by Texas Homesteader ~ 
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I need a surefire way to eliminate mosquitoes. You really do have to be careful and protect yourselves against their nasty bites. I’ve tried all the sure-fire remedies but none worked. But I did find one thing that worked beautifully. Come see.

(Note: Some links in this post are for further information from earlier posts I’ve written. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click them and buy something (almost anything, not just the item noted) I could receive a tiny commission. But the price you pay will NOT change. It’s an easy way to support this blog without anything coming out of your pocket. So click often! Thank you!)  

Y’all know since we’ve added our Porch Addition, RancherMan & I love to spend our evenings out there.  Aaaaaahhhh – it’s been a hard day, it’s been hot & humid and our bodies are tired, let me tell ya!  

So we get together in this lovely outdoor living room, swinging gently, sipping something cold and talking about our day. This is our comforting routine almost every night.

But, this time of year there’s something threatening to cut short these special evenings together – Mosquitoes! Dang they’re everywhere! Their bites can transmit all kinds of nasties!

I try to not have standing water around the house. But I do have a couple of rainwater-catchment barrels near our back porch.

And near the garden I have an open-top underground cistern. Plus there are 3 ponds within close proximity of our home that provide water for our cattle, and the mosquitoes! 

So even during a drought we’re often tortured by mosquitoes. What’s a country girl to do?

Non-Effective Methods I’ve Tried

I’ve tried all the standard ways to repel mosquitoes such as planting rosemary, lavender, mint & beauty berry around the porch. Those efforts made no difference in mosquito control.

And Citronella candles haven’t been successful either. We’ve put the dang candles where the smoke blows directly on our legs. And still the mosquitoes come. AARRRGGGHHH!!!

 

Somewhere I read that you can put mint-flavored mouthwash in a spray bottle and spray yourself with it to repel mosquitoes. But I swear that just gave me sticky skin & the little pesky beasties a mojito-flavored meal! LOL. No matter what I tried,  still the mosquitoes came.

I purchased & hung an essential oil diffuser right next to the swing – the jury is out on how effective it’s actually been.

The only sure way I’ve been able to keep them away is by spraying myself with deet. But I hate to have chemicals being in constant contact with my clothes or skin. Isn’t there a non-poisonous way to protect us from mosquitoes??

A Non-Toxic Mosquito Solution?

Then one of our FB readers mentioned the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator and I was curious. I went to their site and looked around, then contacted them and asked them specifics about their product.

They found out I had a simple-living blog and offered to send some baits to me to try out and review. They even looked at the lay of our land and made recommendations on where to place the baits. Thanks guys!

As usual, remember that just because an item is offered at no cost in exchange for my review, I owe it to my readers to be honest and open about the pros and cons of the product I’m reviewing.  I always disclose to the manufacturers that I will not offer a false positive review in exchange for free product!

Spartan Mosquito Eradicator Baits

Here’s what I’ve learned about these Mosquito Eliminators:

• These baits are meant to create a barrier around the area you want to protect.  Since they actually attract mosquitoes to take the bait, you need to place them at least 100 yards away!
• Baits are placed about 6′ high into trees surrounding the area you want to protect.
• After ‘first bite’ you need to double up on the units placed to control an already increasing mosquito population
• You just unscrew the lid, fill with warm (NOT HOT) water, replace the lid & shake.
• Then replace the white shipping lid with the black lid which allows the mosquitoes access to the bait
• The only thing released into the air is carbon dioxide, which of course attracts mosquitoes.
• The mosquitoes feed on the bait and die
• Each bait is active for about 90 days before needing to be replaced.
• The lid is specially designed to not allow access to honeybees, butterflies or birds.  It’s just large enough for a mosquito to enter.
• (here’s the best part) It’s non poisonous!

Testing The Effectiveness

I was anxious to try these Mosquito Eradicator units from Spartan Mosquito because they advertise that they’re pollinator safe, insecticide free should reduce our mosquito population by about 95% within 15 days. YEA!

When the baits arrived I was very pleased to see they were pretty simple. A lidded tube containing the bait and another screw-on lid with the entrance holes, plus two different hook attachment options.

NOTE: When these were sent to me, my packaging indicated $19.95 for one kit of 2 baits. That was the price listed at online retailers too. But apparently in the short timeframe of my testing, the price has since increased.  Wow – that was quick!  LOL.  They’re now listed at a higher price.  Just fyi…

I’m protecting about an acre of land around our home and garden area. So Spartan sent a total of 6 kits (12 baits). This was double the baits typically needed at the start of mosquito season since it was already late in the season.

