Do Bug Zappers Work? Q. I believed I read somewhere that bug zappers don’t really work. My neighbor’s zapper is driving me loopy with that ZZZZT noise all night. I’d like to indicate him proof that each one he’s doing is annoying his neighbor. A. Yes, there is some scientific information on the usefulness of bug zappers, however first we'd like to differentiate between the bug zappers that homeowners use in their yards to (hopefully) kill mosquitoes, and the commercial insect light traps that pest management professionals use largely in restaurants, food plants, and warehouses. These costly business traps are used primarily to kill house flies they usually do work. The relatively cheap yard bug zappers kill loads of flying insects, simply not mosquitoes. Bug zappers use ultraviolet light to draw mosquitoes to a steel grid where they're electrocuted or "zapped." Folks that own these traps swear by them. They point to the piles of lifeless insects that they empty out of the entice each morning. And people insects do appear like mosquitoes. But principally they're midges, harmless fliers that do not bite and are considered beneficial. Bug zappers actually appeal to and kill very few mosquitoes. Instead, the ultraviolet mild draws hordes of insects into the yard that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Yard zappers have by no means fared very nicely in research assessments. One study found that 89% of the zapped insects have been midges