I know some of you have companions who live outdoors much of the time and that means biting flies, or tabanids to be specific. Those living on farms or those living near wetlands will be even more affected and since it's that time of the year again, I thought I would post about my continued experience with a particular trap, commonly called the Nzi trap.
As a short history, these were developed to help trap tsetse flies for research and they have been found to be quite effective on the entire tabanid family of biting flies.
My own experience with these does not go back many years, but I've been using them and I find them to be very effective and over time, probably the most cost-effective control I've found.
Very few non-target insects make their way into the traps, making them have very little collateral damage to non-tabanids.
They exploit behaviors of tabanids, making them highly effective without needing baits or poisons.
A well made trap will last many years and works passively, only requiring the jar of dead flies to be emptied as it fills up (which can be surprisingly fast).
This paper describes a simple plywood trap. This is what I have the most experience with; if you follow the directions, especially in regard to the blue color, it will perform well.
Practical Information on making and using Nzi Traps for catching biting flies
Performance of the Nzi and other traps for biting flies in North America
The development of a multipurpose trap (the Nzi) for tsetse and other biting flies
If you go to ResearchGate.net and search for Nzi trap, you will find numerous papers on these.
That said, has anyone else had any experience with these, the greenie box traps, Manitoba traps, or other designs? I would greatly love to hear your opinions.
but i am attracted to flies this needs to stop rn
Hey buddy! Can I repost this tto my forum? You'll be given credit in the post.
silverwolf
Give credit to Steve Mihok, it's largely his work, I'm just sharing my experience with it.
Will do, and thanks. Drop by the forum sometime if you'd like: http://www.zoowg.net/ You'd be a credit to it. I've missed your posts on ZF.
silverwolf
you dont even know. you dont even freaking know.
I do know. Having lived near the Rhine for years, I probably know any goddamn bloodsucking insect on this planet and how it feels getting stung/bitten by them. My first riding club was located in a former swampy little valley, there were lots of what we Germans call "Pferdebremse" (literally: "horse brake" because any horse immediately stops from galloping and tries to kick or bite off these pests). I got bitten by them, too...and boy, these are the only animals I immediately kill on first sight. One bite was on top of my shoulder...and I looked like Quasimodo himself for fuckin´ 4 weeks, with a huge swelling sitting right on top of my shoulder like a friggin pirate´s parrot. Another of these bastards managed to bite me in the knee area, through a mfin´ sewing hole in the leather all riding pants usually have to provide more grip in the saddle. I literally had a leg with two knees after that...for another 3 weeks...
The private stables I moved my mare to were located in an agricultural landscape; lots of fields and wineyards...and from march to june, fuckin´ asparagus fields. I was usually walking along these fileds with my mare and was confronted with insects I had never seen before...almost entirely transparent, huge and stubborn bastards of horseflies...they wouldn´t fly away even when you hit them while they suck blood from your horse. Luckily, my own farm lies in an area that isn´t overrun with these vampires, even in midsummer evenings, I can let my ladies graze outside without too much "protection gear"...but there are some strawberry fields (bees and wasps) and fuckin´ asparagus ones close to some of my pastures. I can highly recommend to invest in genuine anti insect blankets, for my Hannover mare, I had something that would absolutely qualify as a "full suit": a white net blanket with a detachable neck cover made of the same material and a mask that perfectly completed the anti insect shield...she looked funny wearing this and I used to call her my "Batmare", especially from the front, slight resemblances of Bruce Wanye´s Alter Ego were undeniable...;) This anti insect full suit that covers almost the entire horse except the legs is available from Escadron, costs about 100 - 120 Euros, depending on the size and is absolutely worth it.
I can only contribute the following to the topic: I don´t see how a few fly traps, as effective as they might be, can have a significant effect on clearing out pastures. For each insect that dies in such a trap, one hundered other biting bastards are on their way towards your animal. I´d rather search for a good fly repellant and decent anti insect blankets and masks. If you can afford it, try quality stuff, you´ll not regret it...I am still in possession of my very first anti insect blanket, there´s a brand that is called "Rambo Rug", usually they produce horse blankets for the winter season, but with my first blanket set I bought for my mare (for nearly 300 Deutsche Mark back then), an additional fly blanket was added for free...my mare rolled around on the pasture with it, she wore it for at least ten summers and not a single hole in the entire blanket.
Repellants are important, too...luckily, I had access to a very special repellant called "Bremsenfrei plus", a smelly, oily brown liquid stinking like "latrinae Diaboli"...it was disgusting, but it worked really well. It worked so well I sprayed it on myself although the label was saying "Don´t use it on your skin and wash away any accidental spillage immediately"...don´t knwo what exactly was in this stuff, but it got pulled from the German market for some years and is now available again, but definitely not the same recipe as before its ban. What too might help with the insect problem is planting certain crops the insects don´t like nearby...tomatoes keep off normal flies and mosquitoes, garlic also is known for keeping off flying pests. Cleanliness is also a huge factor..if you let the horse manure lie out there for days, the annoying little bastards will spawn as quickly as the monsters in the videogame "Gauntlet"...keep your pastures tidy and you´ll definitely reduce their numbers. What also might be helpful is knowing what the flying pests are attracted to: the smell of manure, blood and sweat. Showering your horses frequently can help, or a special diet, additional nutrition that changes the smell of the horse slightly, but enough to disappear from the insects´ radar. I seldom get stung when I´m high as fuck...the repellant effect multiplies even more when I ingest my weed in cookies or muffins instead of just smoking it. (Disclaimer: This isn´t an encouragement to feed your animals cannabis...;) )
Simple garlic and mint oil is easy and cheap to make yourself: just take sunflower oil, add a few bits of fresh garlic and some drops of mint oil, let it alone for one week, get the garlic bits out and use it like any other repellant. It won´t get your horse through a midsummer evening , but this DIY mixture is working pretty fine in spring time, when the insects are not that aggressive and still smaller in numbers.
When I built the first trap I was living in a swamp and deerflies (greenheads) were very populous and extremely irritating. One trap centrally placed kept an area of about 8-10 acres mostly tabanid-free. Sure new ones come in, see the trap and enter it, rarely lasting long enough to become a nuissance.
Repellents largely don't work on tabanids, they are visual hunters and are not effectively deterred by repellents. It would be a whole lot easier if they were.
Again, these types of repellents are not effective against tabanids. They may help keep Musca, Diptera, and various gnats away, but not so much with tabanids; largely due to them being active sight-oriented hunters.
I have actually never considered insect traps. I usually just put fly masks on my horses during the worst part of the year, but then, insects are not a very huge problem in this part of the world. I have considered getting some fly blankets but never got around to do it.
Lucky you, here they are so bad that if not controlled they will make open sores on the outdoor animals that will not heal for the entire summer because the flies keep picking at the wounds for more blood.
Unchecked, it's typical to have a few harassing you anytime you go out the door and they do not relent, the only escape is indoors.