As summer inches closer and closer, one man on TikTok has shared his trick to keep the mosquitos away for good.
“Kill mosquitos with this extremely simple and cheap method!!!” TikToker Daddy Brown (@daddybrownn) promises in the caption for his viral video. He says he found an accidental hack to keep folks pest-free while they’re partying outdoors in the summertime.
Fewer things can ruin a summertime jamboree more quickly than a gaggle of pesky mosquitoes. But thanks to this hack he uses that appears to take advantage of a mosquito’s natural instincts for being drawn to water, Brown says that utilizing one simple ingredient is a good way to trap them.
It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t the only mosquito hack he’s shared in the past. The Daily Dot has written about another creator’s coffee grounds mosquito repellent technique, along with Brown’s method for keeping flies out of your house, too.
Brown begins his video, which he records in what looks like the backyard of his residential home.
“Bug hack. I just found the perfect way to keep mosquitoes off you while you’re out here partying for Memorial Day,” he says. “This one was discovered unintentionally but it was too cool I had to share it so, here it is. Y’all the secret to killing mosquitoes…is bubbles.”
The trick to getting rid of mosquitos
He then holds up a massive jug of bubble-blowing liquid.
Brown demonstrates the blood-sucker death trap on camera. He pours some of the bubble liquid into a small yellow dish he says comes with the product. “Literally all you have to do is get a little dish, that comes with the bubbles, fill it with the solution,” he instructs. “There’s literally a mosquito right here that’s about to go in it.”
“I didn’t even know this hack but I put these bubbles out for my daughter cause she’s playing today and look within like 10 minutes there’s one, two, three, four, five, six…six mosquitoes in it,” he says, pointing out the dead bodies of the pests on camera. “Not ants, not flies, they’re literally just mosquitoes. I’m sitting here next to it, and there’s literally a big mosquito on me. It can smell it. These don’t have like a certain scent on it or anything, they’re just these max bubbles, premium formula, whatever that means.”
The end of his clip features a close-up of the deceased insects he was referring to as his daughter is heard babbling in the background of the video.
Why are mosquitoes drawn to bubbles?
So why are mosquitoes drawn to water? Wouldn’t one think that bugs and water are a terrible combination? Well, that’s not the case for these plasma-drinking monsters. The US Environmental Protection Agency notes that the entire life cycle of a mosquito begins with water. Female mosquitoes are the only ones that bite—the blood that they suck contains the nutrients required for their larvae to develop (male mosquitoes, on the other hand, drink plant nectar and juice to stay alive).
Female mosquitoes then lay their eggs directly on a body of water or near small puddles next to plant beds. Another common area where mosquito eggs can be found is stagnant water fountain sources, like dishes or pots left outside. If you have a pet water bowl that hasn’t been changed, for instance, while you take your pup on vacation, that can turn into a breeding ground for mosquitoes after a few days.
So it would make sense that mosquitoes are being drawn to that water, and since the soap is unscented, it could be that they aren’t able to assess whether the bubble solution is fatal to them.
Brown’s method kills females that are attracted to the “water,” which ensures the life cycle of that particular mosquito bloodline has been effectively cut down. Mama won’t be able to lay her eggs.
Other people have devised other methods for killing mosquitoes, like using a pair of clips, a rubbing alcohol and water solution, a box fan, and some mosquito wire. This contraption effectively sucks the mosquitoes in through the back of the fan and traps them against the wire. Spraying them down with the water and alcohol solution kills them, much like the soap seems to do in Brown’s bubble dish hack.
Does it work?
Commenters who claimed to have tried it themselves said it worked like a charm.
“Unbelievable, while you were showing the solution in the bowl, a mosquito landed on my screen directly on the solution. That is crazy,” one person said.
Another wrote, “I used my grandson’s bubble machine tonight not one mosquito Grandson happy Grandma happy.”
Someone else added that soap contains some pretty great mosquito-killing properties: “Yes, soap kills most insects, like flies, bees, wasps. Vinegar and soap, in a jar, will take care of fruit and house flies.”
Others shared modifications to Brown’s suggestion. “The most effective method for me: Use shower gel containing mosquito repellent ingredients,” one user said.
@daddybrownn Kill mosquitos with this extremely simple and cheap method!!! #mosquito #mosquitos #hacks #lifehack #bubbles #bubble #diy #thesouth #foryou #foryoupage ♬ original sound – daddybrownn
It’s worth mentioning that mosquitoes aren’t just pests—they are the world’s deadliest animal responsible for the transmission of diseases that have claimed the lives of some 52 billion people throughout human history. What’s more is that many environmentalists agree eradicating mosquitoes from our planet wouldn’t bear any significant impact on the world’s ecosystem, either.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Daddy Brown via TikTok comment for further information.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
