What is the best bug killer/zapper for my patio? (Lowes, grill)

[vanllabean81]

It's summer and the bugs are out in full force. I am constantly outside with my dogs, but my poor little body is COVERED in bites. Don't know what the hell keeps biting me, but they're everywhere! So we are going to get a bug zapper. What is the best kind? If anyone has any recommendations, I'd appreciate it. What do you use, or what have you used that didn't work? Also, flies in the house is annoying as well. With all the opening of the doors for the dogs every day, the darn things come inside too. So I was going to get an electric zapper and go hunting, but I think there may be a better way...

Thanks all!

[dee 42]

Call Cooks. They have a special mosquito program and it really, really works. I can grill again in my backyard, hang out grooming the dogs back there, etc etc, and not be eaten alive anymore. it is really effective.

[BobWallace]

Bug zappers are worthless against mosquitoes since they attract with UV light and mosquitoes are drawn to carbon dioxide.

Broadcast insecticide is the best approach. You can buy it at the store (the kind that hooks up to the hose) or you can pay extravagantly more for a pest control company to do the same thing.

They do make mosquito traps based on propane, but I've never heard of anyone having good results with them. (They kill lots of mosquitoes, but also draw lots of mosquitoes to the general area.)

You can also just spray DEET (such as Off!) on yourself and it's very effective, but tedious to do every time you go out.

[skinem]

The best bug zapper?

Frogs, martins, and bats.

Oh, and DDT.

[elephant08]

When we moved in last year there was alot of wasps around the house; hubby went to Lowes and bought a wasp killer... you just hang it up on the house and viola I have hardly seen ANY wasps around the house ever since

[OmarLittle]

Originally Posted by BobWallace

Broadcast insecticide is the best approach. You can buy it at the store (the kind that hooks up to the hose) or you can pay extravagantly more for a pest control company to do the same thing.

Originally Posted by elephant08

hubby went to Lowes and bought a wasp killer...viola I have hardly seen ANY wasps around the house ever since

Originally Posted by dee 42

Call Cooks.

Dee, what is it that Cooks did for you (and did you have to pay extravagantly more)?


P.S. Mrs. elephant, how about mosquitoes? (And, I assume you transposed the "i" and the "o", or else the wasps must not like music very much.)

[Southlander]

Don't wear fragrance of any kind, make sure your deodorant, hand lotion and everything is fragrance-free. That will help.

[dijkstra]

As mentioned, bug zappers just attract more bugs including mosquitoes. One thing you can try is start taking sulfur pills found in the vitamin section at local stores. Mosquitoes hate the smell of sulfur and can usually detect it on you when you take the pills thus avoiding you. Growing up we had well water in our home that contained a little sulfur along with iron and I very rarely ever got bit by mosquitoes. I only remember being bitten a few times. Later when I got city water they started eating me up, it was sort of a shock. A friend of mine that grew up just up the road from me mentioned one day that for some reason mosquitoes started loving him and I brought up the fact that it was most likely because he no longer showered with well water....He thought about it for a few minutes and said "you know, now that you mention it, that is about the time they started biting me."

I haven't tried taking the sulfur pills because I'm not much of an outdoors person anyway. The mosquitoes come out; I go in. lol I have been told by several people that it works well but you have to take them regularly to keep it in your system and it will take a day or two when you first start taking them.

[419]

Get rid any standing water you can, and if you can't get rid of their water source, use this: Amazon.com: Mosquito Dunks 117-6 32-Ounce Mosquito Bits: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Probably much better than spraying incredibly toxic chemicals all over.

[skinem]

Originally Posted by DJSloan

I have also heard about the sulfur pills but haven't tried them either. I may give it a shot to see how well it works.

When I was a kid 40-50 years ago, I lived in an ooooooooollllllllldddddd house in New Mexico near White Sands. Dad always kept sulfur pills under the house, but it was buggy enough there that once every six months or so they would burn sulfur under the house. The bugs, scorpions, vinegerones, etc., would come pouring out and I was always amazed at what it killed.

But, since they were in there, I don't know how effective a repellent it was, as evidenced by what evacuated during the gassing.