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Electric insect killer ?

Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a
nearby construction site.So, i bought three unit electric mosquito &
insect killer to help erodicate the problem. Although i switched on
throughout the night, not a single mosquito was caught.My bare hands
could do a much better job !
Is the UV-A ray effective to attract the mosquito and are the ray
harmful to us ? Would like some suggestion and advice, Thanks.
Regards
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a
nearby construction site.So, i bought three unit electric mosquito &
insect killer to help erodicate the problem. Although i switched on
throughout the night, not a single mosquito was caught.My bare hands
could do a much better job !
Is the UV-A ray effective to attract the mosquito and are the ray
harmful to us ? Would like some suggestion and advice, Thanks.

Mosquitos like CO2 (carbon dioxide), they also like dark colors and warmth
resembling a mammal. I'd look more towards the infra-red end of the
spectrum, but I'm guessing.
 
M

Meat Plow

Jan 1, 1970
0
Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a
nearby construction site.So, i bought three unit electric mosquito &
insect killer to help erodicate the problem. Although i switched on
throughout the night, not a single mosquito was caught.My bare hands
could do a much better job !
Is the UV-A ray effective to attract the mosquito and are the ray
harmful to us ? Would like some suggestion and advice, Thanks.
Regards

Hang some dry ice underneath it.
 
L

Lord Garth

Jan 1, 1970
0
Meat Plow said:
Hang some dry ice underneath it.
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My brother-in-law would hang his bug zapper on the patio since it was
near the power outlet and there was a hook. Not a thought that the bugs
are then attracted to where he was located....

I recall a vacuum assisted version from my childhood years on the island.
A fan would draw the bugs into the grid.
 
M

Meat Plow

Jan 1, 1970
0
My brother-in-law would hang his bug zapper on the patio since it was
near the power outlet and there was a hook. Not a thought that the bugs
are then attracted to where he was located....

Yeh, you don't want to put a zapper close to where your activities are. I
always put my 50 feet or so away. And it did work very well so I don't
know what the OP was talking about, the "Black Light" FL tubes did attract
them well along with every other flying thing.
I recall a vacuum assisted
version from my childhood years on the
island. A fan would draw the bugs into the grid.

Around here the local health department collects them with dry ice traps
to test them for the West Nile virus. And I was under the impression that
some of those available on the consumer end used something similar, maybe
a canister of CO2 gas?????????????
 
L

Lord Garth

Jan 1, 1970
0
Meat Plow said:
version from my childhood years on the

Around here the local health department collects them with dry ice traps
to test them for the West Nile virus. And I was under the impression that
some of those available on the consumer end used something similar, maybe
a canister of CO2 gas?????????????

The version I'm aware of burns propane to create CO2.

The UV lamps in the above vacuum unit seemed to function quite well as the
catch bag was usually full.

Yellow fever was the enemy.

My brother and I were about a half mile from the house on an estuary. We
were
plinking. The wind shifted from the north and we began to hear an
unidentifiable
noise. Turns out to have been about 300 trillion mosquitoes coming across
the
bay from the mainland swamps.

We run back to the house as fast as we could! This is also the last time I
recall
seeing DDT being fogged from a truck.
 
M

Meat Plow

Jan 1, 1970
0
The version I'm aware of burns propane to create CO2.

The UV lamps in the above vacuum unit seemed to function quite well as the
catch bag was usually full.

Yellow fever was the enemy.

My brother and I were about a half mile from the house on an estuary. We
were
plinking. The wind shifted from the north and we began to hear an
unidentifiable
noise. Turns out to have been about 300 trillion mosquitoes coming across
the
bay from the mainland swamps.

We run back to the house as fast as we could! This is also the last time I
recall
seeing DDT being fogged from a truck.

I go into the north west region of lake Winnipeg for fishing and the
insects are atrocious. Where was it that you encountered all those
mosquitoes? You mentioned yellow fever so that's what Asia?
 
L

Lord Garth

Jan 1, 1970
0
I go into the north west region of lake Winnipeg for fishing and the
insects are atrocious. Where was it that you encountered all those
mosquitoes? You mentioned yellow fever so that's what Asia?

That would be Galveston, Texas. Once the yellow fever capitol of the US.
Actually, yellow fever was never really any concern of mine. The epidemics
were largely before my time.

The fish growing in the estuary certainly need the mosquito larvae for food
so mass extermination had its effect on our fish and bird populations. The
good news is that as of about 15 years ago, the brown pelican is back
along with egrets and the occasional pink flamingo. The DDT almost made
them extinct around home.

I was visiting a cousin in the Camrose area...there were indeed many insects
around the lake however, these bugs didn't seem to like my "taste".
 
J

jasen

Jan 1, 1970
0
Around here the local health department collects them with dry ice traps
to test them for the West Nile virus. And I was under the impression that
some of those available on the consumer end used something similar, maybe
a canister of CO2 gas?????????????

I saw some in tv that used a tank of LPG, which they converted in the
normal fashion to CO2. creating warmth and humidity in the process
things which also attract mozzies

I think some are also available that use yeast and sugar instead.

Bye.
Jasen
 
D

Don Klipstein

Jan 1, 1970
0
Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a
nearby construction site.So, i bought three unit electric mosquito &
insect killer to help erodicate the problem. Although i switched on
throughout the night, not a single mosquito was caught.My bare hands
could do a much better job !
Is the UV-A ray effective to attract the mosquito and are the ray
harmful to us ? Would like some suggestion and advice, Thanks.

