I currently have four traps in operational order. Two at one of my AOIs and two in backyard that were prototypes that I've left up because they seem to be performing admirably. I My traps have been up for about a week, the prototypes were deployed a day before the other two, and I haven't seen any mosquitos or mosquito larvae. I did take care to note that I used dog food in my trap, specifically the dry kibble variant instead of ones that come in chunks or are wet. I choose dog food over decomposed plant-based organic material because I noticed that the few times I've accidentally dropped a piece of kibble or two, the piece slowly inflates as it becomes saturated with water, then quickly begins to disintegrate and create a thin layer of organic material over the surface of the water bowl. This property is of special note because it means that there's less time for a bird, squirrel, etc. to take my bait from the trap.
I checked back in on my prototype traps fairly soon after I deployed them, about two to three days after, and sure enough, my layer of gunk had developed quite nicely. However, upon inspection of the two traps, I found that each one has become a watery grave for a singular ant. I thought that this was a peculiar occurrence but shrugged it off figuring it was a fluke, especially since I knew that ants were in the area and likely had became accustomed to the presence of dog food/dogs in some form. When I checked my deployed traps at one of my AOIs, I noticed that the one I had placed in taller grass, also became a grave for a large ant and two other smaller ones while the one placed under a tree had only a very small flying insect.
If I've learned anything, it's that if something keeps happening, there's something else at play. Upon a quick Google search of, "are ants attracted to dog food," a few articles pointed out that because of dog food tending to be aromatic, meaning that it has distinctive scent, it easily attracts ants. However, I know that ants are quite capable of using scent markers to note where food is, where there isn't, where other ants have been, and where there's danger. I'm hoping that by having an ant die in 75% of my active traps, it leaves a similar scent marker to warn other ants to avoid the trap. I'm also hoping that this decreases the competition in the trap giving ample room for mosquitos to breed and lay eggs.
Fingers crossed that this works!
About the author: James E, is a high school student in Austin, Texas, an Amateur Radio Operator (KI5UXW) and Former Kerbal Space Program Mod Developer. His virtual internship is part of a collaboration between the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and the NASA Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC) to extend the TSGC Summer Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) internship for US high school (http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/sees-internship/). James shared his experience this summer in this blog post.