RancherMan added the warm water and shook the bait tubes to mix everything together. Then he replaced the solid lid with the black entrance lid, attached the metal hanging-loop top. He hung them around our property based on the recommended locations sent by Spartan. Then we sat back & waited.

I must say, I’m amazed!

The Proof Is In The Pudding

A neighbor who lives less than a mile away came to visit recently. He mentioned that although they hardly ever have problems with mosquitoes, they were tortured with so many this year. 

Yet RancherMan and I sit out on our porch swing every evening, sometimes for several hours.  And I tend to my garden in the early evenings too when the mosquitoes used to be at their worst. No bites. Yea!

I contacted Spartan and told them I was thrilled with the effectiveness but wondered about their product. They say it’s not poison, yet it kills mosquitoes. What does that mean?

Spartain replied: “Male mosquitoes are attracted to their favorite food (flower nectar=sugar water). Sometimes they go in to eat and their wings get wet and they die in the tube (not what our devices are designed to do). Sometimes they eat and fly off—they have no way to expel excess gas and the fermenting yeast and sugar still create CO2 inside their stomachs. Female mosquitoes are affected by the aforementioned, but some females are ovipositors (they leave their eggs in water). If they lay eggs in the devices the eggs will also die.”

All I know is these dang things really WORK! RancherMan & I will be making sure to have them installed to protect ourselves from now on!

I asked Spartan if they had considered making a refill kit instead of having to buy the entire unit every 90 days. They replied that there are numerous federal regulations they must follow but as soon as they get it all figured out they are working on offering a refill kit.

Yea! Less packaging and even less expense. So my crunchy self will be as happy as my budget-minded self!

Pros 

• Non-Toxic ingredients
• Baits specially designed to not allow honeybee entrance
• Protects for up to 90 days
• Easy to install – simply add water, shake, add the feeding top & hang
• At the time of this writing, only $24.95 for a two-pack of these baits (free shipping)
• Most importantly: Dang-it – They WORK! – See 2021 update below

Cons

• Must place baits at least 100 ft away from area to be protected since they actually ATTRACT mosquitoes – hard to accomplish for some smaller areas
• 90-Day effective time-frame means baits need to be replaced
• No refill option at this time (but they’re working on it!)
• Not currently available in CT, NM or SD due to registrations needing to be completed. (maybe that changes soon?)
• Although they offer bulk orders of 100 kits or more, I’d like to see bulk orders of 6 or 12 traps instead of only a 2-pack option to reduce packaging waste. Our 12 baits required 6 boxes each containing instruction inserts, etc.

In Summary – Do They Really Work?

I’ll say although I was pretty skeptical since I’ve already tried many other bullet-proof mosquito remedies without success, I was oh-so-pleasantly surprised to see these things really work! I’m constantly sharing this success story with my friends & family so they can finally be protected as well! 

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05-02-21 UPDATE: We purchased the Original Spartan Mosquito Eliminator earlier this year and put them out as directed. We didn’t see the same positive results as when we put them out in 2018 when I wrote this review. This year the mosquitoes didn’t seem to be affected at all!

The following message was sent to Spartan Mosquito Eradicator on 05-02-21:

I wrote a review post of the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator in 2018. They were unbelievably effective. (www.TexasHomesteader.com)

But we purchased the Spartan Mosquito Eliminator earlier this year and put them out as directed. We’re not seeing the same positive results as when we put them out in 2018 when I wrote the review. This year the mosquitoes don’t seem to be affected at all! They were placed in the same locations you’d recommended before, nothing’s changed on our side. Has your formula changed?

They responded that they didn’t change their original formula, but said they now recommended Spartan Pro Tech baits. I’m hearing they’ve added boric acid to the baits.

I will say the Pro Tech baits are every bit as effective as the old Mosquito Eradicators were, so I still recommend them. But I sure would love for them to eliminate all the waste produced when buying them each year by offering refill kits.

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I found Spartan *Mosquito Eradicators on Amazon. 

We are even able to hang one of these mosquito baits right here at our apiary without worrying about our bees. So I’m happy (and very excited) to say I recommend these Spartan Mosquito Eradicators! You can find them on Amazon *here.

~TxH~

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