The effects of individual bistable defects on the dark counting rate of avalanche photodiodes have been monitored and their temperature dependence studied. The presence of a bistable defect in the diode is indicated by the repeated random switching of the counting rate between two well‐defined rates. Four of the defects studied were produced via reaction with a single neutron from a Be–Am source, while two were found to exist without irradiation. Results were analyzed in terms of the activation energies of the electron generating capabilities of the defects, and the effective potential barriers between the two structural configurations of the bistable states. Among the six defects studied, two of them could be of the same type. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.