OT mosquito magnet, homemade?

[William Wixon]

i know this isn't the season... just wondering if it's possible to *make* a
"mosquito magnet". the thing that always stumped me in the past was how in
the heck do they convert propane to "warm moist" CO2?! just now the thought
occurred to me, "jeez, for the price they're asking i could rent a CO2 tank
from my local welding supply guy and put a regulator on it" actually there
were a few things that stumped me, like, the store bought mosquito magnet
has a suction/blower fan that blows out CO2 and sucks up the mosquitoes and
puts them in a mesh bag. how to make that?! a few days ago i remembered a
picture i saw once a long time ago in a agriculture book about a moth masher
machine, had an electric motor with 4 wire whips (maybe like 1 foot long, on
both ends of the armature) that whipped around near a black light (that
attracted the moths) and when they got close enough the wire whips just
whipped/mashed them to death. the mosquito magnet, as far as i know, has to
be connected to a source of 115 volt electricity, so too would this home
made version. i was just wondering how to make the CO2 "warm and moist"
like the mosquito magnet literature indicates. thought maybe i could bubble
it up through a tube of water that's heated with a concealed light bulb,
would have to replace the water every once in a while. that's it, a CO2
tank lying on it's side with a regulator cranked WAY down, a long (3')
vertical tube of water that's warmed by a concealed light bulb to bubble the
CO2 through, a electric motor with wire whips on it (enclosed in like an
electric fan enclosure to keep other critters safe) to whip/kill the
skeeters when they get close enough to the device. oh, i could buy the
"octinol" from them i suppose.
anyone home-build a mosquito magnet copy? anyone make constructive
suggestions to the design?
http://www.mosquitomagnetdepot.com/ (you can see the prices there)
(haven't priced a tank of CO2, have no idea the price comparison between a
tank of CO2 and a tank of propane)

b.w.

[Ian Malcolm]

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[Karl Townsend]

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[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

Post by Karl Townsend
Personally, I think that using warm CO2 to attract and kill mosquitoes is
a crock of BS. (try holding your breath and run outside at dusk naked).
Why don't you try putting your barbeque on super low to see how many
mosquitoes you attract? (I bet none)
Mosquitoes have to able to see in infrared and sense the pheromones that
all animals put off. How else can they be right on top of you the second
you're exposed?

Karl, the commercial (good) mosquito magnets DO use a synthetic pheromone,
in addition to CO2.

Mosquitos migrate to the general area of attack by homing on a CO2 plume,
then precisely locate the most desireable target by both IR and pheromone
detection.

LLoyd

[s***@yahoo.com]

Post by Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Post by Karl Townsend
Personally, I think that using warm CO2 to attract and kill mosquitoes is
a crock of BS. (try holding your breath and run outside at dusk naked).
Why don't you try putting your barbeque on super low to see how many
mosquitoes you attract? (I bet none)
Mosquitoes have to able to see in infrared and sense the pheromones that
all animals put off. How else can they be right on top of you the second
you're exposed?

Karl, the commercial (good) mosquito magnets DO use a synthetic pheromone,
in addition to CO2.
Mosquitos migrate to the general area of attack by homing on a CO2 plume,
then precisely locate the most desireable target by both IR and pheromone
detection.
LLoyd

Some mosquito species don't home on the CO2, some do, you have to find
out what you are dealing with 1st.

Dave

[Richard J Kinch]

Post by Lloyd E. Sponenburgh
Mosquitos migrate to the general area of attack by homing on a CO2
plume, then precisely locate the most desireable target by both IR and
pheromone detection.

It just defies my technical intuition that a propane burner is at all
effective as a mosquito decoy.

For example, an idling auto exhausts "warm, moist CO2". I don't see
mosquitoes congregating around a running car.

And trying to bait the whole outdoors with a little burner just seems
comically futile.

[William Wixon]

Post by Richard J Kinch

Post by Lloyd E. Sponenburgh
Mosquitos migrate to the general area of attack by homing on a CO2
plume, then precisely locate the most desireable target by both IR and
pheromone detection.

It just defies my technical intuition that a propane burner is at all
effective as a mosquito decoy.
For example, an idling auto exhausts "warm, moist CO2". I don't see
mosquitoes congregating around a running car.
And trying to bait the whole outdoors with a little burner just seems
comically futile.

i didn't know a mosquito magnet *burned* propane, i imagined it was a
complicated and expensive catalytic reaction (with platinum screens or some
other expensive gadget). and i assumed it would make CO not CO2 when
propane is burned.
i wanted to tell you guys a little story. a couple times i've walked down
by my compost pile, a relatively large compost pile, it's near the tree line
of my woods. summer day, no wind, when i get near the compost pile it SEEMS
as if i encounter an unusually large concentration of mosquitoes. i
imagined they had been attracted to the pile by "warm moist CO2". this is
by no means scientific, it does seem though that mosquitoes are attracted to
and congregate around my compost pile. i was thinking of it as my mosquito
magnet decoy out near the woods 500 feet from the house. only thing is it
doesn't KILL the mosquitoes. (i imagined CO2 is released by the decomposing
organic matter) i think there is something to the "mosquitoes are attracted
to CO2" theory.

