i really wish this was in your "almost" category. to begin with, what is better, being a less annoyed by mosquito bites (if you don't scratch them right away, they stop itching in about 15 seconds), or knowing that brids have tehir food to eat? personally i don't mind the bites knowing that it will feed birds and bats.... is it better to have them dehydrated an dthen thrown in to the compostr (or a MRE?) what will meal replacement will brids go to? this, to me anyway, is part of the problem we are in right now...

...then there's the CO2 (hello greenhouse effect? global warming??) I know you say: "the machine probably emits very little CO2 compared to many other more or less useful things that don't have the benefit of fighting malaria."
but a) probably very little? how much is that? what is the source? how much is probably very little 24/7 for 5 months a year? and also I know that with Global Warming, diseases migrate and malaria is a traveller... but really, how many executives catch malaria on the links in Toronto or Ottawa??

west nile, as well, is caused (at least in part) by our pumping CO2 into the atmosphere... this seems to be just adding mor eprobelms into the mix.

i really wish it was an almost.

The alternative might include a screen porch. Worth mentioning too that there are just this year two non-DEET repellant alternatives that do not use alcohol as a diluent, whcih means that these new ones do not irritate m ucosa or dissolve nylon and paint. Consumer reports did a nice review of them. Anyone have any experience to report?

I have one of these, and it works like a champ. If it wasn't for West Nile, I wouldn't have bothered. I can deal with itching and using small concentrations of DEET in a lotion once in a while. I *cannot* deal with potential paralysis (nor can my family members). Anyway, the first night I put this thing out, it caught about 40 mosquitos in about an hour. And kept them from breeding more.

I agree with lee. Leave them to the birds and bats. Make your home more wildlife friendly with the addition of bat boxes, etc. Check the NWF Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program for ideas on how to increase diversity in your yard.

http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/index.cfm

The efficacy of these types of mosquito traps is open to debate, as you'll see if you search the web for comments. For my part, I bought one and ran it for several summers in various configurations, places, etc., and never caught any mosquitos as far as I could tell.

I agree. Studies have revealed these are not as effective as advertised and in fact usually kill more beneficial insects than mosquitoes, and that a good percentage of the mosquitoes that are killed are not the species that are disease vectors.

Take it from an ornithologist: just wear repellant.

lee,
If the CO2 is in the carbon cycle it won't have a big affect. The problem is with CO2 being generated from sources which have been long removed from the carbon cycle. IE. Oil.

As humans we also release CO2. So I don't think these things will have a big impact on the environment.

You might be right, Lee.

I think it really depends on how this is used. My perspective was that this would mostly be used in places like Asia and Africa, or that even in other places, this would "displace" the use of DDT and other things that are worse than it.

As for the CO2 problem, as I said, it certainly would be better if that CO2 came for a biofuel source (which would make it carbon neutral).

I don't think that this machine emits more CO2 than a couple of barbecues (after all, how much can there be in that propane tank), and I haven't seen that many campaigns against barbecues yet.

I think that the bottom line is the context. If people start using this in north-american suburbs, then it's just one more excess. If it is used around Tsunami refugee camps in Banda Acceh (sp?), that's another story.

Bat boxes are a definitely a good idea. We covered it:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/ecotip_how_to_g_1.php

We live on a river, with wet mosquito breeding areas along the shore. We have two barns for the bats to roost, and see them flying at night. The trouble seems to be that the bats (probably the birds too) prefer the bigger bugs and don't bother with the mosquitos enough to make a difference. The magnet, on the other hand, made a big difference in the area we like to use. After the first week, we had a packed quart of dried mosquitos (some black flies too, but no non-biting insects that I could see). This device made a huge difference in the usability of our yard in the early Summer. Before we had one, it was not possible to walk in the yard without being loaded up with DEET. Every time I worked in the garden or mowed the lawn, I had to load up with chemicals (even the alternatives to DEET are chemicals I would rather not be smearing on my skin all the time)- I hated it. Once the Summer heat dried things out, the mosquitos quieted down on their own, but late Spring/early Summer was really a drag. Now that we have a magnet, we have added three months (three months of enjoyable weather) to the use of our yard. Maybe it isn't worth it for everyone. We still get a bite or two with it running. But if you live in the kind of place where you have to run from your car to your house to escape the swarms - these things are great! As for the bats, there are at least as many mosquitos in the areas of the yard that the magnet doesn't protect - and those areas are where most of the bats were hanging out before anyway.

Tom is quite correct that mosquitoes are not a primary food source for bats. In fact no animals, including birds, rely on mosquitoes. Here is a quote from "Mosquito" by Andrew Spielman (Harvard Professor and one of the foremost experts on mosquitoes) - "More than most other living things, the mosquito is a self-serving creature. She doesn't aerate the soil, like ants and worms. She is not an important pollinator of plants, like the bee. She does not even serve as an essential food item for some other animal". In short the mosquito is nothing but a disease carrying pest.

The mosquito magnet does work and has been proven to work in many studies. It is not the most user friendly device. It must be placed properly based on the prevailing wind as mosquitoes fly into the wind when they are looking for blood. And you must be using the correct attractant for your area of the country. But assuming the unit is set up correctly it will work.