Here’s a table comparing the two attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSBs) sold by Spartan Mosquito.
| ERADICATOR | PRO TECH | |
| Active ingredient | sodium chloride | boric acid |
| Inactive ingredients | water, sucrose, yeast | water, sucrose, yeast |
| Hole size in cap | 11/64″ | 11/64″ |
| No. of tubes needed per acre | 2 | 4 |
| Cost per tube | ~$10 | ~$12 |
| Guarantee? | none | 30-day |
| Refills sold? | no | no |
| EPA-registered? | no | yes |
| Efficacy claim | “kills up to 95% of mosquitoes” | “kills mosquitoes” |
| Efficacy duration | 90 days | 30 days |
| Have claims been tested? | yes (doesn’t work) | no |
| Locations prohibiting sales | CA, CT, IN, KS, MD, ME, MT, NM, PA, SD, UT, WA, DC, PR | CA, (MD?) |
If you see anything that needs updating, please let me know.
Notes
- Spartan Mosquito no longer makes the Eradicator but it is still available at some retailers.
- The company has said for years that it is working on selling refills but I don’t think it is. You can buy refills on Amazon.
- The 30-day guarantee clock for the Pro Tech starts the day you purchased the device (or the day it was delivered). So if you buy in bulk for future use, that’s something to keep in mind.
- Scientists have evaluated the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator and found no evidence it controls mosquitoes.
- Another team of scientists have determined that salt (the active ingredient in Eradicators) doesn’t kill adult mosquitoes.
- The American Mosquito Control Association does not endorse the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator.
- The Spartan Mosquito Eradicator is the focus of a $5 million class-action lawsuit.
- Here is my review of the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator.
- Here is my review of the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech.
Not sure why it worked so well for me. I have 3/4 of an acre and on both sides of me are livestock watering locations and one has a pool. My yard has numerous shrubs and trees. My first summer living in the house I couldn’t walk out of my door without being bitten numerous times and I mean dozens. After putting up the Mosquito Eradicators I first noticed a decline within a week or two. Then the rest of the summer was virtually mosquito free. No municipality sprays for mosquitoes in my area. Must be an anomaly and I got the only package of mosquito eradicator that worked. I am so lucky!
Same here! I live in a rural area , near woods, ponds, and a river. The day I hung my mosquito eradicate you were swarmed getting to your car. Two weeks later there were none! I was thrilled! How can that be junk?
But it only has salt inside so it cannot be responsible. I challenge you to use binoculars to spy on your Eradicators from afar. The company promises there will be clouds of mosquitoes fighting to get inside. Every single day. Let me know if you see any. Here’s my review of the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator.
It doesn’t work at all. Unfortunately, i just started my research on them bcuz of that, and the fact that they inboxed me about my comment on Facebook, and then blocked me. They are a terrible company. So sad they are allowed to continue robbing ppl.
Would you mind sending me their inbox comment? Also, did they hide your comment? Spartan Mosquito tends to do that for anything that might undermine their 5-star image of themselves. I.e., you and your friends will still be able to see the comment but rest of world cannot. Yes, amazing this company is allowed to get away with this. Please share my posts with your community if you can … so few people realize they are being scammed, and fewer warn their friends and family.
Same my Grandson could not go outside until I put these up around my house, we have a pond on both sides of us and cattle pens and a barn all right there and as long as he don’t leave the front yard he’s fine but walk out to the lots and he gets eat up.
You’ve been using the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator? Here’s my review. It’s snake oil.
I agree. 1st year it wasn’t that great, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year we had zero mosquitoes inside our treated area. Fyi: 1.5 acres hung at 4 corners and in the middle away from the house. I’m going to say the reviewers didn’t use it as recommended. They expected 100% mosquito control with the 1st application.
The “reviewers didn’t use it as recommended” explanation is identical to why dowsing rods are supposed to be ineffective for some.
worked well for me also. Just now being inundated with mosquitos so I’m going out tomorrow to buy more. Expensive but worth the peace of sitting outside.
Please have a look at your tubes to see whether you see the promised swarm of mosquitoes. I would love a pic.
That’s fucking wild that they are selling that shite for so much. I’ve seen this brand for sale in Washington. Thanks for making such a thorough review!
What’s really wild is that the FTC and EPA *let* them sell this shite.
It works like a charm in South Texas where the state bird is a Mosquito.
As long as you put them up early in the season.
I’m not sure which one you’re using. Neither appear to work. Here’s my review of the Eradicator. Here’s my review of the Pro Tech. Neither version appears to even attract mosquitoes, a central claim of the company. I’m afraid you’ve been duped.
I’ve used the spartan educator for 2 years. I’ve always been skeptical, but we do see improvement right after we put them up. The plastic tubes are full of thousands of mosquitoes when I dump then out. I don’t get the same results when owm mixture, but I’ll try your recipe.
If you can, please post a photograph of the contents. I’m happy to try to identify the contents. Here’s a link to a typical scene from my yard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z457LUbuwz8&ab_channel=ColinPurrington. I’ve never found a mosquito in the mix. I’ve also never seen a mosquito in photographs others have posted of their Eradicator contents. Just usually vinegar flies, yellowjackets, etc.
