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Blue Rhino SkeeterVac

Female biting insects require blood to nourish their eggs. They get that blood from you, your family, your pets and your friends. They track down hosts by sensing the carbon dioxide (the primary cue), moisture and heat from breath, body odors and color contrasts. SkeeterVac® mosquito exterminators create a combination of those cues. This tricks the insects into thinking the trap is a host. Once the pests are attracted to the exterminator, they are captured on the sticky trap or sucked into an enclosure by a powerful vacuum fan. Once trapped, they quickly dehydrate and die.

Featured Blue Rhino

- Mosquito Control

About Mosquitoes

Creating Attractants
Propane gas from a standard grill cylinder is burned in a sealed combustion chamber where it is catalyzed into warm carbon dioxide and water. This precision mixture is exhausted out into the air stream.

A unique time-release FineTune® lure at the top of the unit emits a scent that when combined with CO2 increases the attraction power for many species. Different species like different levels of the scent. Only SkeeterVac® mosquito exterminators allow you to vary the amount of attractant to match the species in your backyard. Adjustment is made by simply turning a dial.

Why mosquitoes are attracted to you

Scientists still don’t fully understand the subtle chemistry of what attracts mosquitoes to humans. However, entomologists are certain that the following are mosquito attractants:

Carbon dioxide and other chemicals in the breath that you exhale
Chemicals your body emits
Body heat
Visual cues such as color, size and contrast
Movement
Mosquitoes are very effective at reproducing
Attracting, trapping and killing just one female mosquito at the start of mosquito season can prevent the birth of up to 25,000 more mosquitoes that season alone!

The importance of water
All mosquitoes need water to complete their lifecycles. Some mosquito species lay their eggs directly on the surface of water. Others lay drought-resistant eggs into containers or depressions in the ground – then, when the area is flooded by rainfall or another water source, the eggs are able to hatch.

Mosquito activity in cold weather
Many mosquitoes are able to hibernate in cold winter months. Their development ceases, and they remain still and inactive. Once temperatures rise in the spring and summer, the hibernating mosquitoes and mosquito eggs become active again.

What mosquitoes eat
Mosquitoes rely on sugar as their main source of energy. Both male and female mosquitoes feed on plant nectar, fruit juices, and liquids that ooze from plants.

Blood for reproduction
Females mosquitoes lay multiple batches of eggs and require a blood meal for every batch they lay. Male mosquitoes do not lay eggs – as a result, male mosquitoes don’t require blood meals, and therefore, do not bite.
Most mosquitoes die before they are able to bite and take a blood meal. In general, mosquitoes that do live to reproduce are only able to take one blood meal before they, too, are killed or die naturally.

Why mosquito bites hurt
Mosquito bites leave welts and itch because when females bite they salivate into the wound. Proteins in the saliva facilitate the taking of the blood meal by preventing the blood platelets from coagulating and by dilating blood vessels. The welts that appear after the mosquito leaves are not a reaction to the wound but an allergic reaction to the saliva injected to prevent clotting.

Helpful Links
More information about mosquitoes in the United States can be found on the following sites, among many others.

The American Mosquito Control Association
http://www.mosquito.org

US Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/skeeters.htm

National Center for Infectious Diseases
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/list_mosquitoborne.htm

None of the agencies listed above is an advertiser of SkeeterVac® mosquito exterminators, and inclusion on the list above does not signify that they endorse the products. The links provided are for customer information only.