vaso@mips.COM (Vaso Bovan) (11/23/89)
This is about cockroaches, fleas, mice, and assorted pests founds on pets and in restaurants. There has been a lot of advertisement lately of "ultrasonic pest repellers." these are devices which emit ultrasonic sound which is supposed to annoy pests into leaving the pet/premises. My understanding is that these devices are outright frauds. Videos showing pests cowering in a corner of a glass box, as far away as they can get from an "ultrasonic pest repeller," neglect to state the power output of the sonic (ultrasonic ?) transducers. At some high level, they surely "work" in the sense of doing gross damage to hearing and other sensing mechanisms, but it was my impression that commercial devices sold as "pest repellers" have nowhere near the required power levels. I wrote a letter to Consumer Reports Magazine to complain about the promotion of these devices, and was surprised to get a letter back that "there was no evidence they do *not* work." It seems to me the U.S. army did extensive testing at least a decade ago and concluded the devices were useless. But I don't remember the reference. Does anyone know of the U.S. Army tests or other recent scientific tests on these devices ?
wcs) (11/25/89)
A friend of mine who's a dog breeder finds them very useful for dealing with fleas. They won't get rid of fleas already in the house, but they do cut down significantly on fleas entering the house. -- # Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs 4M312 Holmdel NJ 201-949-0705 api.att.com!wcs # We did it for the formlessness ...
vaso@mips.COM (Vaso Bovan) (11/26/89)
In article <6064@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> wcs@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (Bill Stewart 201-949-0705 ho95c.att.com!wcs) writes: >A friend of mine who's a dog breeder finds them very useful for >dealing with fleas. They won't get rid of fleas already in the >house, but they do cut down significantly on fleas entering the >house. >-- These things are most often advertised as "dog-breeder" or "veterinarian" tested, but there's never mention of reputable research. Did your friend do do some real testing, or does he simply supply anecdotal evidence ?
vernak@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM (Verna Knapp) (11/27/89)
In article <31929@buckaroo.mips.COM> vaso@mips.COM (Vaso Bovan) writes: >This is about cockroaches, fleas, mice, and assorted pests founds on pets >and in restaurants. > >There has been a lot of advertisement lately of "ultrasonic pest repellers." >these are devices which emit ultrasonic sound which is supposed to annoy >pests into leaving the pet/premises. > ...... >Does anyone know of the U.S. Army tests or other recent scientific tests on >these devices ? About 5 years ago the owners of 7 catteries (cat breeding establishments) banded together to buy a number of these devices at a discount. I bought 2 of them. Some establishments bought more. We all had the same results: The cats still had the same flea problems. No improvement there. The humans in the houses with these devices began to develop marital problems, etc. as a result of subtle increases in the irritability of the people. In short, everyone got a bit irritable and short tempered. We could not hear the devices consciously, but the irritability problem could be turned on or off by turning the devices on or off. It took us a while to catch on to what was going on, and if I had been the only person I knew with one I would have blamed the irritability on something else. This isn't a scientific test, of course, but I am sufficiently convinced of the results to feel obliged to issue this warning. Verna Knapp vernak@tekchips.labs.tek.com
ethan@ut-emx.UUCP (Ethan Tecumseh Vishniac) (11/28/89)
I have recently had some indirect exposure to these issues. My
wife was contacted by the Attorney General's office here in Texas
for her professional opinion on a related device. While discussing
the case with me she casually dropped the comment that ultrasonic
devices had been examined by the FTC and found to be ineffective.
I don't know any exact references, but I suspect that the FTC
would (provided I understood the comment correctly). The major
point was that while sufficiently high levels of ultrasonics would
bother many pests, it was relatively easy for them to shield themselves
in a variety of ways (mostly by getting something between them
and the source). The end result was that the commercially available
devices would not protect you against pests under realistic conditions.
--
I'm not afraid of dying Ethan Vishniac, Dept of Astronomy, Univ. of Texas
I just don't want to be {charm,ut-sally,emx,noao}!utastro!ethan
there when it happens. (arpanet) ethan@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU
- Woody Allen (bitnet) ethan%astro.as.utexas.edu@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
These must be my opinions. Who else would bother?gammb@b8.INGR.COM (Bob Gammage) (11/28/89)
In article <31929@buckaroo.mips.COM>, vaso@mips.COM (Vaso Bovan) writes: > This is about cockroaches, fleas, mice, and assorted pests founds on pets > and in restaurants. > > There has been a lot of advertisement lately of "ultrasonic pest repellers." > these are devices which emit ultrasonic sound which is supposed to annoy > pests into leaving the pet/premises. > I am unaware of any "US Army Testing" (which IMHO would be of dubious value), but wish to point out that other countries (like Japan; where pesticides were long-ago legislated out of use) use these things exclusively. Alas, there is a kicker! Ultrasonic emitters ARE very irritating to rodents and insects BUT..... only if they feature randomly waivering frequencies (very important). The el-cheapo models featured in so many ads, typically have a mono-tone output which the undesireables "grow accustomed to" and return to normal operations. The constantly changing frequency of the expensive units prevents the undesireables from adapting to it. They go away, and none come to take their place (as long as you're "playing that awful music!").
