General Question

Drgrafenbergmd's avatar

Will a cattle prod kill the mosquito larvae in my standing water?

Asked by Drgrafenbergmd (390points) February 9th, 2010

If I purchased a cattle prod and zapped my standing pools of water, assuming there were larvae in the water, would the larvae die?

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14 Answers

Snarp's avatar

Probably not, but a little chlorine will. There are some other products for the purpose as well, I believe.

Adagio's avatar

What an interesting question ;)

lilikoi's avatar

Not sure. It is possible that other things in the pool would be killed along with or perhaps instead of the larvae, though – something to consider.

Is it possible to get rid of the standing pool of water? If so, that is the best way. Not sure how big of a pool we are talking about here.

If not, you could introduce fish that eat mosquito larvae to the pools.

I’ve also heard that pouring cooking oil into a pool of water and letting it cover the surface of the water will keep air out of the pool eventually suffocating the larvae.

Val123's avatar

Uh….wouldn’t you be a bit worried about getting yourself shocked?

njnyjobs's avatar

Use Bt bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis)

Mosquito Bits and Mosquito Dunks are 2 brands that I have used. These EPA-approved, all-natural products kill mosquito larvae in the water. B.t.i. is harmless to people, fish, birds, pets, and other animals, but deadly to mosquito larvae that eat the larvicide and are dead within 24 hours. These products are effective even after repeated wetting and drying.

SomNinja's avatar

You’re better off plugging in a big long extension cord to the mains and chucking a radio into it.

If you die then this comment wasn’t from me.

Jeruba's avatar

If you try it, pleeeeze come back and tell us if it worked.

I can’t wait till the next time somebody asks “What other uses are there for my cattle prod?”

Drgrafenbergmd's avatar

In thinking of developing a crank charge mosquito killer if it works. Malaria in Africa is aweful.

Trillian's avatar

How cool that you even have a cattle prod. Where would one go about purchasing such an item?

Drgrafenbergmd's avatar

@Trillian any livestock product company,

Update: I have called many of these companies and found that the cattle prods run on a twelve volt battery. I will soon attempt to measure the amount of electricity that runs across the surface of the water, hopefully it will kill the larvae in the stagnant water.

bea2345's avatar

@Trillian -Pour a little mineral oil on the water, enough to leave a thin coating on its surface. This will kill mosquito larvae.
@Drgrafenbergmdcrank charge mosquito killer: there is a product looking like a tennis racket; the strings are electrified with a battery, and one swats the insects. It does not sound very efficient, but children will enjoy playing with it.

Trillian's avatar

@bea2345 Thank you. I don’t have any standing water. I was asking about the cattle prob because I had a completely unrelated thought about what I could do with one…

Val123's avatar

@bea2345 We got one of those as a gag gift one. Had a LOT of fun whapping each other! You feel like you’re really going to get a shock, and you’re going through all kids of contortions to avoid it…but in the end you can’t even feel it.

jazmina88's avatar

get the mosquito dunks…....
My drummer got cattle prodded out of a bar on halloween

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