This isn’t necessarily an accessible gadget for the blind. However, it sure is a helpful one when you can’t see very well, if at all.
Katchy has a long line of indoor flying insect catchers. It's listed on Amazon as the best selling indoor flying insect trap with thousands of reviews. The following comes straight off of the Katchy website https://www.katchybug.com/: Katchy is a humane, Environmental-Friendly indoor insect trap. The Katchy indoor trap efficiently catches flies, gnats, mosquitos, and other small bugs in your home or business naturally and safely. Katchy is easy to use and blends in stylishly anywhere you put it.
🎶 Here comes the rain again….🎶
That sure is a catchy tune. But, I won’t be talking about the song today. Instead, I want to share a helpful little gadget I found online. Currently, where I live, it’s been raining on and off for almost a week now. And, with rain, comes mosquitoes and gnats. Living in Texas, I know just how bad those pests can get. Especially when it’s been raining. I live in an apartment and try to control the issue by keeping doors and windows sealed tight. Along with making sure every drain in my home is always closed, even as annoying as that may be to have to do. Sometimes I forget and before you know it, I’m being bothered by those pesky things again. I finally went online and started a new search on my favorite app, Amazon. That’s when I came across this little gadget. It’s a small insect catcher. It’s not a bug zapper or sound wave repellent. It’s a combination of 2 insect attractants. It’s got a UV halo light and a bait scent trap compartment that both lure small flying pests to the gadget while a quiet fam sucks them in and a sticky glue board at the bottom keeps them there until they die. As cruel as that sounds, it sure beats being bothered by mosquitoes, gnats, and fruit flies in your home when you can’t see enough to shew them away. I was skeptical at first. But, after reading the reviews, I had to try it. Not to mention there’s a hilarious video the manufacturers added on Amazon that had me laughing while spiking my curiosity to see if this thing actually worked. Well, I’m here to say that it did for me.
Let me tell you about the newest model of the indoor trap which I am currently using. The Katchy indoor small flying insect catcher has a few things that most indoor trappers don’t. It uses a combination of multiple humane traps that work together to get the job done. The first one is the most visible, a really pretty blue 360° UV halo light with three levels of brightness you can adjust with the press of a button. The next is a scent bait trap that’s hidden in the top center a little further down after the halo ring to lure those small flying pests even closer to the super quiet fan. Lastly, the fan then sucks the flying insects down to the bottom where a sticky glue board is located. The glue boards are easy to use and replace. You simply peel off the backing and lay the board sticky side up in the compartment that slides open at the bottom of the Katchy. Yes, that's right, I said sticky side up. The glue is what holds the flying insects onto the board. Be sure you don't put the sticky side down in the drawer or else the Katchy won't work properly. When you start getting bothered by mosquitoes, gnats, or fruit flies, you’ll know it’s time to change the glue board out. To do that, simply pull open the compartment at the bottom to take the drawer out. Then, walk the drawer over to the trash to flip it over, dumping only the glue board into the trash without ever having to touch the board. Being legally blind, I sure was nervous about this part. But, after testing how easy it was to add, remove and replace a new board into the compartment drawer, I realized how easy it would be for someone else who has little to no sight at all. Keep in mind that with this particular model, you will only get four glue boards. You will need to purchase replacement boards separately. Also, when testing out the ease of adding and replacing the glue board, don’t peel the backing off the board just yet. Test out how the board will go in and be removed from the drawer by feeling the board and compartment. Place the board inside the compartment and slide it closed into the bottom of the Katchy. Then, open it back up so that you get an idea of how that part of the trapper works. Now, on to the scent trap compartment. Imagine a tiny plastic cup with a lid that has little holes at the top that allow the scent to come out but doesn’t allow fruit flies and gnats to get inside the tiny cup. By now, you are probably wondering what exactly goes inside this cup. It's a combination of two items commonly found in most households, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and one drop of dish liquid. I have a little bit of sight so adding those into the cup wasn’t too difficult. However, if you want to make things easier and spill-free, use a dropper to squeeze the apple cider vinegar into the tiny cup. The drop of dish liquid should be easy enough to add. I would suggest that you add the dish liquid first since it’s thick and more difficult to spill out. Then, replace the lid back onto the cup and place it back in the center at the top of the Katchy. Again, test out how to take the cup out of the center of the unit and replace it before adding anything inside of it. This way, you get a feel for how to remove and replace the scent trap before it’s filled with the liquid solution.
The Katchy has a few buttons on the front of it that are fairly easy to remember their placement and functions. At the top, you have your auto and manual button with a light sensor in the center of the two. The auto button will turn the halo light and fan off and on depending on the brightness level in the room. The manual button keeps the light and fan running continuously. The next set of buttons underneath that are your light and fan buttons. pressing each button repeatedly increases the function of each button. For example, when you first press the light button which is located on the left, the halo light starts out dim. Just keep pressing the light button to take the level of brightness up to its highest level. The same button can also turn the halo light off. And, the same goes for the fan function button that's located just to the right of the light button. This nifty little gadget comes in two colors, black and white. It also has to be near an outlet since it needs to be plugged in. I keep my Katchy in the kitchen between the sink and my fruit bowl. It's a great gadget to have anywhere you usually see, or in my case, feel and hear flies and gnats around. Again, this isn't a gadget that is quote-unquote accessible. But, it sure is pretty easy to use, whether you can see or not. I sure do hope that I was descriptive enough for those who are blind or vision impaired to be able to understand how to use this item with ease.
As always, don't take my word for it. Please do your own research to see if this or any other item I have linked is something you can use. All reviews and posts are my thoughts and opinions I share on this blog. Use your own judgement when deciding on any purchase you choose to make.
Here is my overview video of the Katchy indoor flying pest catcher.
Here is the link to the latest model of the Katchy indoor flying insect trapper. It frequently goes out of stock which just means it's a popular item. If you find it out of stock when you click on the link, you can add it to your wish list and patiently wait for it to come back in stock. Or, get the next best thing, which I have added below.
If the item above I posted about isn't available when you go to view it, here is a link to the next best version (in my opinion) which has over 70,000 reviews. This version doesn't have the scent trap. But, it has a UV light, fan and glue boards.
Here is a link to get additional glue boards that fit both units above.
If you purchase the Katchy model that has the scent trapper. Or, you want to make your own scent trapper for gnats at home using an empty container, these mini shot bottles of apple cider vinegar are great to use and keep on hand. Here is the link to the bottles I use.
If you need a dropper or dispenser for the apple cider vinegar, here is one that goes up to 10ml. Two tablespoons is equivalent to 29.57ml. You don't have to be precise when adding the vinegar to the scent trap in the Katchy. So If you fill the dropper below and squeeze the contents into the cup, just repeat the step for a total of three dropper fulls.