Mosquito Annihilation Machine

[Andy]

Does anyone want to help me design and develop an appliance that will sit in my garden annihilating mosquitos during the summer? It is something I thought to try and invent.

My understanding is that they are attracted by CO2 and especially human skin. So the appliance would have some kind of strong attractant in it combined with a zapper.

[carpmad]

hello Andy
not sure what you could use but its a good idea

would those lights they use in butchers to kill flys work? or something like that? maybe add a co2 emitter of some sort? small co2 cannister? so your even guaranteen return customers it could also double as a outdoor light i guess
you could even incorporate it into a solar power light housing so no need for wires making instalation easy

or even a lazer guided flame thrower 

the only thing is if you use something with a atractant it might bring in more of them from a greater distance so it would have to be more desirable to a mozzy than we are 

i think id just paint the fence with citronella oil

[Andy]

I tried a blue lamp zapper and this only works on moths, the mozzies avoid it 

There is a $1500 unit on the web that uses a CO2 canister but as my wife mentioned, it's bad for the environment to release CO2 into the atmosphere. And I would imagine that it would be costly to run.

or even a lazer guided flame thrower

Actually, that's not as daft as it sounds. The lazer could do the zapping and a digital surveillance camera hooked up to a computer could detect the mozzy.

I think they like to lay eggs in pools of water that are shaded from the sun so this may be one way to make an attractant without CO2. Maybe if they lay all the eggs in this favorite place and none of the eggs can hatch then it will reduce the problem at source?

[Hope]

have you concidered:

1.) getting mosquito eating fish for a pond?
2.) building a bat house? bats love mosquitos.
3.) lemon grass
4.) Mosquito Dunk

These are all options for natural or "green" control. I know you live in a heavily populated region so green is always the best.

[Andy]

Thanks for the tips.

I noticed alot of bats near the river at night, I guess they are feeding on the mosquitos?

These mosquitos are very aggressive and make our back garden useless to us so it would be great to solve the problem in some way.

[Hope]

The bat house should solve a lot of the problem. They will feed at night and the days should be much better. Also, if you have standing water in your yard, you should use the dunk.

[SensoVision]

Seems this is a worldwide problem, probably only the coldest places on the Earth doesn't have them

Here we have a lot of mosquitoes during summer months, at home we have to use anti-mosquito's nets for windows and outside you'd better have some spray which scare them out or you'll sorry as they would bite you even through cloths (including jeanswear) 
When we go camping "OFF!" spray is a must have item in our bag, as without this mosquitoes will bite you even if you drink or sit near campfire just under smoke. And in places where are not much people they are very blood hungry

I tried a blue lamp zapper and this only works on moths, the mozzies avoid it  Angry

I'm using one at home and should say that it's attract a lot of flying insects including mosquitoes as well, but using it outside isn't good idea IMHO as it may attract more insects than kill them...

There is a $1500 unit on the web that uses a CO2 canister but as my wife mentioned, it's bad for the environment to release CO2 into the atmosphere. And I would imagine that it would be costly to run.

I've saw such item on Discovery in some program about viruses carried by mosquitoes, and from what I understand it emit CO2 in levels emitted by humans, so you shouldn't cause much harm to environment. Also maybe you'll plant few trees in your garden which could help actually in recycling CO2 into O2? I think it would be fair deal

1.) getting mosquito eating fish for a pond?
2.) building a bat house? bats love mosquitos.

I didn't knew that people used to have bats just for eliminating problem with insects... I've saw a lot of bats here so maybe it's really worth to have such a house, I just not sure how to lure mouse there and protect it from cats, as I'd like to have a bat protecting our garden from insects as they make stay at night there almost impossible task. Heidi have you owned such a house?

3.) lemon grass

I never heard of it before, but I'll try to find some and plant it too to see if it works.

4.) Mosquito Dunk

Can anyone explain what is it actually?

And as Heidi have said, standing water in ponds is a reproduction factory for mosquitoes so it's better to take some measures like having a fish or frogs there in order lover mosquito population nearby to your house.

[12noon]

How does lemon grass work ?
 

[Hope]

Supposedly, the mosquito don't like the smell of the lemon grass and avoid areas that have lemon grass.

This is from the City of Annapolis, MD. http://www.annapolis.gov/info.asp?page=2857

Near the bottom of the page it is listed.



Denis, I have never owned a bat house, but never needed to. My neighbor had two bat houses and there were about 6 bats in the neighborhood. We had very few flying insects as a result.


A Dunk is a tablet you put into standing water. It can use natural or chemical ways of killing the mosquito before they hatch.

[SensoVision]

Denis, I have never owned a bat house, but never needed to. My neighbor had two bat houses and there were about 6 bats in the neighborhood. We had very few flying insects as a result.

you're lucky, wish my neighbors have bats instead of cats and dog which only do barking and cats use our garden as toilet while we're away...

A Dunk is a tablet you put into standing water. It can use natural or chemical ways of killing the mosquito before they hatch

I've heard about some plants which could do same result if their parts put into water. Guess I need to get myself something like this for summer.

BTW last time I forgot to tell that I've tried device emitting sound which should scare mosquitoes, I've tried it and doesn't really saw any result so luring them with sound may not work as well. Of course it's possible that I had messy device so maybe it's still worth to try.