Insect zappers

[Malish]

Having been nibbled below deck by a couple of mozzies whilst at anchor last night my thoughts have turned to finding a means of dispatching the little bu**ers before they strike. Can anyone vouch for the effectiveness of the 12V 'blue light' zappers or is there a better product (I have no desire to use insect repellant liquids or bug sprays).

 

[davidroyboy]

repeller

try the ZAZA MOSQUITO REPELLER 12 VOLT.just slide in a tablet on the zaza and plug into your cig lighter socket. tablet lasts for about seven hours.you will be able to get one at any good caravan shop.i have used mine down in the med and all over and had very good results.
cheers david.

 

[Rum_Pirate]

http://www.amazon.com/Lentek-RZ02-Racket-Zapper/dp/B000H7CUSQ

 

[Seafort]

Not the Blue light Zappers

try the ZAZA MOSQUITO REPELLER 12 VOLT.just slide in a tablet on the zaza and plug into your cig lighter socket. tablet lasts for about seven hours.you will be able to get one at any good caravan shop.i have used mine down in the med and all over and had very good results.
cheers david.

Go with the repellants. The blue zappy things attract the little b******. It is most annoying when they explode and land in your drink.

Dave.

 

[Refueler]

Zappers are in fact no use for Mossies .... if they do get zapped - it's by accident. They do not have same fatal attraction to blue light as moths etc. have.

The attractor for Mossies and it's the females that are the problem - is CO2 exhaled by you and all other animals. They can zero in on CO2 from over 30yds ... it tells them there's a nice source of blood available to get a good drink from for their eggs.

So best is as another says - the heater inserts with tablets ... which don't actually kill them - it repels them from the area.

The best anti-mossie apparatus is actually a CO2 generator powered by propane ... with a small vacuum pump .... expensive bit of kit - but designed to place near a pond or other mossie environment. Wisps of CO2 attract the mossies, vacuum sucks them into catch container where they die ... machine reckons to wipe out an area in weeks and keep it free. But of course this is no use on a boat !!

Good article to read through .... http://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/mosquito.htm ..... follow each page listed at bottom of pages ..

 

[ytd]

agree that blue light zappers are useless against mozzies. Great for moths and partially successful for flies. Best for mozzies are coils or good screens. On the boat the coils seem to burnout about 3am and you get woken up by bites shortly thereafter.

 

[sarabande]

myths and moths. Lots of facts and suggestions.

http://mosquitocontrol.lifetips.com/cat/61207/mosquito-prevention/index.html

Keeping air moving disrupts the ability of the mozzie to track exhaled CO2, so a punkah louvre might be the naswer.

 

[Seafort]

Hmn

agree that blue light zappers are useless against mozzies. Great for moths and partially successful for flies. Best for mozzies are coils or good screens. On the boat the coils seem to burnout about 3am and you get woken up by bites shortly thereafter.

My blue zappy thing works in the Caribbean. I don't actually examine the culprits but they aint no moths.

The best thing to do is drink plenty of "Sunset Very Strong Rum". It might not stop them biting but at least you know the little b***** is gonna die from alcahol poisoning.

Dave.

 

[snowleopard]

I have a couple of blue light ones at home. Absolutely useless.

The best thing we've found is mozzie coils. The smell isn't unpleasant and you get used to it.

 

[Refueler]

My blue zappy thing works in the Caribbean. I don't actually examine the culprits but they aint no moths.

The best thing to do is drink plenty of "Sunset Very Strong Rum". It might not stop them biting but at least you know the little b***** is gonna die from alcahol poisoning.

Dave.

I would guess that your light has a hot element as well to it - that's what's working probably as Mossies are also attracted to heat - believing it to be source of lovely warm fresh blood !

 

[Pete7]

We used to use several of these on Thorney Island (Chichester harbour) along with a nice dose of diesel in any fresh water ponds, problem solved for the rest of the year.

On the boat, those little green coiled snake things when we remember them.

Pete

 

[BrianH]

I would guess that your light has a hot element as well to it - that's what's working probably as Mossies are also attracted to heat - believing it to be source of lovely warm fresh blood !

I found this the hard way when I was living in Madrid - my partner with her higher subcutaneous fat layer (I can write that as she is my ex-partner) and heat insulation was immune and I would wake with all the itching bumps.

Screens are the only real solution to those darn parasitic insects. I have a forehatch triangular screen with weighted seamed edges that allows the hatch to remain open and screen replacements for the two washboards in the companionway.