Hey Colin – If I had to make a homemade lure for an air trap, what chemicals do you think would work best? I’ve heard a lot about lactic acid. What do you think?
I’m unsure of what an air trap is. Do you mean, what type of chemical *would* entice mosquitoes into tubes? CO2 is certainly important, but you’d need dry ice or compressed CO2 to achieve useful concentrations. There are also lures out there for various mosquito species. As you mention, lactic acid is one. Here’s a review.
Colin, I don’t quite get what you want from the people replying. They are simply telling you of their experiences. If they had favorable results, your main response seems to be, “you obviously didn’t see it correctly”. They are simply telling you what happened for them. And they worked for me as well. But I do appreciate you giving out the replacement mixture. I will try it.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Exactly! I’ve been using Spartans since they first came out. I’m one of those people that mosquitoes LOVE and bites get huge and stay extremely itchy for days. We deploy the tubes in March and use them until weather gets cold. Spartans work! These ARE NOT snake oil, I have NOT been scammed or duped. Facts are facts- and the fact is for 3 years we’ve been using Spartans and been able to enjoy our backyard without getting eaten up by mosquitoes. I follow the directions EXACTLY (it seems most consumers do not). Because of the Spartans, We no longer need to apply bug spray every time we go out in our back yard. These are a game changer.
Salt doesn’t kill mosquitoes. I’m just the messenger.
Okay folks. Here we go! There is a new product in town.
Colin, thanks for bringing people together in an effort to better eradicate these mosquitoes.
I purchased a Tougher Than Tom Mosquito killer kit. (https://tougherthantom.com/products/mosquito-tnt) It appears to be a knockoff of this Spartan product. I started to research *what* kills mosquitoes (salt, sugar, yeast?) and found this page.
I bought it because it’s pretty cheap to try and has great reviews. I’m certain the bad reviews are deleted. Isn’t that how it always works?
In any case, lots of people still say it works so I’ll try it out and will follow up with a review here in a couple weeks. They say it takes 1-2 weeks to fully work.
Tougher Than Tom’s Mosquito TNT is apparently fantastic at killing honey bees. But very much looking forward to seeing what you catch. If you want, you can send pics via my contact form. See my blurb on the contraption on my post, “Yeast-based mosquito control devices“.
Oh Dear! I just had a honeybee swarm take up occupancy in an empty hive box nearby to where I set up.
Oh, dear, indeed.
Do you happen to know how it actually kills bees? If it doesn’t kill mosquitos, by that logic it shouldn’t be toxic to bees either. I have seen instances where bees need bee ladders in order to climb out of sugar water instead of drown. If that is the risk, I should be able to quickly identify it by looking into the “trap”.
The bees drown. Terrible way to go, drowning in something you actually want (sugar water). Poor things.
According to their website, it says:
“Is Mosquito TNT safe around bees?
Yes! Mosquito TNT is bee-friendly and will not harm pollinators when used as directed.”
A demonstrably false claim.
I’m another one that saw a RADICAL change when I started using the older formula of Spartan. I bought it thinking it was another marketing ploy, but had tried so many things that I figured what would one more failure be? It was too expensive to hand-spray the yard each night before going outside.
I was SHOCKED at the difference after a week or two. I then thought it must be something that changed seasonally and there just were fewer mosquitos… but at my office 1 mile away they were still in full effect.
I didn’t have to use bug spray on myself, or spray the yard the rest of the summer… I started noticing them again and went and looked at the date on my tubes and it was over the 90 day window, so I ordered more. I put four up on the corners of a 1/2 acre city (corner) lot, with 3 water tanks. That’s twice what was recommended if you started early.
I told my sister about it who lives outside of town on 3 acres, and the mosquitos made going outside impossible… also worked great for her.
It’s not the “placebo” effect b/c the bites on your arms/legs are not imagined. Combined with the fact that I thought it was BS in the beginning, and was totally shocked that it did work.
I bought some at the end of the year for this year, and then a new set this spring. When I put the new ones out last week I noticed it says 30 days, and the old ones were 90 days. I looked closer and noticed the ingredients were different, and the name changed a tad… which is why I was looking for a comparison online.
Who knows why it doesn’t work for the “experts” and it does for some of us, but I’ll buy it as long as it works… even if it’s actually my superior mind-control of an ineffective product that keeps those pesky mosquitos away. NOW, I have to determine if I see a difference with the 30 day formula vs. the 90 day one.
I live in Florida on over an acre. I bought 4 of the Spartans with boric acid. At the beginning of summer I could not stand outside to talk with my neighbor without a dozen or more swarming me. Since I put the tubes in all corners of the backyard, the mosquito population has declined. We have had both hot weather and heavy rain this year. I do not think that I would buy the kind without the boric acid.
And you buy 2 more boxes every 30 days?
It blows my mind that you just come back with more comments negating what some of us have said. It worked. Period. Enjoy your crusade.
You’re using Spartan Mosquito Eradicators?
Yes. In a heavily wooded area that had so many mosquitoes that I couldn’t even cut my grass without swarms of them biting me. I have used them both before and since they changed the formula and am no longer bothered by them.