Tag Archives: mosquito control

Posts about Spartan Mosquito

Here are all my posts that mention the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator or the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech.

The company is suing me for my 2019 review (#1). If they hadn’t sued me I likely would have only a single post about the company, which very few people would ever read. But I don’t like bullies and I don’t think large companies should be allowed to use lawsuits to silence critics, so I added more! Please share my reviews on Facebook.

Journalist?

There’s likely a fun story here. Owner of sandwich franchise becomes head of $100 million company that sells tubes of sugar water to kill mosquitoes. Here’s his original pitch:

“We’ve come up with the most economical, easiest, most effective mosquito-control measure pretty much in the world” — Jeremy Hirsch, inventor of the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator (source)

Then he lashes out with SLAPP when naturalist/blogger from Pennsylvania (me) points out the obvious that device is a complete scam. Company then hires the lobbying firm behind Brexit to get a “new and improved” tube approved by EPA (see #4). And it’s not over: in 2021 the class-action lawsuit (see #5) will likely subtract $5 million from Spartan Mosquito’s coffers, not counting the legal fees. Will the FTC get involved like it has for other mosquito-control scams? Does the EPA care it’s been snookered?

Contact me for more details. There’s also extensive coverage of Spartan Mosquito on Twitter (99% of it from me). And the American Mosquito Control Association‘s Science and Technology Committee prepared an extensive report on the company and its devices.

To get a quick feel for the inventors and founders of Spartan Mosquito, here’s a Twitter thread featuring Jeremy Hirsch and Chris Bonner.

Curious how the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator and Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech are supposed to kill mosquitoes? Jeremy Hirsch explains in recent interview that mosquitoes cannot resist the sugar, heat, carbon dioxide, and stagnant water within. Pure gobbledygook. pic.twitter.com/QnhecM2Pl4
— colinpurrington (@colinpurrington) September 25, 2020

Spartan Mosquito v. Colin Purrington

31 Replies

AC2T, Inc, a Mississippi company valued at over $100 million, is suing me in Federal court over my review of the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator. It’s a SLAPP — a strategic lawsuit against public participation. I.e., it was filed to silence me (by bankrupting me). A secondary goal of the lawsuit is to silence others who might otherwise inform the world that product is a complete scam. Spartan Mosquito is likely pleased with how it’s all going at the moment, but eventually it will regret suing me.

Court documents can be downloaded at Court Listener.

The device in question is a plastic tube filled with sugar, salt, yeast, and water. The box claims that tubes will kill up to 95% of mosquitoes in a yard for 90 days. Watch this to see the founder and pitchman. That video will be featured at the trial against Spartan Mosquito (it’s a class-action lawsuit).

The tubes are primarily sold at feed stores in rural areas of the United States. Among a certain demographic the device is hugely popular.

If you’d like to contribute toward my defense, I set up a GoFundMe page. But what I’d really like is for people to send a message to their regional EPA offices. Please tell them to investigate this company. I would also be grateful if you shared my review on Facebook and Nextdoor.

DIY trap to kill pregnant mosquitoes

11 Replies

This post contains photographs and construction tips for a killer craft I made: an autocidal gravid ovitrap. Pregnant females enter the trap, lay some eggs on or near the stagnant water within, then are prevented from exiting and die. Their progeny also die because a screen at water level prevents larvae from reaching the surface to obtain oxygen. When similar traps have been deployed they bring down mosquito levels substantially and thus are quickly becoming one of the main ways to prevent mosquito outbreaks and disease. Every homeowner should have six. They’d make wonderful gifts.

The design features a clear dome that helps trap the females when they are done ovipositing (they go for the light), plus a completely unneeded observation window so I can watch the larvae and pupae (fun for the whole family, plus good for demonstration purposes). It borrows general methodology from gravid Aedes traps (GATs) designed by Dr Scott Richie (James Cook University) and colleagues that recently made news on NPR (here’s an overview; here’s their paywalled journal article). I’ve designed mine to capture species that also lay egg rafts, so it’s not just a GAT. My design doesn’t use insecticide because I wanted the odor of developing larvae to be an attractant to other females (it is, by the way).

What you need

2-gallon bucket
bucket lid
6″ plastic pot
clear dome from cake store
metal coat hanger
plastic screening
stapler
3 paperclips
small neodymium magnet
silicone adhesive glue
duck tape
hardware cloth
1-L soda bottle
1/4″ foam weatherstripping
black spray paint
Dremel tool with cutting bit
drill with drill bit
knife
safety glasses (when Dremeling)

Construction photographs

If you’d like to see photographs larger just click on first image and navigate like a slide show. There are many ways to construct these so if you build one and it looks completely different, don’t worry. This is because if your device is the only stagnant water around, females will use it.

I’ve only just deployed it and it’s rather cold right now so I don’t have any victims yet. But I’m optimistic and am posting now with the hope that somebody will have suggestions on how to improve the design (I’m making more). One improvement I’m definitely going to make is to drop the funnel lower into the dome so it’s harder for females to accidentally fly straight up to escape. And pro-tip if you make the above: attach the lid to pail when spray painting to avoid unwanted buildup where they attach.

I’m also posting in the off chance that a biology teacher might take an interest. Having teams make these would be really fun and then they could deploy them in the woods near the school: bonus points for team that traps the most mosquitoes. It’s fun like the classic egg-drop lab in physics except useful. Students would then take their projects home where they’d continue to be useful. Would make for a great Girl Scout Gold Award / Eagle Scout project.

Other DIY designs

Basic trap (Dr Van Eden’s)
4-month trap (Dr Van Eden’s). Here are photographs.
Mosquito killing ovitrap (Instructables)
Sock-based ovitraps (Instructables)
How to make an ovitrap (Instructables)
One-way mosquito ovitrap (Mosquitoes Without Borders)

Where to buy

If all of the above sounds like way too much work you can buy them: Biogents GAT Trap (my favorite), Catchmaster Ovi-Catch AGO, Dalen Skeet-O-Trap, Springstar AGO, and Ultimate Mosquito Traps.

Useful articles

Barrera, R., A.J. Mackay, and M. Amador. 2013. A novel autocidal ovitrap for the surveillance and control of Aedes aegypti. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 29:293-296.

Maciel-de-Freitas R., R.C. Peres, F. Alves, M.B. Brandolini. 2008. Mosquito traps designed to capture Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) females: preliminary comparison of Adultrap, MosquiTRAP and backpack aspirator efficiency in a dengue-endemic area of Brazil. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 103: 602-605.

Mackay, A.J., M. Amador, and R. Barrera. 2013. An improved autocidal gravid ovitrap for the control and surveillance of Aedes aegypti. Parasites and Vectors 6:225.

Maire, A. 1985. Effect of axenic larvae on the oviposition site selection by Aedes atropalpus. J. Am. Mosq. Control Assoc. 1:320-323.

Paz-Soldan et. al. 2016 Design and testing of novel lethal ovitrap to reduce populations of Aedes mosquitoes: community-based participatory research between industry, academia and communities in Peru and Thailand. PLoS One 11:8.