Anyone can set up a Mosquito trap. The process is designed to be simple and, in fact, it is.  Putting the trap in the right place, though, is easily as important as setting the equipment up properly.  Proper placement can increase your catch rates, decrease the overall biting insect population, and make your outdoor area more livable and pest-free than you ever thought it could be.   Here are some things to think about while you're placing your trap to help you get the most out of your Mosquito Trap and your favorite outdoor spots.

Where Are the Bugs?
The most offensive biting insects around - mosquitoes, black flies, no-see-ums, and the like - have a few common preferences.  They tend to want to live in or near areas with standing water, lots of shade, bushes, tall grass, or other areas that are generally damp and protected from wind and direct sunlight.  These are the first places you should look at on your property to find out if they contain a high density of these pests.  This step is critically important because, if biting insects are living in these areas around your home, they're breeding there, too.  The basic premise of having a Mosquito trap is to eliminate bugs but, more specifically, to eliminate the breeding females.  Identifying the most attractive breeding areas for biting insects is a vital step.

Where Are You?
Equally as important is the next step, which involves identifying the places where you, your friends, and your family are most likely to gather.  If there's a back porch where you entertain guests in the summer, then that's an area you'll want to focus on as far as providing protection.  The same could be said of a playground or swing set area, a gazebo, a backyard picnic area, an outdoor volleyball court, or any other outdoor area where you're likely to spend time.  Knowing where you're likely to be in relation to where you think mosquitoes are breeding is a must when establishing an insect-control regimen.

Setting the Trap
Now you're aware of the places you want to prevent bugs from getting to and the places where they're living and breeding.  The next part of the process is to look to a few simple guidelines that will help you position your trap in the simplest and most effective manner.  These guidelines are listed below, after you read them we'll run through a quick explanation of what each means and why it's important.

1.Place the Mosquito Trap 20 to 30 feet away from the area you're planning on using, the area where you want to eliminate insects.
2.Place the trap upwind from the place where you think the bugs are living.
3.Position the trap in an open area, not an area impeded by bushes, tall grasses, fences, or other obstructions.
4.When possible, choose a well-shaded area to place the trap in.

All of these guidelines have pretty simple explanations.  First of all, you want the trap positioned 20 to 30 feet away from outdoor spots you're likely to use because IT ATTRACTS INSECTS!  That's what it's designed to do.  So, if you place the trap too close to you and your friends, you're pretty much inviting bugs to the people party - when they come closer to investigate the trap, they'll find you and your guests, too.  20 to 30 feet is a safe distance to keep insects coming to your trap, but keep them away from the humans.

The second guideline is slightly less obvious.  Mosquitoes tend to fly upwind from their breeding areas to find meals (in this case, you and your friends).  They prefer to do this because after they've fed, their body weight is essentially doubled.  As you can imagine, hauling around a body that has recently doubled in size is no fun, so biting insects generally prefer to drift back to the nest with the wind.  This means that placing the trap upwind from the breeding area attracts insects looking for a meal, and offers them (they think) an easy trip home.

The last two items are have to do with a little basic science.  Placing the trap in an open area has to do with the fact that CO2 is heavier than air, so the CO2 plume the trap produces tends to stay close to the ground where things like tall grass, fences, or bushes can keep the attractant part of the trap from doing its job.  On the other end of the equation, choosing a shady area for trap placement has to do with the insects themselves.  Put simply, most biting insects don't like direct sunlight or the excessive direct heat it can produce, so bugs are more likely to investigate a trap placed in an area protected from those forces.

Results
Using the guidelines above, you can expect some significant changes.  Within 7 to 10 days of continuous use, you will see a noticeable reduction in the biting insect population.  And if you keep the trap operating in a well-chosen spot, in roughly 4 to 6 weeks you'll have caught the vast majority of the breeding females, meaning that the overall population will get much smaller and your catch rates will drop off considerably because there simply won't be nearly as many bugs around.  So do a little research, apply the guidelines above, and you'll realize some measurable results simply and conveniently.  If you still have questions, feel free to contact our friendly customer service personnel, or learn even more about trap placement by mail.  Once you have all of the information and know the layout of your target area, you're sure to find the perfect spot to place your Mosquito Magnet to maximize fun and minimize annoying pests.