5 Modern Technologies That Are Changing the Face of Pest Control

Nocturnal predators such as wolves and coyotes can cause significant damage to our properties, but few things are as traumatizing as the sudden sight of a roach on your kitchen floor during your midnight trips to the fridge. Whatever your pest enemies are, here’s a list of technologies that help us compensate for our awkward position on the food chain throne.

Predator Deterrent Lights

Predator lights are designed to scare away nocturnal animals that usually raid livestock areas, orchards, vineyards, trash bins and other property areas. Most of them are solar-powered and can be mounted on different surface areas using internal magnets or screws. The device works by random flashing patterns to scare away predators, providing a human solution to nocturnal predator raids.

Solar Powered Mole Repeller

Moles are oftentimes the primary culprit for damage to lawns and gardens. The ground-dwelling species feed on insects instead of plants, but create elaborate tunnels underground that can ruin your garden and allow other pests to access to your plants. An effective tool to keep them off your gardens is the solar repeller. The device scares critters away with an ultrasonic alarm sound undetectable to human ears. It uses solar energy to charge its batteries during the day and emits an infrared ray of light that detects motion anytime a mole crosses the beam at night.

Dynatrap

Pesky mosquitoes are summertime’s unwelcome guests. While most of them don’t carry diseases, they can get in the way of you enjoying your camping adventures or pool barbecues. Bug sprays or lotions can be effective but are filled with chemicals, and zappers can be noisy. Dynatrap is a technology-driven insect trap that protects against mosquitoes and other bugs such as wasps, moths, and biting flies. The device is affordable, chemical and pesticide free, and environmentally friendly. It uses UV light and carbon dioxide to mimic the presence of human beings and attract predatory insects. Its silent fan then vacuums the insects into a retaining cage where they dehydrate and die.

Electronic Pest Repeller

The Electronic pest repeller uses a powerful combination of electromagnetic, ultrasonic, and ionic technologies to safely and ecologically keep pests away from your home. A range of different products are available including roach killers, and others that cover a wide variety of pests including mice, spiders, ants, ticks, mosquitoes, even scorpions, bats and more. The products are designed to reach deep into walls, ceilings, baseboards, cabinets, floors, attics and many other places. This is useful since 90% of pests nest and breed within the walls.

Cold Fogger

A ULV fogger uses cold fogging techniques to control different types of insects and pests where hygiene is a concern such as schools, hotels, hospitals, canteens and greenhouses. They produce practically invisible fog using motors that produce low pressure air steam. A fogging solution is stored into a tank and get pumped into a nozzle that gives the air flow a swirling motion. Cold foggers can be used indoors and outdoors but tend to be a little more costly for personal use compared to thermal foggers.

Join the conversation with fellow UBC students and contribute your article here.