[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Questions:

1) How big is this thing? Looks enormous
2) It does not work in daylight? Will it work if I close all curtains and darken the room?
3) Should it be hidden in a remote corner (like under a table) or placed somewhere prominent?
4) Can I keep it ON all the time?

Sorry was travelling and couldn't reply earlier!

1) Not enormous, as big as 4 bricks.
2) Nope, don't think it'll work in daylight. Will work in a dark room if the mosquitoes are active
3) I'm not sure about placement. I think its incredibly important - but i haven't exactly found anything that works well. I think the instructions say hang it about 5' off the ground?
4) You could - its just a computer fan + a light

Have you used yours yet? Any luck?

Originally Posted by groom

Has any tried this? I have read about how mosquitoes get attracted to CO2 and the moisture in the feet.

Have tried if for fruit flies, and when it works, it works really well!

The hard part is getting the right recipie of what to put in the bottle. Sometimes it works, and often it doesn't.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Have you used yours yet? Any luck?

It's pretty good. I'm netting one critter per night. But once I caught 5!



Impressed, I bought one more on amazon.in - this one is Chinese maal.



This costs just Rs. 500 and is super silent. The computer fan in the Chinese machine does not make that loud whirring noise.

By the way, the mosquitoes do not die right? I think they are just dazed or frozen stiff. It's better to throw them outside the house (rather than inside a dustbin at home)

[PGA]

Little old fashioned method but effective, if you have installed netting or wiremeshed your room, you will find them full of mosquitoes early morning, just go and finish them off there, it will initially take four to five days to for you to finish off all adults, and then once or twice a week will keep them under control.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by smartcat

I'm netting one critter per night. But once I caught 5!

Awesome!

Originally Posted by smartcat

Impressed, I bought one more on amazon.in - this one is Chinese maal.

I had bought another one too. It was much better looking, but I never had any real success with it!

Originally Posted by smartcat

By the way, the mosquitoes do not die right? I think they are just dazed or frozen stiff. It's better to throw them outside the house (rather than inside a dustbin at home)

They are just dehydrated and air-beaten. I usually leave the thing on for 2-3 extra hours in the morning to make sure the deal is completely done, because if i don't then some mosquitoes have flown out when i turned the thing off & opened it!

[AltoLXI]

In today's TOI Bangaluru edition.

[amitabhr]

Originally Posted by GTO

The best & easiest remedy is to put the air-conditioner on. Mosquitoes hate a cold room.

Yes, i've noticed that too, though no one else is ready to believe it.
Most cold blooded life forms sort of go to sleep when it's cold and start moving only once sun/heat touches them.

But the AC has make the whole room chilly, else you can find them in the hotter parts. Works fine in a car though. They get slower as it starts getting cold so you can kill/catch them. If they remain inside they will wake up later when it's hot.

Parking in the sunlight would also work though, cars gets hot enough that they'll die.

[sumeethaldankar]

Guys will such lamp be effective in the day? WFH is causing encounters with mosquitoes epecially during evenings while calls etc. Will this be effective with the room lights on?

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Guys will such lamp be effective in the day? WFH is causing encounters with mosquitoes epecially during evenings while calls etc. Will this be effective with the room lights on?

Most probably not. Some of these devices have wildly differing effectiveness based on position and other factors (amount of light in the room / fan breeze etc), so to expect it to work in the day time / with lights on might be too much of a stretch.

[Mortis]

Is it just me or have mosquitoes become smaller and harder to spot nowadays ? It's like the mass usage of the racquets has led to natural selection where only the slim supermodel mosquitoes are left !

[PrasadS]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Is it just me or have mosquitoes become smaller and harder to spot nowadays ? It's like the mass usage of the racquets has led to natural selection where only the slim supermodel mosquitoes are left !

I swear i was thinking the same thing the other day. These super slim buggers just pass through the racquets unharmed with me ending up looking like an idiot swinging the torch equipped racket madly.
Was tempted to touch the mesh to check if that thing actually works, but a house fly saved me the honours and that extra zing

[jinojohnt]

Are sugar baits available in India? Seems to be widely used in Africa, I remember seeing a National Geographic documentary long time back.
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Sugar-Baits

[Shreyans_Jain]

Has anyone tried using insectivorous plants? Do the likes of pitcher plant or venus fly trap have a taste for mosquitoes as well?

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Has anyone tried using insectivorous plants? Do the likes of pitcher plant or venus fly trap have a taste for mosquitoes as well?

I do have a Venus flytrap actually. It traps all sorts of insects but I've never seen a mosquito in one of the traps which makes me think that mosquitoes aren't attracted to them. Also the rate of catching is too low for them to be effective anyways. They aren't as chompy as one imagines.

Originally Posted by PrasadS

I swear i was thinking the same thing the other day. These super slim buggers just pass through the racquets unharmed with me ending up looking like an idiot swinging the torch equipped racket madly.

I know right ? It's almost as though they teleport out of existence when you look in their direction. Also the bites feel less itchy and a bit painful similar to an ant bite.

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

Are sugar baits available in India? Seems to be widely used in Africa, I remember seeing a National Geographic documentary long time back.
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Sugar-Baits

I'm not sure if you mean a a direct sugar bait which won't work or a sugar fermentation trap which produces CO2 which is the best bait for mosquitoes and will work. It does produce a bit of yeasty alcoholic odor though so keep it in an out of the way corner. You can DIY it by cutting and inverting the conical top off a coke bottle on the base and filling it with 1/4 -1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1/2-1 cup lukewarm water and 1/4 TSP yeast. Once the yeast is activated it will produce CO2 which is how mossies find their prey. They will fly in and won't be able to escape and drown. Replace solution once a week. It works but the maid kept knocking it over making a mess so i stopped

[jinojohnt]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I'm not sure if you mean a a direct sugar bait which won't work or a sugar fermentation trap which produces CO2 which is the best bait for mosquitoes and will work.

The link in my post talks about a commercial kind of product with fruity aroma, sugar laced with insecticide and a special layer that can be pierced only by mosquitoes (leaving bees and other insects out of harm).

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Is it just me or have mosquitoes become smaller and harder to spot nowadays ? It's like the mass usage of the racquets has led to natural selection where only the slim supermodel mosquitoes are left !

Honestly I've been giving this a lot more thought than it deserves lately too.

Though my angle is more along the lines of comparing rural pests (in Goa) with urban ones (in Mumbai).

The Goan mosquitoes are a lot bigger, slower and noisier! I feel like I can't even remember the time i heard a mosquito make a noise in Mumbai, whereas in Goa I can hear a single mosquito making its rounds of the room.

Same applies for the house lizzards, the ones in Goa are just chilling in plain sight, whereas the ones in Mumbai disappear within a blink.

I guess natural selection is fiercer in urban areas?