While mosquito populations, and the areas hardest hit by them do fluctuate a little every year, New York and Washington, D.C. consistently appear high on those lists. But even if you’re away from one of the hotspots, you’re undoubtedly having to deal with winged pests, and these clever traps can help.
Don’t think that any one insect trap is going to be a silver bullet for your bug problem. Different types of insects are attracted to different things, so you may have to mount an attack on multiple fronts. For example, a lot of the more modern UV-light based traps are great for attracting fruit flies, gnats and mosquitos, but won’t do anything to bring down the population of the common or garden house fly.
Electric traps work in several different ways. They start by attracting insects to them using a light at a wavelength that is particularly attractive to insects. Once the insects begin to fly towards the light, they get caught in a fan system which draws them down to the final layer of the trap, a replaceable, adhesive sheet that collects them, making the trap easy to clean and reuse over a long period of time.
Traps like this work best when placed closest to the source of the bugs—for example, near a kitchen trash can or a fish tank. And they work even better when the trap is the only light source in the room, so consider leaving them running overnight—some come with a timer. You’ll get the best results when there are no open windows; these types of traps aren’t designed to work outside, so you’ll need to hang on to your citronella candles and jars of sugary water if you’re planning on sitting on the patio.
