5 Harbor Freight Finds To Help Manage Unwanted Insects & Critters

With the warm season, many of us are spending much more time outside, engaging in all kinds of enriching activities like gardening, exercising, or just hanging out by the pool. It's nice to feel the warmth of the sun, but it's substantially less nice when that warm sun is accompanied by the buzzing cacophony of flies, gnats, mosquitoes, and other obnoxious pests flying around. To make matters worse, if you're engaged in gardening or farming, you also have to contend with pesky critters like moles and gophers digging around, gnawing on your flowers, and swiping your vegetables.

Nobody said enjoying a sunny day was easy, but if you've reached your breaking point with irritating insects and critters, you might want to take a trip over to your local Harbor Freight hardware store. While pest control isn't one of the retail chain's major niches, if you look amongst its lawn and garden offerings, you can find a few helpful gadgets that will help keep the bugs away from your personal space and the critters away from your vegetable patch.

When you have an insect buzzing around your head, your first inclination will probably be to attempt to smack them away with your hand. Unfortunately, if absolutely nothing else, insects are almost supernaturally good at dodging casual hand swipes. If insects are going to employ supernatural abilities to annoy you, let's level the playing field with a proper anti-bug weapon. An Electronic Fly and Insect Swatter is available at Harbor Freight for $4.99, with users ratings giving it a 4.3 out of 5 for its light weight and ease of use.

The Harbor Freight Electronic Fly and Insect Swatter will be your mighty sword against the insectoid scourge. This compact, tennis racket-like tool is light enough to comfortably swing both indoors and outdoors without fear of damaging walls or furniture. With the power of two D batteries, the electrified grill instantly zaps any insects it comes in contact with. You can zap bugs right out of the air which, in addition to being convenient on its own, also means no smushed remains on your walls and tables from using a normal fly swatter.

It's nice to enjoy a quiet evening on the back deck or in the comfort of a camping tent, illuminated by the soft glow of a camping lantern. Unfortunately, when it's dark out, that's exactly when bugs are attracted to any minute source of light. A hanging bug zapper is a good solution for this, but if you're out camping or just want to conserve electricity in general, why not combine a zapper with the camping lamp? The 2-in-1 Lantern and Bug Zapper is available at Harbor Freight for $13.99. It's earned a 4.4 out of 5 user score for its impressive bug-busting efficacy.

The Harbor Freight 2-in-1 Rechargeable Camping Lantern and Bug Zapper is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: a convenient hanging camping lantern that also features an electrified bug zapper grill above the light. The lamp puts out a comfortable 200 lumens of light, perfect for a small deck or tent, while the zapper fries any moths, mosquitos, gnats, or other insects that get any bright ideas. The entire device recharges via USB, and can operate for up to 20 hours on a single charge. As an added bonus, this device has an IPX6 waterproof rating, so it's safe to use during a rainstorm.

In addition to their supernatural hand-dodging abilities, bugs are also remarkably talented at swooping into your home the moment you open a door. Once they're in there, they're not leaving without a fight, and while we've covered ample options for waging that war, the best possible scenario is keeping them out of your home entirely. A screen door can help in this endeavor, but that brief moment when you're sliding the door open gives bugs plenty of clearance. What you really need is a screen door that snaps shut as soon as you've passed through. The Magnetic Screen Door is available at Harbor Freight for $9.99, with users giving it a 4.3 out of 5 rating for its easy, tool-free installation and impressive summer-wide longevity.

The Harbor Freight Magnetic Screen Door is a heavy-duty mesh screen can be easily installed on any single door, sliding door, or even an RV door to repel insect invaders while still allowing air to circulate. Rather than sliding or opening, this screen is held shut by 18 powerful magnets. It only take a gentle push to open up, but as soon as you pass through, they immediately reseal to deter sneaky skeeters. The materials are also pet safe, so this screen can double as a summertime dog or cat door.

You can't deter small pests like moles and gophers with a scarecrow or one of those angry-eye signs. So, if the old-school methods are out, how are you supposed to keep critters away from your yard, plants, and home-grown vegetables? Well, if you can't scare them off with something that they can see, how about something they can hear and feel? The Greenwood Solar Mole and Gopher Chaser is available at Harbor Freight for $7.99. The device has a 3.9 out of 5 user rating, with users praising not just its general effectiveness, but also it's surprisingly large area coverage.

The Greenwood Solar Mole and Gopher Chaser may look like a simple garden stake, but this small device is an absolute nightmare for soil-scraping pests. After being dug into the ground, this stake delivers a distinctive sonic pulse through the soil every 30 seconds. This pulse is undetectable to humans, but to burrowing pests, it's like getting an air horn right to the face. It's more than enough to send them running. The stake is fully solar-powered, so just leave it in a sunny spot, and you'll never have to dig it out to charge it.

Some pesky varmints have learned the farmer's playbook, ignoring the classic means of deterrent to make a beeline for your precious agriculture. If critters persist after trying other methods, you're going to need try different tactics to get them to take a hike. The Medium Animal Trap is available at Harbor Freight for $29.99. Users have given it a 4.1 out of 5 rating for its efficacy in safely catching and holding squirrels, raccoons, and feral cats.

If you've got a pesky nemesis in your garden, Harbor Freight's Medium Animal Trap is a classic cage trap offering a great way to humanely catch any small animals. From there, you either safely hold the critters for Animal Control or transport them elsewhere for release. The cage features a highly sensitive trigger pan connected to a spring-loaded trap door, snapping shut as soon as something wanders in and holding them firmly with a powder-coated steel body. When it's time to let your catch go, you can do so with the quick-release rear door.

The preceding products were chosen from amongst pest control options available at Harbor Freight. Preference was given to products with prices below $50, user ratings above 3.5 out of 5 stars, and immediate availability both in-store and on Harbor Freight's online storefront.