The BugZooka
Did you know there are 900,000 different insect species? For every person alive today, there are two thousand pounds – pounds! – of living insects. (That’s a lot of bugs.) Does it seem like a large percentage of these creeping, crawling, buzzing, and flying creatures currently inhabit your home? It’s summertime, and that means you have lots of unwelcome “visitors” in the house. Until now, your options have been limited. Flyswatters work (sometimes), but leave a gooey mess on the wall. Shoes work on creepy crawlies, but there’s a better way… The BugZooka. Unlike most of the Urbach Cool Things, this one has no batteries. Just compress the spring loaded bellows, position the extensible plastic wand near the visitor, and press the big red button. A trap door springs open and the “guest” is instantly sucked into a holding chamber – with a satisfying whoosh. (It creates ten times the suction of the complicated and expensive battery-operated types.)

Once captured alive, you have various options for dealing with your insect prisoner. I prefer to release it outside. In general, I don’t go out of my way to kill insects – unless they’re trying to hurt me… I’m a live and let live kind of guy. However, I understand that others may not feel that way. If you do nothing, the bug will die of “old age” (actually dehydration) in the holding chamber, and you can just empty it into the trash. The manufacturer supplies two different catch tubes: a clear one so you or your kids can “study” the little critters, and an opaque one for the extra squeamish. The wand extends up to 24 inches, so you can reach spiders even on the ceiling or in tight spaces.

Drawbacks? The BugZooka doesn’t work that well on houseflies; they scoot away too quickly. Here’s my technique: I utilize the skills developed in my junior high school gym locker room, (the modified towel snap method), with a dishtowel to temporarily stun the fly. Then I catch it with the BugZooka.

One last thing about the BugZooka: it’s so much fun to use, I’ve been able to deputize my sons and send them off on bug patrol. Rid your house of bugs and amuse your kids at the same time? That’s a winning combination. $27.95 from Lifestyle Fascination.