[Ian Malcolm]

Post by William Wixon

Post by Richard J Kinch

Post by Lloyd E. Sponenburgh
Mosquitos migrate to the general area of attack by homing on a CO2
plume, then precisely locate the most desireable target by both IR and
pheromone detection.

It just defies my technical intuition that a propane burner is at all
effective as a mosquito decoy.
For example, an idling auto exhausts "warm, moist CO2". I don't see
mosquitoes congregating around a running car.
And trying to bait the whole outdoors with a little burner just seems
comically futile.

i didn't know a mosquito magnet *burned* propane, i imagined it was a
complicated and expensive catalytic reaction (with platinum screens or some
other expensive gadget). and i assumed it would make CO not CO2 when
propane is burned.
i wanted to tell you guys a little story. a couple times i've walked down
by my compost pile, a relatively large compost pile, it's near the tree line
of my woods. summer day, no wind, when i get near the compost pile it SEEMS
as if i encounter an unusually large concentration of mosquitoes. i
imagined they had been attracted to the pile by "warm moist CO2". this is
by no means scientific, it does seem though that mosquitoes are attracted to
and congregate around my compost pile. i was thinking of it as my mosquito
magnet decoy out near the woods 500 feet from the house. only thing is it
doesn't KILL the mosquitoes. (i imagined CO2 is released by the decomposing
organic matter) i think there is something to the "mosquitoes are attracted
to CO2" theory.

Well it sounds like you just need to mount a mosquito killer over your
compost pile . . .

If you are still interested in a homebrew possibly improved mosquito
magnet, you could do a lot worse than start with

<http://www.google.com/search?q=Mosquito+feeding+behaviour+Tropism%7Cattractant>

It would seem that Lactic acid would be the most simply available
common attractant to add to the moist CO2 laden air Its probable that
your compost pile produces a certain amount of this. I suspect that
fires, motor exhausts etc. are too hot, too dry and contain *far* too
much CO2 to be effective attractants.

[Lionel]

On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:15:22 GMT, "William Wixon"

Post by William Wixon
i wanted to tell you guys a little story. a couple times i've walked down
by my compost pile, a relatively large compost pile, it's near the tree line
of my woods. summer day, no wind, when i get near the compost pile it SEEMS
as if i encounter an unusually large concentration of mosquitoes. i
imagined they had been attracted to the pile by "warm moist CO2".

No mystery there. There will be puddles/pools of stagnant water in &
around your compost heap, making it an ideal mosquito breeding ground.
The simplest way to get rid of the bastards permanently would be to
get some of those 'salt shaker' style compost bins with the lids, move
your compost into 'em, & clean up the ground.

[Rex]

On a related (off) topic, my MM Pro model no long works.
Last time I lit it I introduced compressed air into the shrader valve.
It lit, but sounded rough and used up the propane quicker. Apparently I
blew something out.

Anybody had one apart and repaired it?
Are parts available?
Anything like a shop manual around?

Post by William Wixon
i know this isn't the season... just wondering if it's possible to *make* a
"mosquito magnet".

[Bob Engelhardt]

Carlisle MA is Mosquito Central (the newspaper is called "The
Mosquito"). A lot of people buy Mosquito Magnets, with mixed results.
A sure sign of this is the number of them that show up at the dump, most
in very good condition. Given the cost of these things, they wouldn't
be at the dump if they worked. Bob

[Lew Hartswick]

Well bubbling the CO2 through water some of it will disolve
and you end up with carbonic acid. Not a very strong acid
but then what? :-)
...lew...

[Howard Eisenhauer]

Get a block of dry ice. Mosquitos get attracrted to CO2, land on
block, turn into Mosqitsicles.

H.

[g***@gmail.com]

and sucks up the mosquitoes and puts them in a mesh bag.

Other people have commented on the C02. Years ago, I saw an article on
a homemade bug catcher. It was a lightbulb in front of a muffin fan,
with a length of nylon stocking stretched over the back of the fan. I
don't remember if it was a regular size bulb or a nightlight size, or
if they used a colored bulb, a UV bulb, a growlight bulb, or what. I'd
tend to think you'd get more moths than mosquitoes, though. And
eventually, you'd get enterprising insectivours (birds, racoons,
whathaveyou) ripping up your stocking to get at the bugs, but it may
still be enough to keep a small area cleared up, and it'd be cheap
enough to make...

--Glenn Lyford