Any recent experiences with the mosquito magnet or any of the other CO2 generating knockoffs?
As of several years ago, it was getting mixed reviews. Three or four years have passed and they are still in business and have had time to work the kinks out of the engineering.
Everyonce in a while someone burns their house down with one. Should take care of any mosquito's inside.
The problem is they attract mosquitoes which might just happen to find you on the way to the device. If you have a situation where you can place it (them) between you and the source of mosquitoes they can help. Otherwise they can make things worse. They really are not going to kill off all the critters.
As I understand it the cheaper ones are not as convenient to use.
Bats, baby... Bats!
BB
In article , snipped-for-privacy@houston.rr.nospam.com says... :) Any recent experiences with the mosquito magnet or any of the other CO2 :) generating knockoffs? :) :) As of several years ago, it was getting mixed reviews. Three or four years :) have passed and they are still in business and have had time to work the :) kinks out of the engineering. :) :) :) I have started a mosquito service this year and have done 32 accounts the last few weeks, probably 10-12 of them had M-Magnets sitting idle. Everyone I know who has one is unhappy with it, but I come across just as many people who have a friend with one that they swear by.
I have no personal experience with these things but we live in the Muskoka , the mosquito capital of Canada, and several people have told me they are useless. I also notice the local stores are not pushing them the way they were a year or two ago. Best solution is to attract bats with a bat house. They'll gobble up all your "noseeums."
ds
snipped-for-privacy@houst> :) Any recent experiences with the mosquito magnet or any of the other CO2
Not only that, but the bat house can be painted to blend in with the spot where you mount it. If anyone in the house thinks bats are disgusting, install it when that person's not home and keep your mouth shut. They'll never know. If they're afraid of bats, they're probably not the kind of people who go outdoors at night anyway.
We tried two different ones here in Austin Tx, first was the original "mosquito magnet" that is sold at Home Depot..In about two weeks time it managed to trap a whopping 12-15 skeeters, wow! (grin) Then we took it back and tried that one that was sold at Costco which made an annoying sound sorta like when you get soda from a soda fountain, you know that air pressure sound that comes from the back somewhere? That baby caught about six..They both went back for refund..From what I have read there are some types of skeeters they work on but others they don't..We have those awful tiger striped ones down here and they are mean..... Hope this helps! John
Some years ago I had a bug zapper. I thought it was great because it killed a lot of bug. Then it died. I found that overall, thee were less bugs around without the zapper attracting them. Ed
Mosquitos do not form a particularly large part of a bat's diet. I've been told that there's more than one species of mosquito, and that specific species tent to concentrate at specific heights...
If you're in a place with mostly ankle-biters, putting your magnet at head-height will be worse than useless, since it will lure the bugs to the general area, and then not kill them.
--Goedjn
Bats eat whatever insect is available. If they can find a mosquito, they'll happily eat it.
BB
from
And urban entomologist Robert Corrigan of Richmond, Indiana, says, "While standing outside of bat roosts counting bats as part of my master's research, I was often eaten alive by mosquitoes. They (the bats) weren't exactly doing the job they're supposed to be famous for."
Both bats and martins, it turns out, prefer larger insects such as beetles, moths, flies, wasps and bees, which give a better return on their energy efforts.
from: The Binary Bill report: I have a low, wet, swampy area at one end of my property. I used to have a pretty serious mosquito problem. Since installing bat houses several years ago, the mosquito population has dropped to almost nothing. If the bats aren't eating the mosquitoes, maybe their presense simply scares them away! Bottom line: I introduced a bat population and the mosquitoes are gone.
BB
Any fish sharing in the feast, maybe eating the floating mosquito eggs?
Nope. The water is more or less scattered puddles. No fish at all.
BB
Apples and oranges here. They are attracted by the carbon dioxide in your breath, they will tend not to do much ankle-biting. But fleas sure will.
Locally, the only ones that work worth a damn are the actual original Mosquito Magnets. Not the home models, the $1500 industrial ones. They'll draw down the population for quite an area, and if it's dry for a few weeks you can turn them off. The caution is that in a small lot you'll get bit by the buggers on their way to the magnets. Put them downwind and 100 feet or more from where you'll be. A decent Deet repellent is both more effective and economical.
And yes, we're the home to mosquitos. Giant swamp called the Everglades... :)
Jeff
Locally, bats and Purple Martins don't make a dent in the mosquito population. Too many better tasting bugs for them. I hear anecdotal evidence of them working, and you really can't lose with bats anyway since the rest of their preferred diet is also usually a pest insect, but they feed at night and mosquitos aren't active much after sunset.
Jeff
I had a colony of big brown bats living in my barn. Last time I counted there were 69 of them (It was fun watching them come out each night). THe mosquitos still drained me down a quart by the time I could get into the car (a distance of 30 ft). I'd say the bats did nothing.
IF your ever in Austin, Texas, watch the bats come out there. It's a sight you will never forget. With over a million bats, there were no mosquitos. Maybe I just need more bats.
I'm not aware of anyone burning a house down with a Mosquito Magnet. Coleman, I believe, did recall their knock-off product because of a fire hazard. The significant difference is that Coleman converted propane to CO2 and water by burning the propane (the fire source.) The Mosquito Magnet relies on catalytic conversion so the temperature is lower and there is no open flame.
I've had one for a couple of years after reading everything I could find on them for the prior several years. I'm convinced the Mosquito Magnet is a very clever and effective way to deal with mosquitos. I have their least expensive unit and would never recommend any of their higher priced units (unless access to 120 volt ac is an issue). To cover a larger area several of the small units will be more effective than 1 large unit. For me 1 small unit takes care of me (and several neighbors).
RB
Art wrote:
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