low-cost and scalable alternative provides mosquito control programs with a practical DIY solution for CO2 based surveillance.