By Rob Scott
Want to avoid getting eaten alive by mosquitos this year? Pay attention to these tips!
Nothing can ruin outdoor fun faster than mosquitoes. Their itchy bites are irritating, and they can carry diseases harmful to you and your pets. but what is the solution to keeping your home safe?
Thankfully there are better options than hiding indoors. And there are safer options than spraying your yard, children and pets with chemicals. I’m offering interviews with Pennslyvania mosquito expert Rob Scott. His job is to come up with new and innovative ways to kill mosquitos. He’s got a number of great tips that can really save your outdoor fun this year. For example—did you mosquitos rely on the carbon dioxide you exhale in order to find you? Or that mosquitos in different regions are drawn to different scents?
What are your options to get rid of mosquitos?
- Spray your yard with chemicals. “Sprays don’t target just the females—which are the ones that bite you. Plus you need to be cautious,” warns Scott. “You don’t want to use insecticides around beneficial insects, such as bees and butterflies. Chemicals also need to dry completely before they are safe to the touch. And they need to be re-applied regularly to be effective.”
- Use a bug zapper. “These devices are better at killing innocent moths than mosquitoes. That’s partly because mosquitoes are more attracted to certain scents than they are to light.”
- Use mosquito’s own behaviors to trap and kill them . “A scientifically proven device called the Mosquito Magnet is available at most hardware and big box stores. It silently lures female mosquitoes into a trap using carbon dioxide which is scented with a special mosquito attractant. As mosquitoes fly toward the trap, they are essentially vacuumed into a bag where they dehydrate and die. So you’ll see proof that it’s working. This safe device kills mosquitoes continually for about three weeks on a tank of propane, covers about an acre, and won’t kill beneficial insects.”
Bet you didn’t know …
- Mosquitoes can’t see well. “They rely on the carbon dioxide you exhale in order to locate you. That’s why you want to place your carbon dioxide trap about 30 to 40 feet away from people. You don’t want to compete with the trap for their attention.”
- Mosquitos in different regions are drawn to different scents. “Lactic acid, for example, works best for some mosquitoes in the south. The wrong scent may repel mosquitoes from your trap instead of attract them.”
- Some people really are more attractive to mosquitoes than others. “It’s not your imagination. Everyone has a unique chemical make-up, and some people are just more irresistible to female mosquitoes. Wearing dark colors and perfume may also get their attention.”
- Mosquitoes fly upwind to feast. “Take advantage of this by also placing your trap upwind.”
- Female mosquitoes can lay up to 300 eggs at once. “This is why killing the adults before they can get to standing water is such an effective way to decrease the mosquito population. A lot of people remember to remove standing water from flower pots and old tires, but they forget about the water trapped in clogged gutters. So clean those gutters! Also, change out water in bird baths once or twice a week.”
- Mosquitoes mature in as little as four days. “Something that was an egg on Wednesday could be biting you on Saturday. A continuous treatment, working 24/7, is recommended for managing the mosquito population.”
Rob Scott is the king of mosquitoes at Woodstream Corp, based in Lititz, PA. He is tasked with identifying new and innovative ways to kill the deadliest animal on earth, the mosquito. He has been leading Mosquito Magnet for the past year, developing its newest product Patriot Plus, set to release March 1st. Rob can often be found outdoors on the golf course or at the Jersey shore, where no mosquito dare come near him.
