Red light and pests

[Fuchshp]

What's your experience, does red light attract pests or not?

 

[hsa]

Not as bad as white light but it still does.

 

[Fuchshp]

Too bad. Blue light maybe?

 

[greatscoot]

Amber.

 

[Fuchshp]

Amber is better than red?

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Blue light attracts insects

 

[Dave_H]

Bug lights are typically yellow, have not tried it myself but have a couple. Nothing more than a few mosquitos around here at the moment.

Dave

 

[Dave_H]

Some of these "bug zappers" use UV (or could be visible violet) light to attract bugs before zapping them. So that might work as a diversion.

Dave

 

[Stefano]

It is said that red light does not attract insects but this may only be true for certain types of insects. It's probably as user hsa says in post number #2.
On youtube I read some comments from Russian fishermen who say that mosquitoes still come with red light.
My experience is only with the red light of Fenix HM61R, some moths approach but then go away little interested.
I still have no experience with mosquitoes but from what I have read on the web there are recent studies confirming that they are attracted to red light.

 

[Lumen83]

Red light does seem to attract insects less than white or blue light. I've heard that amber attracts them the least but have no experience with it. Those blue light mosquito zappers are great for killing moths, if you have a reason to kill moths. But mosquitos are attracted to the carbon dioxide that you expel when you exhale. So keep in mind that if its mosquitos or other blood sucking insects you want to thwart, its pretty futile to use a different color LED. They're coming for you if you are breathing, whether or not the sunshine in your pocket is amber tinted or plain old white.

 

[Stefano]

Exactly, but it seems that the color red increases attraction.

Mosquitoes see red, which may be why they find us so appealing

Mosquitoes not only see colors, but also prefer certain ones, such as the hues of human skin.

www.sciencenewsforstudents.org

There are conflicting opinions, today I read some comments on a Russian review of Fenix HM61R where some say that on the boat the 5 lumens red_light attract less insects than 5 white_lumens.
This summer I'm curious to see if this is true.

 

[chillinn]

If you shine a red light on a hunting mosquito, it will try to avoid the red light just as if it were white light, but the advantage of red light is it actually helps me see the mosquitos better. Mosquitos are not attracted to light, they avoid it; they prefer darkness. Regardless of what mosquitos can see, mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide humans and other animals emit. They also use their receptors and vision to pick up on other cues like body heat, perspiration and skin odor to find a potential host, which is why the traps use CO2 drips with pheromones to attract and trap mosquitos.

Light has nothing to do with mosquitos. Those yellow bug lights attract less moths, and bug zappers just kill moths, little else, completely worthless invention, should be banned.

Mosquito repellent works well. Also the CO2 + pheromone traps work incredibly well, protecting a certain area around the trap which mosquito find irresistible

Forgot to mention, some moths do seem interested in red light. Most insects can't see that far into the spectrum though, mostly just mosquitos and moths.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

We are experiencing heart-breaking drought. One spring we planted some blue gramma and buffalo grass for a small lawn. The moths came in from far and wide for moisture. A friend gave us a small battery powered bug zapper. The only application I see is using it to attract night-bugs to an area that is away from the spot people want to use. From what I can see, the moths are too big to enter the kill-zone of the zapper. Son found out the fly zapping tennis racket is not very effective for most any bugs.

38 seconds

 

[chillinn]

That's probably by the design of that particular zapper. The most common ones you see hanging in back yards decimate populations.

It's unfortunate and sounds inconvenient that there was some kind of moth event on your lawn. But whomever put your lawn there may have put it in the wrong place, so I hope no one would blame the moths. I don't want to offend anyone, so I'll just briefly say humans have obliterated insects, and they're in massive, massive decline, and that's the bottom of the food chain, everything relies on them, so if we care about life, if we care at all about the complex web of diversity we really are losing on Earth, we'll find a way to let them (and any other creature not invading/infesting home) live out their short lives naturally.

I think you have the right idea trying to attract them away, nice idea, and nice camera work, but you could have added a little Hitchcock (how did you resist?). Moths are way, way cooler than flies and beautiful in their way.

 

[Olumin]

See, the thing about arthropods is that they seem to be the only lifeforms on this planet who haven't gotten the memo that you don't invade humans' homes. If they just stayed outside I wouldn't have a problem with them, but as it stands:

 

[chillinn]

I catch as many as I can in a jar and walk them to the outskirts of my yard where they get tossed over the fence to the vacant lot next door. The ones I can't safely capture (noseeums) get the vacuum, but same thing, over the fence. There was a moth nursery here when I moved in. Hasn't been a problem since when they emerge, I easily catch them and release outside, and they stick around the area but don't come back inside. But I haven't seen a moth in here in a while. Mostly noseeums, flies, rollipollies, I call penny bugs crustaceans irl, I get cricket nymphs in the utility room and a lot of various species of spiders, wolf and other neat little spiders, Spiders go in the bush outside the window, idky I drop them in there.

For awhile there were a lot of bugs in here after I moved in in Spring 2018, but over time, less and less, My mom got bit by an assassin bug. Only saw that one. Last I saw him, he was going over the fence.

Hope not OT, but earlier today driving to grocer, on the way out of rural area a tree frog dropped on my windshield just at my visor. I was so surprised, and I could have grabbed it, but too slow to react. It turned around facing the back, crawled on its belly up to the roof and was blown off or jumped. I grew up in FL, remember lots of tree frogs, living there recently, rarely see them, I haven't ever seen a tree frog in VA, but I hear them in little pockets here and there.

I also stop for turtles and quickly help them off the road a few times a year.

I'm not proud of any of this behavior. I just don't want responsibility. The Universe has rules, and I don't want even the slightest bit of the business end of the Universe's rules if I can avoid it.

 

[Olumin]

Ive read something years ago about scientists having modified a mosquitoes genome that once introduced would cause each successive generation to produce proportionally more males, until their numbers would eventually stagnate. They didn't want to use it because "the impact on the ecosystem would be unpredictable". I predict there would be a million less deaths from malaria each year. Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal on the planet, with some speculating that malaria could have accounted for up to half of all human deaths throughout history.

 

[Monocrom]

Red light does seem to attract insects less than white or blue light. I've heard that amber attracts them the least but have no experience with it. Those blue light mosquito zappers are great for killing moths, if you have a reason to kill moths. But mosquitos are attracted to the carbon dioxide that you expel when you exhale. So keep in mind that if its mosquitos or other blood sucking insects you want to thwart, its pretty futile to use a different color LED. They're coming for you if you are breathing, whether or not the sunshine in your pocket is amber tinted or plain old white.

Nowadays, everyone owns a mask. Not breathing out carbon dioxide should keep most of them away.

 

[RWT1405]

Exactly, but it seems that the color red increases attraction.

Mosquitoes see red, which may be why they find us so appealing

Mosquitoes not only see colors, but also prefer certain ones, such as the hues of human skin.

www.sciencenewsforstudents.org

There are conflicting opinions, today I read some comments on a Russian review of Fenix HM61R where some say that on the boat the 5 lumens red_light attract less insects than 5 white_lumens.
This summer I'm curious to see if this is true.

Did anyone else notice the date on that article?

 

[alpg88]

It depends on insects, but in my experience any light attracts them.