new trap concept for windows in process in LV

well today another catch on this method, we do not have many mosquitos around and still caught one. Showed two people.

finally a day with wind and sure enough i have a mosquito trapped in my window screen concept.    









11/1/2016
I have a new website for this venture at www.mosquitoswithoutborders.com

I can see two dead mosquitos in my window trap closest to me. As mentioned the ants generally carry them away in no time.

So I do call this trap effective to a degree. Note I am breeding those mosquitoes and they have a choice go after me or keep trying to go free. They like to come after me. Next will remove the outside containment for real world /time testing. The testing I was doing was accelerated simulation, because I do not have many wild mosquitoes at the moment.

with the ones that i hatched with the turtle water sitting well I am still catching a few into my traps on the window. The problem with counting them is the ants carry them away once they die. I believe this experiment has also been very productive. And worthy of further investigation/testing. I am looking at 2 mossys in it right now.

With the mosquitos that hatched in the other experiment I have put 40 of them in this trap this evening. So that I have some to see if they want to go after me. They may have been stressed by the escaping from the other experiment. Most have not left the bottle i had them in. I do have a couple flying my direction.

several of the turtle waters are now with wigglers.

no mosys left will have to wait for turtle water to produce some more. Could be a week or two.

as i got up there was only one flying around, I could see one dead and there could be more dead. I was kind of busy all day so was not able to check as often. But at the peak time there were two on the far outside and one trapped. and there were no other mosquitos. I may need a fresh batch of the blood suckers to continue.

My initial feeling is I am killing at a 50% rate that enter, and do not know if that rate is repeated every day or not. If it is it is a huge step...

Once they all die I can take the trap apart and redo some parts so it is easier to change on the fly.

8:55am   well the one i had trapped from yesterday did not escape via the entry route, and a second one just a minute ago entered the trapped area.  
9:03 just witnessed a third one make it into trapped area.
9:07 just witnessed another one make it into the trapped section.    

I don't think I have any more mosquitos left in the free section.    So out of 4 left  I trapped all 4.  What is left is to see if they can return to their free section again.

Some real encouraging results finally.    Because I have so few mosquitoes I had to take the larva from my turtle water.    I built an enclosed screen room for them to hatch in on the back of my double screen trap.    The Y connector caught one and he was not able to escape and died.     But that was it.    
Then I went to a kitchen sink screen strainer that is kind of a funnel and cut a 1 inch hole and put a screen on it like a T and same only one mosquito.  And he could not escape either and died.    (note this did work for new hatched escaping a sealed container. So this combo has some good potential for catching them going to a contained breeding ground is my gut feeling.)
So I put in 1.5 inch larger entry PVC t connector hot gluing it in and still nothing.      So I figured they track the airflow and possible ir or visible light and I made a hole in the back and covered it with screen.  And viola, had 5 in the trap at their first active time.    Next morning only one was still in the trap area, and at active time they came back in.    

So I have a little more work to stop them from exiting...    Since the screen T worked and stopped exiting for the other trap style I will hybrid this.  

Below you will see what i had to do, i had to make the opening much larger,


did a crude modification and did find one dead in this t trap.  2pm

7 pm this is peak attack time, I have 4 on the outer screen wanting in at me on the 1.5 inch T that i modified to be harder to do a return.   I just witnessed one get into the inner part.    It was difficult but she did not give up and retreat which was easy while in the main section of the tube but she gave that extra effort. She made it.  She is in the closed section now.

I have trap B the double window screen finished and installed.    A problem is there are so few mosquitoes around.    So have not seen one outside buzzing this window in a few days.  So I have added a dark bag with a can of water near it.   IE a water vapor cloud and dark resting place as of today.  

What I did do is captured some mosquitoes from my turtle water and forced them if they wanted to escape into one trap which all 5 did and they could not escape and died.  

I have three separate chambers double screen separated by 4 inches.   With three configurations of one way simple entry traps.  

here are the pictures.    as you can see on this side there is a whole they can fly into and either take a 90 degree turn or a 45 degree fly through to end up hitting a solid screened area in the direction of the inside of my office area where I work.    once they expend their energy allotment and decide to retreat they now have a large screen area they go to but no exit hole easily found now.  

