Mar
15
Filed Under (General) by Rob on 15-03-2008

A few months back, I left this post on the blog about mosquitoes and my friend Hugo left the following comment:

“Rob, you should try one of these amazingly satisfying mosquito electrocuting tennis raquets (you can buy them at Orca Deco)”

So I did as he said and went out and bought one. Here’s what it looks like:

mosquito-killing-racket.JPG

You plug it into the mains for a few hours, then the grille becomes electrified when you press a button on the handle. Then, any mozzies flying into its path (or into whose path you fly it) are instantly fried with 220v. Here’s one I killed earlier:

101_7551.JPG

I’m not sure it would pass health & safety standards back home. You’d only have to catch your leg, right ear or left hand with the racket to get a nasty shock. Still there is a warning on the racket not to touch this part, and it is only activated when you are pressing a little button. That said, I certainly keep it out of my kids’ reach!

It’s a fun (if mildly sadistic) way to kill mosquitoes, and is preferable to other methods, which include:

(i) The aerosol spray – kills ’em alright, but probably kills you slowly too! Nightmare if you suffer from asthma, I can tell you.
(ii) The ‘wall whack’. Spot a mozzie on the wall. Get your hand close and then…SPLAT! Success rate approx. 65%. The rest of the time they see you coming and leg it (wing it?!)
(iii) The hand clap – fun but tricky. Success rate 20%, but rewarding when it works. The more adept can even try the single handed squash using the fingers of the same hand against the palm. Once I was in a church clapping along to some syncopated rhythm (as you do) and – by chance – an unfortunate mozzie flew between my hands at the precise moment they clapped together. And I wasn’t even trying to squash it!
(iv) The smoking coils
moscoil.gif
– they may repel mosquitoes, but the quantity of carcinogens emitted could seriously damage your health. This report (as well as this one) suggests that burning one all night could equate to having over 100 people smoking in your bedroom!!

So, I’ll stick to my new, non-polluting, fun mozzie-killer – it even gives off a satisfying ‘CRACK’ and a blue spark each time you kill one! I did try it on the cockroaches in the back yard, but it was not especially successful (unless you beat them with the rim…)

101b7500.JPG

PS Here’s another blogger’s take on the racket (just in case I’ve not given you enough links yet).

PPS ‘Orca Deco’ is a great shop for lots of household stuff. Well worth a visit if you’re in Cotonou. Here’s where to find it on Google Earth/GPS: 6º22’31.40″N 2º25’22.60″E.



Comments:
3 Comments posted on "Most satisfying indeed!"
Hugo van Tilborg on March 15th, 2008 at 12:14 pm #

Yeah! now we can have mosquito killing contests 🙂


Will on March 15th, 2008 at 9:57 pm #

I have one of those, it is really fun. It would pass Health and Safety probably, because they sell them at Wal-Mart here!

-Will “The Cool Person” Hussar


Mark on March 17th, 2008 at 3:29 pm #

I never quite managed to get the single-handed squish to work – however hard I tried to squish, the mozzie would just fly away as soon as I opened my hand!

Zapping is definitely the way forward – the “zzzz” and white spark are most satisfying.