Like bloodhounds, biting insects have poor eyesight but a keen sense of smell. The Mosquito ‘Cognito takes advantage of their poor eyesight and turns their sense of smell against them. They can smell you from 100 feet away, but they cannot see a person-sized object until they are 30 feet away. The Mosquito ‘Cognito releases a scent with Conceal, a special inhibitor. Conceal binds to the insect’s olfactory receptors and blocks their ability to smell people and animals. Mosquito ‘Cognito reduces mosquito landings on people and animals by about 80-85% when used properly.

A repellent smells bad to a mosquito, so they avoid it. DEET and Citronella are repellents. Unfortunately, you have to cover all of your exposed skin with a repellent for full protection – and reapply the repellent often. Some scientists are have concerns about the effects of DEET on the health of humans and animals, especially small children.
An inhibitor is different. It shuts down the mosquito’s sense of smell. A mosquito with a nose-full of Conceal will not go elsewhere to find another victim because it doesn’t know where to go. If they cannot track your scent, they cannot get close enough to see you. If they cannot see you, they cannot bite you.

Mosquito ‘Cognito works best on your deck, pool or patio near your home. First, the yard usually separates the house from the prime mosquito habitat such as woods or standing water. In addition, the house acts as a barrier so mosquitoes can’t come at you from every direction. Finally, by placing Mosquito ‘Cognito on the edge of the deck or patio, its Conceal inhibitor mixes with and helps mask the scent of people no matter which way the wind is blowing. More than one Mosquito ‘Cognito device is needed for large groups of people. As a rule of thumb, start with one for every five adults.
When boating or camping, the Mosquito ‘Cognito works best inside your boat, tent or RV to keep mosquitoes out. At the University of Florida Vero Beach field laboratory, the Mosquito ‘Cognito inhibitor reduced mosquito landings on male and female subjects from 12 per hour (one every 5 minutes) to 3 per hour (one every 20 minutes).

The backyard mosquito control method Americans use most is sprays and foggers – arguably the most expensive, ineffective and environmentally harmful thing to do. Sprays are expensive. They are effective for only 2 to 4 hours, then the mosquitoes are back. Sprays are indiscriminate. They kill every insect that they touch: ladybug, butterfly, praying mantis, earthworm – everything. Worst of all, the mosquitoes that survive come back stronger than ever. In as little as 6 generations (two months under ideal conditions) mosquitoes can build up immunity to a pesticide.
If you rely on pesticide sprays and foggers, you will need more and more of them to do the job, and you will have to use them more and more often. The best way to make pesticides effective is to minimize their use. Make them your last choice, not your first choice.

Citronella candles and smoking coils repel mosquitoes, but you must stay in the smoky plume to be protected. The smoking coils contain pesticides.
Dr. Robert Novak of the University of Illinois tested Citronella candles and reported that when smoke covered a human test subject’s shin, the mosquitoes flew around the subject’s leg and bit them on the calf.

No. Use a repellent such as DEET when you are moving within visual or thermal range (about 30 feet) of mosquito habitat such as woods, swamps, marshes or the shoreline.

The active ingredient in the Mosquito ‘Cognito inhibitor, Conceal, is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved food additive. However, U.S. regulations define a pesticide as “any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, repelling, or mitigating any pest.” Conceal is therefore registered as a pesticide with the EPA.
The Conceal inhibitor molecule is found in the essential oils of plants. It is widely used as a food flavoring and in 80% of the carrier oils for perfume and cologne.

It is important to position BioSensory products properly. Place the Mosquito ‘Cognito inhibitor near the people you want to protect.

The Rhino Power 20 oz CO2 should be replaced after every 7 nights of monitoring.

Rhino Power can either be purchased from any Lowe’s, Wal-Mart or sporting goods stores that sell paint ball equipment.

All of the research indicates infestations in their early stages are centered around the sleeping area (generally the headboard, pillow, nightstand area) wherever the person normally places their head. Bedbugs are attracted to the CO2 we exhale.
NightWatch Bedbug Monitors should be placed by the headboard, couch, lounge chairs, futons or wherever people are normally sleeping.

Normally, Low CO2 warning signals that you have about one day left of monitoring, but in this case, it indicates that the CO2 bottle has not been tightened enough in the valve. You need to turn the bottle clockwise (to the right) a little more to secure the valve connection.

Remove pitfalls on either side of NightWatch using finger holds, lift vertically. Dispose of bedbugs.
Insecticides repel bedbugs. Never allow the NightWatch to become contaminated with insecticide residue. Wash off with soap and water using a damp cloth or sponge. Do not immerse in water.

It seems likely that the infestation was larger than anticipated, and eggs have hatched producing more bedbugs and tiny nymphs.
Install NightWatch Bedbug Monitor(s) near the sleeping area(s). NightWatch will attract even the smallest first instar bedbug because they all have to feed on blood to grow. If bedbugs are detected again, contact your professional pest management company. They can perform even more intensive physical inspections, apply additional treatments (chemical, steam, heat, cold) to areas of concern and continue to monitor for an additional 7 to 14 days.

No. There is no need to place anything in the pitfall traps. Once bedbugs have fallen into the traps, they cannot climb up the smooth surface to get out. Never contaminate NightWatch with insecticide residue, which is repellent.

Yes. NightWatch can be placed directly on carpeted surfaces. The warmth from the thermal lure would be similar to a pet lying on the carpet at night.

