Mosquito Magnet...anybody have one??

[Slingah]

Do any of you have a mosquito trap??? I am planning on getting one for my backyard and not sure on make or size...any info is appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Matt S.

[mikecc]

My neighbors got one. They are great no skeeters in my yard they all go to theirs. Last year they went away for 2 weeks and shut the machine off skeeters were every where. as soon as they came home and started it up they were gone in a few days.

[cheferson]

WE use 2 industrial sized ones and another a little smaller at work. I still get bit all the time. They cost big $$$$ too.The bags inside do collect quite a few , but i dont really think its that many. I think youd be better off trying to attract some birds or bats that will eat them, by providing some shelter or nest boxes.

[Raven]

is the most important task to reduce them...
especially inside old automobile tires..........
if thats not possible....you can use garlic oil
to kill the larva...as it floats on the surface...
i remember reading (and this is real strange)
about the mustard plant and how it's seeds actually
attach themselves to the mosquito larva and eat them

bat boxes are simply bird houses with no bottom
attached to the north side of the tree for coolness
as high as possible...
and inside is some wire mesh for them to cling to
as they hang upside down....bats will eat their own weight
in bugs each night....swallows do it by day and will live in
those comunity bird houses...

one thing mosquitos cannot deal with very well is wind
so if your backyard has little or NO airflow "YOU LOOSE"
so by trimming your trees back to either dry things up
or to maximize airflow which will provide flight paths for bats and birds
you work with nature....the zapper is the last resort...\

but here's a link to gadgets you wear on your body
that emits a high frequency signal to keep them off you
theres table models and skeeter juice too
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/masterga...o-control.html

[The Dad Fisherman]

Like Mike said, My neighbor also has one and My yard definitely had less mosquitos than normal the past couple of seasons.

The key is to keep it running constantly and to probably fire it up now. It takes a few weeks for you to see results. You can't expect to fire it up tonight and be mosquito free this weekend.

It works by attracting the females (egg bearers) so after a few weeks you start to see the populations go down.

I live near the wetlands and the mosquitos are the size of small cornish hens. So I'm always looking at ways to reduce their Populations. Bat Houses are another good option and they're relatively inexpensive.

[TBone]

My dad picked one up last year, they have a good sized deck and love to entertain, and he grills almost every day of the summer. He said the whole summer of having people over and out grilling that there were only two people bitten, where in the past you could hardly sit out for 15 minutes without getting mauled. I guess the machine gives off carbon dioxide and heat while running...two of the biggest reasons they find us, and when they get close enough they get hoovered into the chamber.

[NaCl H2O]

If you could figure out a way to increase the dragon fly population along with coaxing more bats into your neighborhood, you'd have both the day and night covered. We used to call them mosquito hawks when I lived down south.

[HighTide]

I bought a Mosquito Deleto, hope that puts a dent in them so we can use the deck this summer.

[zacs]

I bought a mosquito deleto too, but I couldn't get it to work. I never got around to taking it back, so I am going to have a go at it again in a few days or so. Anyone know the secret handshake to get this thing going?

[spence]

Raven's bit about stagnant water is dead on. Appearantly they don't really travel that far, so any skeeters in your yard were likely hatched in the vicinity.

-spence

[HighTide]

Originally Posted by zacs

I bought a mosquito deleto too, but I couldn't get it to work. I never got around to taking it back, so I am going to have a go at it again in a few days or so. Anyone know the secret handshake to get this thing going?

If I get mine going, I'll give you an update.

[PJT]

I have a defender model setup which I bought late last year. Although it put quite a noticeable difference in the population, nosferatu's blood thirsty henchmen managed to take a few pints out of myself and my dog. The trick is to get it setup early in the season to wipe out the starter bugs and to stop the cycle of breeding. Clearing out brush and things that hold water helps alot as well. Mosquitos need only about a drop of stagnent water to breed.

Once the ambient air is greater than 56 degrees, it's time to turn the machine on and leave it on 24/7 preferably in a shaded area. Must have killed off 1000's last year but since I was late in purchasing one, I wasn't able to get a foothold in breaking the cycle. Black flies have been a beeyach so far and not so much as the skeeters. The machine will be on starting tonite. I am doublful that it will take care of the problem but at least I can enjoy the outdoors to a certain extent.

[Slingah]

thanks for all the replys...I'll be getting one this weekend.....just hope I get the right size.....I hate skeeters

[Raven]

concerning the mosquito delivered WEST NILE VIRUS:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rockville, Maryland-based MacroGenics Inc., made a human-like version of the most effective antibody.

They tested it in mice bred to be susceptible to West Nile virus. It protected them from death even if they got severe cases of the disease.

"Our results are the first successful demonstration of a humanized monoclonal antibody as postexposure therapy against a viral disease and suggest that antibody-based therapeutics may have more broad utility than previously appreciated, especially in the treatment of central nervous system infection
~
awesome..... i don't want my brain inflamed

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by Raven

bat boxes are simply bird houses with no bottom
attached to the north side of the tree for coolness
as high as possible...
and inside is some wire mesh for them to cling to
as they hang upside down....bats will eat their own weight
in bugs each night

I lived in San Antonio TX for 3yrs.The mosquito is non existant because of the Freetail bats.From what I remember after taking the tour of Bracken Caves was that those two colonies alone eat 250 tons of insects a night!That was back in '87.These days almost every overpass,bridge and railroad trestle in south TX harbors a sizable population.

If you're ever down there and get the chance to go to the caves it is one of the most awesome things to witness those bats leaving at sundown. Television can never do it justice.

[Raven]

basswipe why free tail bats haven't migrated to the east coast....
considering it snows in texas quite a bit now...

i urge anyone who is passing thru carlsbad new mexico to go see
carlsbad caverns the caves in there are astounding....
afterwards............
there's a mini amphi theatre outside...where you sit directly
in front of the mouth of the cave... thats completely covered
with swallow nests made out of clay.... in the hundreds of thousands
but the real MIND blower is when it turns to dusk and the several millions
of bats , probably freetail bats (not sure) [chime in basswipe] come
out to begin feeding on insects....here we have itty bitty lil bats
(hell i've knocked-em into the water sweetwater fishing with my rod tip....)
but out there their wing span is like twelve inches wide....and they come pouring out of there so thick that the star filled night sky completely
disapears from view and you find yourself wanting to run for your life...
because its just so unbelievable a site.... that your SCARED at first.
extremely impressive.... and your right basswipe tv and even the movies cannot show it ...compared to being there in person....

[PeteGBR]

Breaks the surface tension and kills bacteria that make water stagnant.
small amount of soap in dirty ponds does the same trick i guess.

[Clammer]

I,ll be putting oneup on e-bay //as soon as it,s available [a day or two] //still in the box / don,t know D/S about it