Several years ago here in north Florida we started getting reports of the West Nile Virus showing up in this area. Matter fact, a couple of crows that died from this virus were found about a quarter of a mile (as the crow flies) from our property. Concurrent with this exciting news, the mosquito population around our house and buildings absolutely exploded.
We try to be real careful about keeping the usual water holding spots dry, but evidently something was at work to help the population of skeeters reach epidemic proportions around here. So that got me to looking around for something to help out with this problem.
So I tried various and sundry things. We don't like poisons, simply because they kill everything else in the food chain, and are actually bad for a long term solution. I tried those clip on mosquito repellers. Yeah right. I think they were really a "Dinner Is Ready" signal to the mosquitoes!
So I started reading about something called a Mosquito Magnet. Sounded a lot like snake oil (no offense to the snakes) to me, but it came with an unconditional money back guarantee and shipping was free. By now the mosquitoes were very thick around here, so I was getting desperate. So I ordered one and waited every day for UPS to bring it on by.
FINALLY it showed up, and I took the directions and studied them intently. Hmm. Runs on propane as the only source of power. The propane is converted to CO2 by passing propane over platinum beads. The heat generated by the burning propane is converted to electricity to run the couple of fans in the motor. So that makes it free standing and completely mobile independent of any electrical outlet. It passes the CO2 plume over a block of some scenting material that is supposed to be a mosquito attractant of some sort. No telling what that is, but I guess maybe I really don't want to know anyway. Probably really gross unmentionable animal byproducts of some sort.
But it seemed rather environmentally friendly. Expels CO2, and kills the mosquitoes by trapping them in a cloth bag until they die from dehydration. No poisons of any sort involved.
The unit I got (which is no longer manufactured) was easy enough to put together. Put it in place and hooked up the 20 lb. propane tank and I was ready to crank it up. Here is where my one major complaint about this product surfaces. Here's the startup procedure:
- Open the valve to the propane tank.
- Press in the silver valve button and hold it in for 10 seconds.
- Press the red start button every two seconds until you hear the propane ignite.
- Continue holding in the silver valve button for 3 minutes then slowly release it.
Bear in mind that the reason you get something like this is because you want it to capture and kill mosquitoes. So you have likely put it in a place where mosquitoes are present in large numbers. So here you are, holding in this valve with one hand, while swatting at the mosquitoes that have found YOU standing there basically defenseless. Once the three minutes are up, normally you will be out of there like a lightning bolt.
Anyway, I was impressed with the results. Within the first 24 hours, HUNDREDS of mosquitoes had been trapped within that device and killed. I was amazed. Normally when I buy something like this, I keep all of the packing materials close at hand, because I fully expect it not to work, and I want to send it back just as soon as I can for a refund. But this thing was doing exactly what it was advertised to do.
So I ordered another one!
And this one worked well too. But all was not rosy, however. Apparently there were manufacturing problems with this particular model, which is probably why it was discontinued. I had to have the propane motors replaced within both units at least twice while under warranty. This did not bode well for when they were OUT of warranty, but darn, they did the job when they were working!
So that Spring, mosquito season was starting to kick up after all of the rain we had around here, so I figured I had better crank up the mosquito magnets to be ready for it. Of course, one of the units failed to start up, which was the normal mode of failure with this unit. So I called the manufacturer, prepared to get right irritated when I heard what the replacement was going to cost to get my unit running. Now, first off, I paid $700 for each of those units, so they weren't cheap. When the guy told me that they had discontinued my model but they had a trade up program to the Professional model (a $1,200 unit!), I thought, "Yeah right, he's bending me over right now...". But damn, the tradeup deal was only $100!! That certainly sounded fair to me, as long as the pro model is more reliable than the old residential models I currently had. So I decided to trade up both of the units, since I'm sure it was just a matter of time before the working one failed as well.
Well let me tell you, the Pro model seems to work even better than the residential model. Maybe no small surprise, but I was still surprised anyway. Both units are cranked up around the buildings, and the capture bags are just about filled with mosquitoes. Most of the skeeters are still alive within the capture bags, which is an indication that MANY of them are being sucked in on a daily basis. The bottom of the bags are covered with the dead carcasses of dehydrated mosquitoes.
Anyway, I am not much inclined to write this sort of thing, but I have to admit these Mosquito Magnets have impressed the hell out of me. And to be honest, even if I had to spend the full price on a replacement for some reason, I would consider it money well spent. With the number of mosquitoes these traps have cleared out of our property over the last couple of years, I fear that it would be pure hell around here by now by the sheer numbers of mosquitoes that would have resulted by them not doing their job. With a whole plethora of known pathogens already using mosquitoes as vectors that endanger not only your animals' health but your own health as well, and probably more pathogens to come in the next several years, I think these things are an excellent line of defense to have in your arsenal.
Mosquito Magnet Website
The above is a
16 ounce deli cup FILLED with mosquitoes that the Mosquito Magnet captured the first three weeks it was running. This was during the first week or so of May. During June, I had about an equivalent number of yellow flies captured.
This has been an especially wet year for this time of year in north Florida. I would hate to think what it would be like around here without these traps working 24 hours a day.
Addendum:
I posted this topic a few years ago, and since then they have come out with a newer model that does not require that irritating valve holding situation. You just press the START button, and then RUN before the skeeters can find you. I have purchased one of the newer models, and so far it seems to work equally well as the older Pro model, without the headaches of the starup procedure.
Dealing with the Florida state bird: The Mosquito.
Linear Mode