Back around early 1978 or so, I made a homebrew bugzapper and tried
different lamps in it.

My findings:

1. Best fluorescent lamp was "blue", as in /B color code, mainly
available in 20 watt and 40 watt, 2-foot/4-foot, T12 (1.5 inch diameter)
sizes. BLB and BL did not work as well, with BLB being the worse of those
two. Somehow I suspect wider bandwidth and color like that of sky help,
although including UV with this probably helps. Maybe 05 actinic will do
well, but selection of sizes could be very limited.

2. Fluorescent lamps appeared to me in my tests to attract insects better
if they are fed filtered DC (or maybe AC of very high frequency). I have
heard a bit that insects actually see 120 Hz flicker.

Keep in mind that one needs a resistor in series with a fluorescent lamp
with DC. In addition, an inductor in series with the resistor helps if
you use the "preheat" starting method.

3. Mosquitoes are not that phototropic. The main lure of the particular
ones that bite are the scent of CO2 and maybe in combination with
perspiration scent and maybe with some sensation of warmth - that is how
biting mosquitoes find their prey. And, only the females bite.

Light/UV does a better job of attracting a fair number of other insects
- including ones that attract natural enemies of mosquitoes. I suspect
you don't want mosquito enemies in your immediate neighborhood to find
your immediate neighborhood low on food!

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
3. Mosquitoes are not that phototropic. The main lure of the particular
ones that bite are the scent of CO2 and maybe in combination with
perspiration scent and maybe with some sensation of warmth - that is how
biting mosquitoes find their prey. And, only the females bite.

See http://www.mosquitomagnet.com/ for a lot of info on this.


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S

Si Ballenger

Jan 1, 1970
0
Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a
nearby construction site.So, i bought three unit electric mosquito &
insect killer to help erodicate the problem. Although i switched on
throughout the night, not a single mosquito was caught.My bare hands
could do a much better job !
Is the UV-A ray effective to attract the mosquito and are the ray
harmful to us ? Would like some suggestion and advice, Thanks.
Regards

The UV insect zappers kill a lot of insects (many may actually be
beneficial), but "body count" studys of the insects killed have
found that few (maybe 1%) that are killed are actually mosquitos.
 
R

Ross Herbert

Jan 1, 1970
0
Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a
nearby construction site.So, i bought three unit electric mosquito &
insect killer to help erodicate the problem. Although i switched on
throughout the night, not a single mosquito was caught.My bare hands
could do a much better job !
Is the UV-A ray effective to attract the mosquito and are the ray
harmful to us ? Would like some suggestion and advice, Thanks.
Regards

As others have mentioned the humble mozzie is not attracted by UV but
rather by CO2, moisture, and warmth. Many commercial mosquito traps
use some form of attractant to get them into a semi-enclosed space and
to then drown or poison them by some means. One low cost scheme being
developed in Australia plans to use bio-degradable cans or buckets
made of corn starch which have a quantity of environmentally safe
liquid insecticide at the bottom. The idea is for the female
mosquitoes to lay their eggs in the liquid before flying off. The
female is not killed but all the eggs are. The buckets are distributed
as necessary to control mosquito breeding rather than to kill adult
mosquitoes.

Eventually (about 6 weeks) the bucket degrades and releases any
trapped liquid so that it does not become a breeding spot for other
mosquitoes when it fills with rain. This saves any ongoing maintenance
and the need for periodic emptying.

Here's one commercial system which would be suitable for a housing
estate.
http://www.mozziemagnet.com.au/

As an aside, I thought there might be some on the NG who would be
interested in Starkey's latest Luratrap product.
http://members.iinet.com.au/~starkey/LURATRAP.html

The question is, 'would it be effective?'
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a nearby construction site.

Snip

Go to the source of the problem!
Solve that.
Get the neighbors involved, here in Florida the county
would be interested in removing the production site.
Mike
 
A

Allen Bong

Jan 1, 1970
0
Recently, our housing estate was infected with mosquito due to the
non- work schedule at a
nearby construction site.So, i bought three unit electric mosquito &
insect killer to help erodicate the problem. Although i switched on
throughout the night, not a single mosquito was caught.My bare hands
could do a much better job !
Is the UV-A ray effective to attract the mosquito and are the ray
harmful to us ? Would like some suggestion and advice, Thanks.
Regards

I have read the mosquito magnet commercial and found a cheaper and
similar product using similar principles. It says it was designed in
Korea and there is a still cheaper one if you scroll to the bottom.
At 1/10 of the cost of the mosquito magnet, why not give it a shot if
all other methods fail.

http://www.moresales.com.my/catalog/entry/dolzwbpw.shtml

FYI, I am not an employee or related to the commercial's company

Allen
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have read the mosquito magnet commercial and found a cheaper and
similar product using similar principles. It says it was designed in
Korea and there is a still cheaper one if you scroll to the bottom.
At 1/10 of the cost of the mosquito magnet, why not give it a shot if
all other methods fail.

http://www.moresales.com.my/catalog/entry/dolzwbpw.shtml

FYI, I am not an employee or related to the commercial's company

Judging by the picture it collects moths not mosquitoes.


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