Mosquitoes

The mosquitoes are back early! Has anyone used or know anyone who has used these mosquito traps? Some you have to have a butane tank, others are smaller. I'm considering one but am just not sure. Some say they attract mosquities over an acre and trap them....if something sounds too good to be true...it usually is! Hope someone has had some experience, good or bad.

We don't have one, but my sister in law runs a day care and they got one to keep the kids from getting bit. They live on the outskirts of town on about 2 acres and they say they don't see a mosquito. I've never looked at the machine, but I told DH that with this west nile virus running so rampant, we should check into it. When I brought the subject up, DH said that they cost over $500! My Brother in Law said that would look pretty cheap if one of us got West Nile. DH agreed, so I think we will also be checking into this.

I'll mark this thread to watch and hope that more people with actual first hand knowledge can share their experiences/opinions.

Hi Dale,
Two years ago we bought the Lentek Mosquito Trap. All it did was waste my butane and electricity. http://www.lentek.com/Main/Main.asp?CategoryID=4& (We purchased it at Sam's Wholesale) I found only about a dozen or so mosquitos in the netting when cleaning the basket out. I called the company to tell them that I was not satisfied with the product and the person I spoke with assured me I had a working product and that I was not seeing mosquitos in the catch area because they were pulverized when passing through the suction/fan area. I don't think that was the case because I could see mosquitos flying around the thing and not getting sucked up. I noticed NO mosquito decline in the yard. Since my purchase, I've read up a little bit on the traps and this is what I found out: Only one certain kind of skeeter is attracted to the heat of the butane and it is not the mosquito that carries the west nile virus.

Perhaps the more expensive models work better, we paid 350.00 for ours that sits in the shed.

Hope this helps you....
For sale: One Lentek Mosquito Trap....CHEAP!

Lisa... sounds like Purple Martins would be lots more effective than the Lentek trap!

DARIUS, you really caught my attention with the Purple Martin suggestion. Across the street, my neighbor has a bird house on a VERY tall pole. It looks like a two story condo with four holes on each level. My DD said it was a Purple Martin house, but since she doesn't know any more about birds than I do, I thought I should ask. I've been here a year and have never seen any birds there. This is a land of standing water at times (run-off flood control ditches) and of course we have as many varieties of mosqitos as we do birds! I NEED Purple Martins!

Pati & Lisa... I was wrong! I had always heard Purple Martins ate mosquitoes, but did some research after reading Pati's post above.

"Purple Martins rarely eat mosquitoes -- and certainly not 2,000 per day!! That is a myth started years ago by a bird house manufacturer. If you want to get rid of mosquitoes, attract bats to your property by installing a bat house."
quoted from: http://www.wildbirds.com/favorites_PurpleMartin.htm

So I then wondered WHY so many people years and years ago put up Purple Martin houses... and found this: The American Indians attracted Purple Martins using hollow gourds hung near each other. Indians liked the Purple Martins because they functioned as "scarecrows". They drove away Crows from cornfields and Vultures from meat and hides hung out to dry.

Pati... this is for your neighbor, on how to attract PM's to the house: http://www.heritagefarms.biz/pm/attract/

Darius: Purple Martins and Bats would be much more helpful than the Lentek. I read somewhere that Bats consume 10x's the amount as Martins do. I would love to make some bat houses to put in my oak trees. I have a Martin house on the property but no takers yet.

Lisa, we must have posted at the same time.

Bats sound like the best bet. I had bats somewhere nearby when I lived in Atlanta. I'd see them every evening skimmimg bugs off the swimming pool.

I read an article contributed by Dr Robert Corrigan that eliminates bats as a mosquito deterrent as well as the purple martins. Mosquitoes are bad here too, and it would be nice to find a natural deterrent to reduce their numbers instead of using a spray repellent every evening when we want to sit out in our yard.

I've seen something here that kinda sorta looks like a big mosquito (long-legged) and I heard they eat them. Does anyone know if this is true?

Darious, thanks so much for the web site. Having read the information, I think I can see her problem. It looks like a very old house that was situated in the right place to begin with, but now an orange tree has grown up and out too close to it. I think there are Bats in the neighorhood. I see very fast moving shadows at night around my security light. Sure hope they have good appetites!

Carol17, This sounds like what we call Mosquitoe Hawks.