All 5 of the mosquitoes I had placed in here were not able to find the tube they arrived in and perished.    Now I hope the water with dark bag lures some in closer to my trap.      Or I need to either make a large screened area before my trap and release more turtle water mosquitoes there.     where they can then try to get at my space and fly into the one way tubes.     I have some other designs in the works if these do not do the job.      





this trap is only for the larger size mosquitoes I have seen.

I have trap B on my window now. I will post some pictures of it soon. A problem is we just do not have a lot of mosquitos around at this point.

5pm
mosquito trap type A progress...   or lack of it.

amazing that the hatchlings  are so small.   I had to get a magnifying glass out to know what they were for sure.    I could see the flying pattern that backed it up.   They got through my screen barrier, luckily had a second containment of plastic bottle.    Over 30 caught so far., but this is not a position of accomplishment.

I have never seen such small mosquitoes.    they are able to fit through 1.5mm screen mesh.      I would have been able to see them on my window screen I believe if they enter homes, my fabric window screen has a mesh of 1.24mm.    

so next I have to make one with smaller mesh which is much more difficult.  

I was working on type B today.

8:30pm, I modified type A trap to have 1.24mm fabric screen, the baby mosys are not escaping, well about 4 so far in an hour. Thus I am able to capture the babies for one piece of the trap puzzle.

For type A I have some dirty turtle water that I let go to mosquito larvae. I took the water and placed it into two 55 gallon plastic barrels and put the lid on and used the opening on the top to test some diameters to see what is the diameter of the travel tube and if a one way system is possible with a T that they can not find as a return path.

here are some details about conventional traps

http://www.mosquitoworld.net/mosquito-control/trap-reviews/
How Mosquito Traps Work

When hunting for blood meals, female mosquitoes fly about 25 feet or less off the ground, using several types of sensing organs to find human prey. Among their equipment:

Antennae that detect the carbon dioxide released from a person’s lungs and are capable of picking up more than 340 chemical odors produced by human skin, including octenol, a substance also found in perspiration.

Compound eyes made up of hundreds of tiny lenses designed for spotting movement and distinguishing prey, particularly useful for day-biters that rely more on visual cues. Accompanied by two light-sensitive simple eyes.

Maxillary palpus located on the head and believed to be sensitive to heat, helping mosquitoes to located warm-blooded prey and pinpoint capillaries that are closest to the skin and more easily reached.

Mosquito traps take advantage of mosquitoes’ sensory abilities by tricking them with features that mimic the smells and visual stimuli associated with people. Various brands produce CO2, octenol, heat, or light – or a combination of those – to lure mosquitoes in, then trap them in containers where they die.

To be most effective, the traps need to be placed correctly, which means in shaded areas located between the source of the mosquitoes and where people gather in the yard. The best idea is to try it in different places until you find the right one. You’ll also  need to experiment with a variety of attractants to see which ones appeal most to your local mosquitoes.

I will be experimenting with a new trap idea I have.    

My observations , I have a screened window that is downwind of my office.    In general when the mosquitos are bad I can  see about 5-10 on the screen wanting to come in.    On the upwind screened door I see just one or two.   I have sprayed my window screen with permethrin several times when there are at risk diseases in the area.    These do not seem to make much of a difference but hard to judge.    

These are mosquitos that want to attack.  

I have found when I leave some black containers out that there are generally some mosquitoes in them when the population is high.   Obviously they prefer this type of location when dorment as the black would absorb the majority of the light/heat that could harm them.  

generally in mosquito traps they use CO2 heat and pheromone attractors.     Well a home is a natural source of all three of those coming out the screened windows.   So a natural lure and that is why I see them hanging out at my window screen.  

So I am going to make two types of trps for the two scenarios, one for when they are after me and one for them to sleep at.    

So I am going to try to make a double screen trap for the window that from the outside allows the mosquito to enter but not get out like some of the bee fly type traps.     I notice the mosquito flying around the screen looking for an opening.    Do I will make some kind of funneling angles that allow them to get closer and into a t-tube entry.    I do not know how big the entry should be,  we are aiming for the AE mosquito.    Have seen those coke bottle ones that do not work, but that is the size opening that should work.    and should they be light or dark?   should they have negative draft angles once they enter so they can not escape?    So a lot of experiments need to be done.  

I start fabricating a few experiments tomorrow.   A problem is we do not have a lot of mosquitos around right now.     So may be time to let my turtle pond to go without cleaning for a bit.

Wish me and the kids luck.   Both of them want to make their own traps.


11/1/2016
I have a new website for this venture at www.mosquitoswithoutborders.com