Yes. You can sleep in the same room while NightWatch is operating. The NightWatch emits the CO2 of a child or large household pet. NightWatch attracts bedbugs even if a person is in the same room. Bedbugs will track to what they believe to be the closest host. In this case it could be NightWatch or a person. We recommend isolating the bed from bedbugs with bedpost barriers, treating the bed frame and mattress, and taking care that bed linens do not touch the floor. See NightWatch Operating Manual.

Attach the Rhino Power CO2 bottle by holding NightWatch upside down and twisting bottle tightly into the valve. Turn NightWatch over, place it near the sleeping area, plug in power cord. Red lights will flash. Enter the time of day, making sure you focus on AM or PM. NightWatch will turn itself on automatically at 10:00 pm and shut off at 6:00 AM. Check pitfall traps every morning for presence of bedbugs. See NightWatch Operating Manual.

All bedbugs go through 5 immature stages between an egg and adulthood. Immature bedbugs are called nymphs. To go from one stage to another, the immature bedbug must take a blood meal. Then, in 7 to 10 days, depending on temperature and humidity, the nymph molts, shedding its exoskeleton and emerging in a larger, more mature stage of development. This process is repeated until the bedbug is an adult.

Adult bedbugs often take blood meals every 7 to 10 days or less, depending on temperature and humidity. Bedbugs feed for 10 minutes or more, so it is safer to attack when you’re sleeping most soundly.

50% of people do not react to bedbug bites, so there is no visible welt or bite mark. Bedbugs defecate while feeding or immediately afterward, so reddish brown stains on pajamas or bed linens are a clue.

Because bedbugs feed sporadically, continuous monitoring for a minimum of one week and preferably for two weeks is necessary to detect new or light infestations. New infestations may result from “hitch hikers” carried in travelers’ luggage, or foraging bedbugs from an adjacent unoccupied apartment seeking a replacement blood-host. Light infestations are those in which a few, newly arrived bedbugs have begun to feed, but have not yet reproduced in large numbers.

In between blood meals bedbugs congregate in refuges which they mark with an aggregation pheromone. Bedbugs return to the refuge between blood meals. Refuges provide shelter and mating opportunities, and a place to lay eggs. Females lay about 3 eggs per day, and up to 200 eggs in their lifetime, so populations expand rapidly when food and shelter are available.
Narrow crevices in solid structures, such as the joints in the bed’s headboard or between the wall and the base board, for example, are the bedbugs’ refuge of choice. Rick Cooper, an expert in the field, notes that by the time bedbugs are found in the soft mattress ticking, they have already infested the headboard, night stand, and adjacent wall.

Males in the insect world often make adaptations to insure that their sperm wins the competition to fertilize the female, and not that of other males mating with the female afterward. A mating-plug, for example, which prevents other sperm from reaching the females’ eggs, is a common strategy. Although male and female bedbugs are physiologically equipped to mate “normally”, they practice traumatic insemination.
Traumatic insemination, also known as hypodermic insemination, is the mating practice in which the male pierces the female’s abdomen with his penis and injects his sperm through the wound into her abdominal cavity. The sperm diffuse through the female reaching the ovaries and resulting in fertilization.
The evolutionary origins of traumatic insemination are disputed. Suggested reasons for its development include as a new mechanism in the sperm competition, as a counter-adaptation to the mating plug, or as a way to overcome female resistance to being mated.
Bedbugs, which reproduce solely by traumatic insemination, have evolved a pair of sperm-receptacles, known as the spermalege. The spermalege reduce the damage to the female bedbug during traumatic insemination.

Traumatic insemination is detrimental to the female’s health. It creates an open wound which impairs the female until it heals and is susceptible to infection. The injection of sperm and ejaculatory fluids can also trigger an immune reaction in the female.
Traumatic insemination may be the reason female bedbugs leave an established refuge to find a solitary one some distance away.”]
Traumatic insemination is detrimental to the female’s health. It creates an open wound which impairs the female until it heals and is susceptible to infection. The injection of sperm and ejaculatory fluids can also trigger an immune reaction in the female.
Traumatic insemination may be the reason female bedbugs leave an established refuge to find a solitary one some distance away.

When a dwelling is no longer occupied, bedbugs can go without blood meals for extended periods of time, again depending on temperature and humidity. Bedbugs begin to forage for blood meals if they have not fed in two weeks. In a multi family dwelling, they may move from one apartment to another, for example.

Bedbugs have been known to survive for two to six months without a blood meal. Survival is extended in high humidity, and shortened in low humidity. Unfed bedbugs are not active in the absence of a blood-host, but reactivate in the presence of a blood-host, making it necessary to monitor for several days in an unoccupied – but previously infested – dwelling.

Imagine that two bedbugs come home with you in your luggage. In the first week to ten days, you’ll be bitten twice. You may not have a reaction to the bites (50% of people don’t), but lets assume you do. You have two bites which look like a small pimple. You ignore them.
Two weeks pass. The female has laid over 40 eggs. Now the first nymphs, as small as the head of a pin, hatch and bite. You are being bitten about once every other day. You still don’t notice.
Two more weeks pass. Now you’re bitten every day, perhaps two or three times. It looks like a rash or chaffing. You probably ignore it.
Two more weeks pass. The population of bedbugs is about 100 and you’re bitten multiple times per night. Bedbugs have established multiple refuge sites and may have moved elsewhere in the bedroom or to other rooms.
At some point in the coming weeks you’ll recognize the infestation, probably because you see an insect in a sleeping area or in a sitting area.