vaso@mips.COM (Vaso Bovan) (11/28/89)
In article <128@b8.INGR.COM> gammb@b8.INGR.COM (Bob Gammage) writes: >In article <31929@buckaroo.mips.COM>, vaso@mips.COM (Vaso Bovan) writes: >> This is about cockroaches, fleas, mice, and assorted pests founds on pets >> and in restaurants. >> >> There has been a lot of advertisement lately of "ultrasonic pest repellers." >> these are devices which emit ultrasonic sound which is supposed to annoy >> pests into leaving the pet/premises. >> > >I am unaware of any "US Army Testing" (which IMHO would be of dubious value), >but wish to point out that other countries (like Japan; where pesticides were >long-ago legislated out of use) use these things exclusively. Alas, there is >a kicker! ?? About two years ago, a Japanese television commercial for a roach insecticide won several international awards. >Ultrasonic emitters ARE very irritating to rodents and insects BUT..... >only if they feature randomly waivering frequencies (very important). The >el-cheapo models featured in so many ads, typically have a mono-tone output >which the undesireables "grow accustomed to" and return to normal operations. >The constantly changing frequency of the expensive units prevents the >undesireables from adapting to it. They go away, and none come to take their >place (as long as you're "playing that awful music!"). Evidence, please. There are many anecdotes, but so far, zero legitimate confirming studies.
edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) (11/28/89)
Please take alt.restaurants off the newsgroups list when making any further replies about this subject. Thanks. -- Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 Chantilly, Virginia
richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton) (11/29/89)
They only work in Europe because of the 50 Hz.
--
USENET: where the name goes on, before the quality goes in.
richard@gryphon.COM {routing site}!gryphon!richard dig@peritek.UUCP (Dave Gotwisner) (11/29/89)
In article <31929@buckaroo.mips.COM>, vaso@mips.COM (Vaso Bovan) writes: > There has been a lot of advertisement lately of "ultrasonic pest repellers." > these are devices which emit ultrasonic sound which is supposed to annoy > pests into leaving the pet/premises. > > My understanding is that these devices are outright frauds. > [stuff deleted] > > Does anyone know of the U.S. Army tests or other recent scientific tests on > these devices ? I don't know of any tests, but I got a cheap one about 5 years ago for about 10 - 15 dollars. My two cats are (and before I got the zapper, were) mostly indoor cats which get some outside time with my supervision. Before I got the zapper, I had a serious flea problem, having to spray the cats and bomb the apartment at least once every two weeks to keep it somewhat under control (ie., so I didn't get a lot of flea bites myself). After I got the zapper, I have only had to bomb the apartment once or twice (I don't remember, but I know I bombed it the day after I got the zapper, and am not sure if I ever had to after that), and sprayed my cats once (the day I got the zapper). I haven't found a flea in the apartment since then. Of course, it may have been that the flea population decided it didn't like the neighborhood anymore ;->, but I doubt it. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dave Gotwisner UUCP: ...!unisoft!peritek!dig Peritek Corporation ...!vsi1!peritek!dig 5550 Redwood Road Oakland, CA 94619 Phone: 1-415-531-6500
hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) (11/29/89)
In article <5123@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM> vernak@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM (Verna Knapp) writes: }About 5 years ago the owners of 7 catteries (cat breeding establishments) }banded together to buy a number of these devices at a discount. ... }The humans in the houses with these devices began to develop marital }problems, etc. as a result of subtle increases in the irritability of }the people. ... }... the irritability problem }could be turned on or off by turning the devices on or off. ... About 10 years ago my then SO tried to use one of these things to rid her apartment of fleas. Unfortunately, she used one that was designed for rodents. The fleas didn't mind it at all. I, on the other hand, couldn't stand to be in the apartment when it was running. My ears were 10 years younger then and it _hurt_ -- something like 140 decibels of high-pitched scream every five seconds. (Well, I _was_ born in the year of the rat. (-: ) Not only irritating, but potentially permanently damaging to your hearing. The irritating effect of ultrasonics has been known for a long time, BTW. I recall reading articles about it in "Popular Electronics" over 30 years ago. -- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com) Illegitimis non Citicorp(+)TTI Carborundum 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. (213) 452-9191, x2483 Santa Monica, CA 90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe