Electronic pest control (1 Viewer)

[Darren_N]

Hello all,

Has anyone here used those electronic pest control devices, such as Pest OFFense, that supposedly drive off pests from your house? In a moment of boredom, my wife ordered one. I am skeptical and would like to send it back. I just can't see how a device that uses ultrasound or the wiring in your home can do this. Do they really work? We can't really test it right now since it is the middle of winter and there are no bugs to be found. Thanks.

Regards,

Darren

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Trust me - it's a big waste of money. I'm also a certified Pest Control Operator

 

[Ryan Wright]

I'm pretty sure they're garbage. A lady I work with had one. She watched a spider walk right past it while it was operating as if it wasn't even there. She let me borrow it - we plugged it in and we could actually HEAR the thing. Within just a couple of minutes both my wife and I were on our way to major headaches. We unplugged it and gave it back to her.

 

[BrianW]

Some TV news magazine (either Dateline, 20/20 - I don't remember) did a segment on these devices a few years ago and revealed them to be worthless.

 

[Jay H]

Of course, spiders don't have ears and don't hear as far as I know. They do have way-sensitive touch and stuff but I don't see how anything ultrasonic is going to affect them. I meam, my tarantulas are in the same room as me and I listen to music and have a PC in the same room, they don't cower in fear from anything, including flourescent light ballasts and other things that tend to emit some high freq sounds...

Jay

 

[MickeS]

I bought a pack of these (don't remember the brand) at Costco for $20 or something when we moved into our house in August. At the time there was a lot of small bugs (flies, spiders, beetles) in the house b/c of construction workers having the doors open, so I decided to give them a shot. I plugged in all 4 that came in the pack, and I haven't seen any bugs since about 2 weeks after that. No wait, I caught a tiny, tiny spider in the shower about 2 months ago.
I have NO CLUE if these things work or if the bugs decided to leave on their own, however since I have no bugs I might as well keep the damn things plugged in. If I get bug trouble, I know they don't work, and I'll call an exterminator.
Oh, and our units can't be heard by us or by our three cats.
/Mike

 

[MickeS]

Well, if the spider isn't venomous, the spiders will probably help you catch other bugs, so you might as well keep them around. Of course, I hate the sight of spiders, so I kill 'em as soon as I see 'em (I'm not good at taking my own advice).
/Mike

 

[Jay H]

MickeS, you better not let my pet tarantulas hear that, they're liable to go and hunt you down (ala Terminator style)...

Speaking of tarantulas, I need to setup a larger cage, they're getting kind of big for the 5 gallon fishtanks I have them in....

Jay