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73 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Read My Mosquito Trap Review, March 6, 2009
I take issue with some reviews, and literature presented here. Read this review for the rest of the story.
One part of my review will be how I think the 'trap' works, and how I am now trying my own solution (see below), which I think will be both easier and definitely far cheaper.
The second part will be tips for those who have or will buy this item.
This is not a 'trap' at all. People who say their bottle is 'filled with mosquitos', are actually BREEDING mosquitos, and are not using it properly. Mosquitos are smart, and they DO figure out how to get out the way they got in. Other insects: not so smart, and do drown.
This is simple a plastic jug with a normal screw-off lid. It is about half gallon size. The Amazon photo just shows you the outer packaging. There is another photo on Amazon if you use the right search terms, or just search the internet. The contents are not glamorous. There are little plastic sachets inside the jug; one contains the pheremone powder, the other little tablets of dried minced green grass. You dump the sachets in the water, add proper amount of dish soap, and stir. They strongly recommend, but do not insist, on rainwater. The only "special" thing about the jug/bottle is the two holes, one on each side, about 1/2 inch wide. Mosquitos enter (and LEAVE) from there.
The lid is only used to fill it up, and to take off to look for wriggling live larvae. Usually, you leave the lid on, but that's NOT to 'keep the mosquitos in so they can't find their way out and drown'. I think it's to prevent rainwater from diluting the mix. Some smarter insects like flies are smart enough to hang on the sides till you come by and open it up, then they fly out. Spiders can and do figure out there are insects in there as well, so be careful opening the lid, b/c they contemplate jumping out in fright. Some bail out the side hole. Stupid insects like moths do drown. If you use the trap too long (pheremone only good for a few weeks), the slight bad smell is from rotting wet moths. Until then, it's an almost pleasant decaying vegetation smell, like wet leaves.
I think the REAL concept is that mosquitos fly in (being lured by the pheremone and smell of deaying plant matter), lay eggs, and then most DO LEAVE. The eggs hatch and turn into air-breathing larvae, which are drowned and/or poisoned from the dish soap you put in the water (see my bullet points on that!). That's it. Skeeter population reduction is from breaking the life cycle, NOT killing individual mosquitoes!! Think of it as "birth control"--or Chinese-style forced abortions--for mosquitoes. You're not preventing fertilization or fertility itself, you're not killing parents, you're controlling population by preventing birth of developing offspring.
What either wasn't posted, or I didn't see, at time of purchase, is that the directions say you need 10-14 of these PER ACRE. So, not the cheap solution it seemed at first. But, it was money well spent to help me figure out how it worked, to make my own system.
Almost any container with some water will attract mosquitoes to lay eggs. If you dump that water before those eggs can mature into hatchlings, you're stopping the mosquito life cycle.
So this is what I'm doing this year. It's best to start as early in the season as you can, no matter what your solution. You know those little plastic trays you get in those little microwavable lunches? I'm saving those. Any open container would do, though--even empty cans, I imagine (especially larger cans). The easier to dump, re-right, and refill, the better. I have also been collecting rainwater off my carport in a storage bin. It's wonderfully filthy from cleaning off all the tree gunk which falls onto the carport roof, so the water looks like tea--exactly what the SpringStar trap says it should ideally look like. If your rainwater is clear, "brew" it using dead leaves. I use old milk jugs to store the water (so mosquitoes don't breed in the open bucket). Tap water can work, if you add dead vegetation. The momma skeeters smell this decaying plant matter--leaves, grass, whatever--as it's food for their nymphs and larvae (the 2 stages between egg and flying skeeter). Throwing some crumbled dead leaves, grass, bark, etc into tap water should be sufficient. The SpringStar literature says mosquitoes are "extremely particular" where they lay their eggs, but considering they lay eggs in the soapy water of the SpringStar trap (not to mention discarded tires), I doubt that. I imagine even table scraps would work as food for the nymphs, but that would attract critters.
With my DIY technique, it's very easy to have 'em all over your place. Just remember to dump and refill every week to week and a half. Anything 2 weeks or beyond, you're probably causing the problem, not solving it. The fewer areas skeeters have to breed, the more they'll be forced to use your containers. The eggs or larvae will dry out and die on the ground. You must dump the whole thing. Do not do fill to the brim, thinking the larvae will spill over the edge if you intentionally overfill. They can dive/swim, and you won't get them all. Dump it.
If dumping and refilling your own containers every week is too hard for you, it would not be hard--AT ALL--to duplicate SpringStar's system, minus the pheremone, using water with vegetative matter, and dish soap. I think the pheremone the least important part, but the most important part for marketing. Just use dish soap in the permanent fill-up water to (poison? drown?) the larvae, then top off with soap-free water when necessary. You must monitor closely, though. SpringStar's own directions on this are insufficient, so see my bulleted tips below for the full scoop on that. And for the 'dish soap' DIY method, you'll need covered containers with a couple holes in it (or just re-use the SpringStar containers without buying the "recharge" kits), so rainwater doesn't dilute the correct soap amount.
My biggest problem I've had so far with my own technique has been wind and maybe squirrels turning over my trays. Also, if the trays are shallow, the water can evaporate completely, so I'm considering experimenting with cans, but they can corrode and stain, so watch out. Glass jars won't, but can break. Do what's best for you. You can even cut tops off of milk jugs to make them easier to drain & refill. Just about anything that can hold water would work.
