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The Kitchen Table

Bug Zappers

16 years ago

Does anyone here own one of those Bug Zapper things? I am thinking of buying one. I know they zap mosquitoes but do they zap flies and gnats?

SamKaren

your resident DJ

Featured Answer

User

16 years ago

Trouble is there are so many "good" bugs which you will also kill..My beloved honey bees, lady bugs, praying mantises,lightening bugs . Plus I could not stand listening to the carnage zapping every night. There are better ways of killing mosquitoes like encouraging bats by building houses for them. They consume many thousands a night as do birds and toads. .

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Comments (7)

Mystical Manns
16 years ago
We have bug zappers, samkaren ... they zap anything and everything that is attracted to the light and flies into it. It doesn't solve the buggy problem, but does help.
azzalea
16 years ago
We have a couple of the bug zappers you plug in and hang like a light. When we use them, the next morning there's an actual pile of carcasses underneath. Yes, they will get a number of different kinds of night bugs.

We also have some of the hand-held zappers (look like a tennis racket, but they have batteries in them, and the 'strings' are actually electrified wires). Those things are amazing. I've gotten rid of literally hundreds of carpenter bees with them. We even have a similar product taht has a long pole, so you can get things near the ceiling.

I'd recommend having all those products. We get good use out of all of them every summer. And I like that they don't involve using toxic chemicals around my family and pets
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bee0hio
16 years ago
We used to have one, many years ago. I've since read that they aren't all they're cracked up to be. Like Lily says they zap good bugs too. And I don't think they're actually that great for reducing populations of mosquitoes. Why don't you do a search & see what the latest thoughts are from entomologists, environmentalists, etc before you buy?
sjerin
16 years ago
Is it possible to get a bug with the hand-held one that is on a wall? I'm thinking of dd3 who has a morbid fear of all bugs. Our June bugs decided to come out in July as we had such a cool spring and they make her nuts. She might really enjoy such a toy!
hale_bopp
16 years ago
If you get one, do NOT put it near your house. The vaporized bugs get into the air and it's not good for you to breath. (This from our bug man) Also, keep it AWAY from your house, like way out in the yard. It attracts bugs from far away so you'll have even more bugs flying through than normal- you'll make your neighbors very happy with one of those things since it rids THEIR yards of insects. Ha!

Blessings,
Haley
cate52
16 years ago
You might want to do a search for mosquitoes control, seems like there are some that work with odor attraction principles - but I do agree with Lily316 -- put up a couple of bat houses. Forget the martin houses... the skeeters come out mostly at night when all the birds have roosted. You're just sooo sweet that they just love you the most!

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