I‘ve written before about electronic bug repellents, but I thought I’d share with you today the results of a little experiment I’ve been running with an unusual mains powered mosquito killer machine.
Here in northern Thailand we’re currently going through a dengue fever outbreak (my partner and I both had dengue last month, and it ain’t pleasant). The type of mosquito that carries dengue has the unpleasant characteristic that it bites during the day – most mosquitoes are active at dawn and dusk, so around noon you can usually get away bite free.
As I’m a late riser I don’t usually have to worry about being bitten during my late morning ablutions, but recently I’ve spotted quite a few of the nasty black and white dengue carrying bastards hanging around my shower. We keep the bathroom window open during the day so they often try to come in and lay eggs in the layer of water that hangs around the shower.
Anyway, long story short I needed a way to keep mosquitoes out of my bathroom so I can take a shower in peace, and I decided to use a mosquito killer machine that could be run from the little power outlet by the mirror (well away from the flow of water, of course).
I’m afraid the image there on the left isn’t too clear, but this bad boy is called the FlyWeb Insect Light, and it’s as simple as they come. The device pairs a 10 watt UV bulb with fly paper, luring flies and mosquitoes with the UV light and leading them to a sticky death on the fly paper.
The mosquito trap was pretty cheap at a little under $40, so I didn’t set my hopes too high. I plugged it in on Monday, left it running until Wednesday then opened her up to check if it worked.
Jeeeeeeesus Humphrey Christ, you wouldn’t believe how many mosquitoes it’d caught. The fly paper was pretty much covered in the little buggers, and a good portion of my haul was made up of the dengue carrying bastards.
It’s odd to see just how many mosquitoes can be caught in a couple of days. When I pop to the bathroom I only occasionally spot the odd bug, but from the look of the fly paper after two days you’d be forgiven for believing that my bathroom is swarming with them.
So, yeah… when I bought the FlyWeb I expected to be giving it the thumbs down, but right now I’m just blown away by the thing. It performed at least twice as well as the pheromone mosquito traps I use (though they do have their uses, and a review is on the way). In short, the FlyWeb is as close to perfect as any mosquito trap I’ve used.
Here’s a photo of the carnage caused by this incredible mosquito killer machine:
Mosquito killer machine