Shoo fly/come hither, fly

August 17, 2013 12:16 PM

I believe that attractant-type insect traps like bug zappers, fly bags, CO2 traps et cetera work best if you put them in the vicinity but not too close - 15-20 feet. You want them to go "oooh, hey, what's that over there? Hey, everybody, this thing is over here!" My husband would wear a bug zapper around his neck like Flava Flav if that were feasible, on the principle that he wants all the bugs that come near him to go there instead.

If you've ever smelled a fly bag, you understand why I want to be right. Also, I think it's just drawing more bugs into our immediate vicinity, so we're getting even more traffic than if there was no attractant - and flies (non-biting) are definitely our biggest irritant, just being up in our face and doing laps in our wine, we have almost no mosquitoes or yellow jackets/wasps.

Who's right? Is there a formula for determining how far away these things should be?

posted by Lyn Never to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Well, the vast majority of science says that bug zappers actually make mosquitos and other biting insects worse (they attract more than they kill) and are very harmful to non-harmful insect populations. So put them so far away from you that they're not even operating.

I can't speak to the efficacy / side-effects of fly bags or CO₂ traps.
posted by introp at 12:32 PM on August 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm with you: something attractive but over there just a little bit has always seemed most reasonable.
posted by easily confused at 12:59 PM on August 17, 2013

We had a serious fly problem in our back yard last year (our first year here) to the extent that every time we opened one of the back doors just to go in or out, multiple flies came in the house. We put the fly bags up just on our side of the back fence, about one every 25-30 feet. No more flies near the house, although we could see them back by the fence still.

We didn't try putting them near the house, so I can't tell you if it was better or worse the way we did it. But it was effective.

The smell of the fly bag while in use is nothing - wait until you have to dispose of those vile things. I can't believe they aren't hazmat. Luckily, this year almost no flies.
posted by ctmf at 1:02 PM on August 17, 2013

Common knowledge around here is that the best/most effective use of a bug-zapper is to give a couple to your neighbors as a gift.
posted by HuronBob at 4:01 PM on August 17, 2013 [2 favorites]

I am put off by zappers because of their reputed unhygienic qualities. So, a safe distance from where food might be prepared or served, certainly.
posted by Morrigan at 5:39 PM on August 17, 2013

You're probably better off with a fan.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:23 PM on August 17, 2013 [2 favorites]

I was once present for the outdoor butchering of a hog. The time between when the parts that were not being saved to ended up in a galvanized tub to the the time that said parts had about five square miles worth of flies on them was measurable in minutes. This suggests that HuronBob's common knowledge is probably correct and that you'd be better off using fly traps to bait them away rather than draw them toward.

Not as sure about the CO₂ traps.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:32 AM on August 18, 2013