It all began in the spring of 1999 when Jimmy Forehand, husband and father of the family, walked into a large hardware store to get some paint. Being a typical male, he completely forgot why he was there as soon as he walked in. In this dazed and confused condition he had no choice but to head to the tools department.

To his surprise, located right in the middle of all the tools, he spotted the largest funnel he had ever seen. Being a male, and knowing he had absolutely no use for it, he picked one up without any hesitation. Mission accomplished! Oh, wait a minute – didn’t his wife send him to get something else?

After wandering around for a while he remembered the paint. Working his way to the paint department didn’t take long if you discount the side trips to the electrical, lumber, and plumbing departments.

Finally, he reached the paint department discovering the plastic bucket section. One look at a small yellow “use and throw away” bucket and a glance at the funnel along with a big dose of guidance from someone up above and inspiration struck! Jimmy realized that he could put the funnel in the bucket and with the help of a little duct tape, he would have a mosquito larva trap. The interesting thing is this prototype worked. No, it wasn’t perfect but it was a great start.

With his wife encouraging him and even letting him grow mosquito larva on the kitchen countertop, Jimmy was able to develop the first production Bite Back! Mosquito Larva Traps. After another year of testing, Jimmy applied for and received a provisional patent.

Once traps were being produced in small quantities, Jimmy had the good fortune to meet Dr. Jerry Butler at the University of Florida. Subsequent testing by Dr. Butler and his assistants at the University’s Entomology and Nemotology Department resulted in the refinement of the water conditioning attractant.

The traps Dr. Butler’s team tested were very effective with a capture rate of 95 – 98%. Jimmy was happy but not satisfied and spent several years working to bring that capture rate as close to 100% as possible. Once he devised the solution, he incorporated it along with the suggestions from Dr. Butler and produced the product you see today.

Jimmy and his wife were cordially welcomed to show the Bite Back! Mosquito Larva Traps to the Director of the CDC. After studying the traps for a while and grasping their methodology, he made the comment, “they are ingenious in their simplicity.”