So with my own modified technique mentioned, here is some CRITICAL info on the SPRINGSTAR "Trap". The below pertains to the SpringStar product, not my own homebrew technique:
- The SpringStar directions posted on Amazon are incomplete. The Amazon transcriber missed at least a whole sentence about putting in "a few" drops of liquid dishwashing soap into the water. The soap is the MOST IMPORTANT part, because without it, you actually have a mosquito-breeding factory! Without enough soap, the larvae WILL hatch into mosquitoes, and WILL find their way out. People who write positive reviews of "millions" of mosquitoes in the jug have used the product improperly. I learned how to use the product properly, and never once during that time did I open the lid (checking daily) and see even one mosquito fly out. However, larvae did show up, which proved mosquitoes had laid there.
- Nothing in Amazon's info tells you how mosquitos are killed. The larvae (hatched eggs) are killed by the dish soap. I'm still not sure if the dish soap drowns them by preventing them from hanging at the top of the water (due to lowered surface tension), or if the soap itself poisons them. Either way, the amount is important. Too much, SpringStar says it discourages the mosquitoes from laying eggs. Too little, and the larvae survive and hatch. Used properly, it is NOT A TRAP! It would qualify as a lure, though.
- The real directions (which do mention the dish soap) are vague and inaccurate about HOW MUCH dish soap to put in the water. It prescribes adding "a few drops". I don't know what size drop they mean, nor how many "a few" is. I don't know if "super concentrated" liquid changes the amount, or if "antibacterial" soap for that matter (I'd recommend against antibacterial--whether for mosquitoes or for humans). To me, I defined 'drop' to be 'sufficient that, squeezing very slowly, a drop detaches and falls into the water'. I interpreted "a few" to mean 3-4. That's exactly what I did, and it is INSUFFICIENT. I had, and used, Dawn. I'd say 3-4 "small squeezes" would be more accurate. It would be MUCH more effective to simply include a pre-measured sachet of dish liquid w/the lure. Or, at least give us a measurement ("half teaspoon" or whatever).
- It's better to add too much soap than too little. If you add too little, the larvae will survive, mature, and hatch. And then your problem is worse.
- No matter how much soap you add, you MUST monitor these traps to make sure the that any eggs which make it to larvae stage, die. This involves unscrewing the lid and looking inside. The contents do not smell bad (at least not until moths start rotting). I think the vegetation pellets are nothing more than hashed up mown grass, which are pelletized and dried.
- If you can monitor the traps carefully (every day or two after the first week) , you can get away with erring on the side of 'less soap', because when you start seeing larvae wriggling on the top of the water, you can add another drop or two of soap each day, until they die. When they die, they drop from the top to the bottom, or float lifeless. The worse health they are in, the slower they wriggle. Even minute, slow wriggling is IMO unacceptable. They can dive if they sense a disturbance, but they have to come up at some point if they want to breathe and survive (doesn't take long). I didn't have a problem seeing them, it was quite obvious and a little shocking. Like little thin worms wrigling, hanging vertically from the surface. I'd say they are longer than 1/8", can be up to 1/4"? You need to keep monitoring. The soap apparently breaks down, so sometimes you need to add more.
- Stirring the solution is okay. I recommend doing so, to get the soap to dissolve, and make sure it's not settling. Pick up a twig, and keep the stick next to the bottle for the next time. What's on the twig or in the water is not harmful to pets. Stir occasionally to make sure the soap is still distributed.
- The only really special (non-homemakeable) thing I can see about the SpringStar product is the powder pheremone/attractant. But ironically, it's the least necessary part! I didn't realize this until I actually figured out how to use it properly. Female mosquitoes are remarkably good at finding standing water. I think they smell decaying vegetation. The pheremone has no smell to humans. Insects have incredibly good smell. The product lit explains that female mosquitoes leave the pheremone in the water they just laid their eggs in, which attracts more egg layers. Product claims pheremone attracts other insects too, which is not good. Pheremone is a little baggie of powder, and is non-toxic.
Final thought: I'm not against a company making a product which will help people. However, the concept is so simple, and so (not so?) common sense, I'm not sure why there aren't DIY pages on how to do variations of this. I searched on my own before purchasing this, and found none to my satisfaction--the one I did find attracted flies, and was mis-translated as a mosquito trap. That's why I bought this. Now that I understand the concept, there is no need to buy 10-20 of these. If more people could refine their own Do-It-Yourself techniques, it would reduce transmission of diseases, including heartworm in pets. This product was a good way to learn how to do it myself, but the vagueness about the dish soap is inexcusable, leading many users to have a product which backfires.
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It works., June 25, 2006
I used these in Arizona during our West Nile virus scare. I put one near the dog water bowl and the mosquitos preferred the trap to the water bowl. You still need stay on top of refreshing water sources to not encourage mosquito egg laying. These traps were filled with dead mosquitos all summer long. The value is amazing for the job the traps do. Be warned, they ATTRACT mosquitos, so put them away from where you congregate. The important part is to kill mosquitos before they lay eggs to break the population explosion in the very early stages.
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you are skeptical, read my review, March 11, 2004
I have used the yellowjacket trap these guys make, and it works really well, so I thought I would give this a try. Works great, I put it in my backyard to keep them off my patio. Took a couple of days to start, I think the pheromone pill had to disolve, but anyway, once it started, it gets going! It has been two weeks and it is still catching them. It is kind of creepy because you see them flying around the inside of the jar, but it's a good creepy !?! :)
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