[Hidden-tech] Home exterminators

[Roger Williams]

In 2003, the FTC required the marketer of Pest-A-Cator devices to discontinue any claims for their efficacy until they are backed by credible scientific evidence. As they have so far provided no such evidence, the ban continues to be in effect. http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2003/07/marketer-pest-control-devices-required-provide-support-claims

-- 
Roger Williams <roger at qux.com>
Chief Technical Officer, Qux Corporation
245 Russell Street, Hadley, MA 01035, USA
Tel +1 508 287-1420 * Fax +1 508 302-0230

On 7 Nov 2014, at 13:29, Tim Boudreau <niftiness at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> Reading the FAQ for this pest a cator thing, which sounds too good to be true shows that it is:
> 
> "It works with the electrical wiring in your home. The electrical wiring inside your home already has an existing field surrounding it. When PEST A CATOR is plugged in, it pulses this field."
> 
> Sorry, but it's not remotely realistic that a little box you plug into your wall could do that in such a way that would affect rodents or anything else.  It is true in that current flowing through a wire produces a magnetic field, and that that can induce current in something nearby.  But the idea that a box you plug into your wall could "pulse" that in a way that would be noticable to rodents or anything else is nonsense.  In an MRI machine you are exposed to magnetic fields many thousands of times stronger than anything the wiring in your house could produce without melting - and neither you nor a rodent feels that.  There is no way this product is anything but a fraud.
> 
> The testimonials sound like astroturfing.
> 
> -Tim
> 
> 
> On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 12:51 PM, Deborah Chandler <debchandler411 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Marc,
> 
> Someone on another listserv recently posted this great personal review
> of the Pest A Cator product. I have no personal info to share about
> this product (I have a good mouser cat…) so I am just the messenger.
> If you would like the contact info for this person, I can ask her
> permission to make that connection. Another person on the same
> listserv also said it worked great.
> 
> Best,
> Deb
> 
> 
> She says:
> I am writing to follow up on the "pest-a-cator" device, which I
> plugged into my apartment over a year ago, when I became catless and
> was overrun by mice. There were A LOT of mice! I don't even mean one a
> day or two a day. I mean a constant stream of mice in every room
> chewing everything and pooping everywhere. It was really overwhelming.
> 
> Anyway, someone told me she had tried many different approaches, and
> the mice either outwitted and evaded the traps she set, or seemed
> completely immune to whatever other methods she employed. But this
> "Pest-a-cator" product worked.
> 
> What it is, is a device you plug into a wall outlet. It does NOT use
> ultrasonic technology, which would have driven me out of my mind. It
> causes a pulse or vibration in the wiring, or something like that,
> which I personally do not hear, feel, or otherwise sense, at all.
> 
> Result: there have been NO mice whatsoever in my apartment since
> plugging in the pest-a-cator. Not even in the winter. Not even any
> that I could hear inside the walls. I see no mouse poop anywhere, hear
> no scratching, see absolutely no evidence of them being anywhere, even
> in the walls. Even when I had a cat who hunted, the mice would live
> inside the walls! But not with the pest-a-cator.
> 
> You have to buy the correct size unit for your square footage, and you
> need to buy one for every floor of your house (my apartment has an
> upstairs and a downstairs, so I have two).
> 
> It does have a blinking red light that is meant to indicate to you
> whether the unit is working. I find the blinking light bothersome if I
> look at it, but you can easily cover it up if you want to. If you
> don't mind it, it does show you whether the unit has malfunctioned. I
> had one that got spiked during a storm, but it was replaced for free
> by the manufacturer, so the blinking light stopping blinking was
> useful to me. It's not so bright that it fills the room or anything,
> but if you are very sensitive to blinking, you could cover it with a
> piece of electrical tape. It's about the same brightness as the
> indicator light on my apartment's carbon monoxide detector.
> 
> The person who recommended it to me says she tried other brands of
> things that plugged into the wall, and none of them worked.
> 
> Anyway, I just wanted to let folks know this really worked for me. I
> think of it as filling my walls with music. It's non-toxic and
> non-violent, and since one unit apparently lasts for a long time
> (years), it's not really all that expensive, either. It does use some
> electricity, but not much.
> 
> The product manual says it repels all rodents, not just mice, so you
> should not use it if you have pets in the rodent family (like
> gerbils). They say some people claim that it also repels spiders, but
> the company admits the spider effect is not proven. In my experience,
> spiders do not seem to mind it. But I don't mind spiders, either, so
> that's fine with me.
> 
> They offer a money back guarantee, so if you still have mice after
> proper use, they will refund the purchase price. (They warn that you
> may get an initial increase in mouse sightings at first, as they leave
> the walls, but that new mice will not move in. In my case, the
> previously residentmice apparently exited to the exterior, not the
> interior of the house, and I saw absolutely ZERO mice starting the
> moment I plugged the units in.)
> 
> My Tri-field Meter does register increased EMF in the immediate area
> around where the unit is plugged in, but it drops off to nothing
> within about 2 feet of the outlet.
> 
> The manufacturer's website, for more information about how it works
> and what size unit is right for your living space, is:
> http://www.global-instruments.com/
> 
> 
> On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 8:10 AM, Marc Solomon <attspin at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Patty and I are unwitting participants to rodent floorboard marathons over past week.
> >
> > Does someone have a recommendation for a careful, sensible, cost-effective mice-be-gone solution?
> >
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Marc
> > North Hadley
> >
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> 
> -- 
> http://timboudreau.com
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