225GT Sticky Fox

Traps vs. Mosquitoes & the West Nile Virus

We make no outdoor traps.
Indoors, our traps may help.
Outdoors, no trap we have made or tested appears to be much help.
There usually are so many mosquitoes outdoors,
no matter how many you catch,
there are still more than enough to get you.
And, most of what you kill are not mosquitoes and some might even be beneficial insects.

Our traps will catch mosquitoes.
Indoors, where the number can be limited,
our traps will help, and might, possibly,
catch a mosquito infected with West Nile Virus,

maybe not before it gets you.

Gilbert® Professional Trap Recommendation
For Home Use Against Mosquitoes:

The Gilbert® 220 Guerrilla™
(a portable electrocuter)

My personal experience:
I use a 220 Guerrilla in my bedroom when I'm bothered by that one or two mosquitoes that won't let me sleep. It works. It has been my experience that once you've plugged in the Guerrilla™, the mosquito will leave you alone. Most often, they appear to flee into the shadows, avoiding the light.

At times, they may immediately go to the trap (whether it's the light, heat, or something else that attracts them). Usually, however, the pest simply darts to the shadows, leaving me alone to sleep. At sometime during the night, I usually hear a zap. Most often, this occurs as the sun is rising.

NOTE: My father used to say that you could increase the attractiveness of a trap to mosquitoes by placing dry ice in the tray of the trap (gives off carbon dioxide as it melts). There is a trap on the market that uses a combination of a heating tube wrapped around a carbon dioxide dispenser to attract mosquitoes, and though I know it will catch mosquitoes, I don't know how effective it is, and, most importantly, it's not really designed for indoor home use.

Let me be clear though; mosquitoes prefer an animal to any trap. You certainly can't depend on traps outdoors when there are a large number of mosquitoes around. My father used to say to me, in a hushed tone, with a slight grin, that "using traps outdoors to control mosquitoes is like peeing in the ocean to raise the level". He had a good deal of experience trying, including completely surrounding the little league baseball field I played on with giant electrocuters. It didn't work.

However, we have been primarily concerned with flies and other pests of the food and pharmaceutical industries; mosquitoes are not our primary target pest and I don't know that any of my experiences (mentioned above) were with the particular species that carries the West Nile Virus. However, I do believe the results are likely to be similar, if not exactly the same.

Jonesboro Little League Park (1960s)

Good luck, and, please, let me know your results. Be wary of any "expert" who tells you he knows about using light traps in this way. I don't know anyone who does, but I know many who like to pretend they do, including outdoor trap salesmen and clueless PhDs with little or no actual experience with professional traps, especially indoors.

Do your own research. Keep in touch. We will improve and update this page continually.

Sincerely,
David Gilbert
President