We Tried The Spartan Mosquito Killer Traps And It Zapped Our Budget With Little Reward
Some bugs we like visiting our yard, and some we wish would stay away. Finding a balance between attracting beneficial insects like bees and butterflies and repelling unbearable pests like mosquitoes can be challenging. Chemical sprays and powders are out of the question, and even electric bug zappers can injure the insects we try to attract. It seems cruel to lure in good bugs with all our native flowers only to accidentally kill them. So when we read the excellent reviews for the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech – a product that claims only to attract and kill mosquitoes — we thought it was worth trying.
We have a roughly half-acre yard in a residential neighborhood. As avid gardeners, we spend a lot of time outside with our dogs and were hoping the Spartan mosquito killers would cull the swarms of mosquitoes that harass us when we do what we enjoy the most. According to the product description on Amazon, the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech "kills mosquitoes for up to 30 days so you can enjoy the outdoors." Sounds good to us ... even if details about how it works are sparse. But would this somewhat-pricey mosquito killer live up to its hype?
Preparing and installing the tubes
This product cost us $39 for four tubes — a pretty penny for 30 days of mosquito protection. Thankfully, installing them was pretty simple. To prepare the tubes, we unscrewed the white cap, filled the container with warm water, replaced the cap, and shook well. After filling and shaking, we switched out the white caps for the included black ones that allowed mosquitoes to access the liquid via tiny holes. Thankfully, these lids included hooks that make them easy to hang outside on trees and fences.
The product information states that you need four tubes for an area of an acre or less. However, given the placement instructions, using four of them in our backyard was challenging. Each tube is supposed to be hung 6 feet above the ground and 80 feet away from where you spend time. Unfortunately, with the size of our yard, there was no way we had room to put four tubes 80 feet away from our garden and patio. So we just followed the part of the instructions that stated to put them around the perimeter of your yard and hoped for the best. To gauge the product's effectiveness, we spent about 15 minutes outside during mornings and evenings (when mosquitoes are most active) over two weeks.
About the product
It is surprisingly difficult to find out how the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech works. While there are clear instructions on preparation and installation, there is little info on how it controls these pests. The box shows the active ingredient is 9.04% boric acid, a natural pesticide, and 90.96% other ingredients. Their website mentions the product is a sugar bait that attracts mosquitoes. However, even after scouring the website and Amazon ad, we still could not find solid information on how it actually works.
When we got curious about how many mosquitoes this product protected us from after two weeks, we were surprised when we opened the lid of each trap and did not find any mosquitoes. Since we were wondering if we got duped, we did more research about this product, which brought us to Pests.org. This site explained the product was not what we expected. The style of the tubes makes them look like traps, but instead of trapping and drowning mosquitoes, they go in through the tiny holes, drink the boric acid solution, and die elsewhere.
Results
There is no way to quantify the value of this product. Since it is not a trap, we could not see how many mosquitoes it killed. The only way to tell if it works is the presence or absence of those bitey bugs. That said, while spending time outside, it seemed like we had fewer mosquito sightings than before we installed the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech. However, the difference is difficult to gauge. We did not get many bites, so maybe the product worked as intended. Although we follow the best practices for preventing mosquitoes, like ensuring there's no stagnant water on our property, we do not take further steps to control this pest. Whether this product works comes down to the process of deduction: We have noticeably fewer mosquitoes than usual, and there is no other obvious explanation for this outcome.
The instructions recommend replacement every 30 days, after heavy rains, anytime a tube falls, or if the liquid evaporates below the fill line. If we continue using this product to manage mosquitoes, we would need to spend at least $40 monthly during their breeding season. As such, we will keep observing the mosquito population in our yard before deciding if a monthly mosquito poison subscription is within our budget.