Looking for a good Mosquito Trap/Zapper

[michelle]

I might be in the minority here, and this relates specifically to indoor mozzies, but the UV light ones (suction cheapo on ebay) work phenomenally well for me. I have about 10 of them throughout the house, and I turn them on whenever I see a mozzie indoors. Usually after one night on, I can trap anywhere between 2 and 100 mozzzies. That is sometimes enough, but I would usually leave it on for a few weeks and keep catching more throughout. I leave one on permanently in my lounge room and bedroom in summer/autumn and empty it every few weeks. Always has some in it.

[mark_m]

@michelle

but the UV light ones (suction cheapo on ebay) work phenomenally well for me. I have about 10 of them throughout the house, and I turn them on whenever I see a mozzie indoors.

An interesting experiment might be to replace the UV lamp/s with a normal incandescent lamp, and note after several weeks if there is any difference.

Our observation is leaving a light on in the bathroom at night for personal convenience works equally effectively. Any stray insects, including mosquitoes all move to the one location near to the night time light. Convenient for when one intends to eliminate the surplus.

[michelle]

No, that doesn’t work for me. It could be the type of light, but I have tried that. At the very least the TV attracts them, and then I have them with me when I least want them.

[mark_m]

@michelle

At the very least the TV attracts them, and then I have them with me when I least want them.

Do you have insect screens?

[BollocksBuster]

Zappify Mosquito Killer.
Yesterday I clicked on a link to “Zappify Mosquito Zapper”.
It’s a portable rechargeable mosquito zapper which uses an (*alleged) UV light to attract mozzies and then zapp them with a high voltage grid.

The marketing spiel claims this item is “flying off the shelves and taking Australia by storm” which is an immediate red flag for marketing BS in my mind.
It also features glowing reviews with proper grammar and no spelling mistakes - another red flag.
Real reviews are littered with lousy grammar and spelling.

Cost = about $50

Does anybody have experience with this item?
I get eaten alive by mozzies and other pesky biting insects and need a solution.

• alleged UV light.
  I purchased a cheap mozzie zapper from Amazon which uses an alleged UV light to attract the mozzies. But as it turns out, it is not really a UV light - it’s just a blue LED made up to look as if it’s a UV light.

BB

[syncretic]

@BollocksBuster

Does anybody have experience with this item?

Sorry no. The reason is I have no confidence in the usefulness of such products. There are two problems;

1. While some insects are strongly attracted to UV the references I read say that mozzies may be attracted to UV but the pull is not huge, some species more than others. Some studies show that UV traps mainly collect other insects including harmless or beneficial ones.

2. Even if a few hundred are killed there are a million more where they came from so how does that stop you getting bitten? Put another way, even if they kill some I doubt the improvement is significant enough to bother.

[mark_m]

@BollocksBuster

I get eaten alive by mozzies and other pesky biting insects and need a solution.

So do I. Includes midges.
Looking at prior posts in this topic suggests the zappers are not a solution or worse just a gimmick that might kill a few mosquitoes. Effective control not delivered.

@mark_m

Current science is that you are wasting your money on UV lamp driven devices. The targeting of a particular UV-A spectrum suggests just another marketing trick to make consumers think the product is different and works.

If you are able to share some links to the scientific studies?

https://www.quora.com/Are-mosquitoes-attracted-to-UV-lights

I’m part way through trialing the spray on clothing repellant. It’s not a substitute for using repellant on your exposed skin. I’m hopeful it will discourage ticks from grabbing hold as I brush past. It does seem when freshly applied to discourage landing on clothing. Nothing new, we had a DEET based laundry treatment years past (tropical rated to reduce malaria risk).

When out in the verandah if the air is really very still the plug in electrical heated repellant devices seem to have some effect. So do the good old mosquito coils. Debatably both also have a repellant effect on house guests.

[BollocksBuster]

I have no experience with the heated pad type mozzie repellers, but as for mosquito coils I thoroughly distolerate them. They give me the sweats, sinus problems and a blinding headache so they are a banned item in my vicinity. As also is citronella and most of the spray/dab/roll on type repellents such as rid, deet, dimp, some forms of aeroguard.

However I do tolerate aeroguard *odourless low irritant and it works quite well, but the downside is it leaves a greasy film on your skin which has to be washed off prior to hitting the sack.

*claimed to be odourless but in fact has a weak odour.

BB