Stinkin' mosquitoes!!!

I went hiking with a friend today on part of the Midstate Trail (the section in Rutland and Barre, MA) since we finally had a really nice day around here. We were having a great time until we got to a stretch where the mosquitoes were horrendous! We each had a thick cloud of the buggers following us for at least half a mile, and of course we got our share of bites (boy was I glad I was wearing long pants). And we were wearing repellent (lemon eucalyptus). I ended up having to pull out my windshirt, even though it was a warm day, and put that on just to keep the bugs off, and my friend borrowed my rain poncho to do the same. We had done about seven and a half miles at that point, and would have liked to do quite a bit more, but the bugs were so bad we decided to have someone pick us up and take us back to our car!! Next time we will bring head nets...anyone else having major mosquito issues in their area? I think it has to do with all the rain we've had here lately. Whatever it is, yuck!

Vancouver seems to have alot less mosquitos than other areas where I've lived (southern Ontario). However I didn't know this until we moved here.

Mosquitoes are attracted to me...I'm often amazed how seldom mosquitoes bite my partner during the hikes we've done in mosquitoey areas. The type of bike touring rides that I don't enjoy a whole lot..is camping in a mosquitoey area after a long hot, loaded ride.

When travelling in Europe, I discovered some older places just don't have window screens.. so without ..thinking we stayed in a pension in Brugges, Belgium right by a canal (a city known for its medieval canals) for several days. I had the bed sheets nearly over my head..at night because of the critters flying in.

And in Lucerne, Switzerland in our hotel, there were these huge friggin' mosquitos cruising all night in room. I sweated under my sheets..

And in Florence, Italy I had to get my pharmacist sister and translator over to a pharmacy to buy ointment to bring down my swelling and itching. This drove me nuts...I missed the Uffuzi Galleries..for the art..

Major mosquito problem here. Yesterday I was out riding and stopped for a couple of minutes at a roadside stand to buy a zuchini bread. I ended up with eight mosquito bites on my right leg and five on my left, which swelled and itched like crazy on the ride home. Then of course thoughts of Triple E and west nile virus kept creeping in since there has been so much on the news lately of birds with the virus in the area. Today I made sure to use the bug spray every time I stepped out the door.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ridenread

Major mosquito problem here. Yesterday I was out riding and stopped for a couple of minutes at a roadside stand to buy a zuchini bread. I ended up with eight mosquito bites on my right leg and five on my left, which swelled and itched like crazy on the ride home. Then of course thoughts of Triple E and west nile virus kept creeping in since there has been so much on the news lately of birds with the virus in the area. Today I made sure to use the bug spray every time I stepped out the door.

---

Yuck. Must be a general problem in this state b/c of all the rain. And I know what you mean about the thoughts of West Nile etc. especially since it has been found in mosquitoes here in Worcester recently. If I start having any flu-like symptoms, that is what I'll think of immediately. As for the bug spray, we did have it on yesterday but it just didn't seem to do anything against such a high concentration of mosquitoes; don't know if a DEET-based spray would have been any better or not. All I can say is that the mosquito situation on the trail yesterday was hands-down the worst I have ever seen in my life!

Jolt, I know you are probably trying to go the natural way, but lemon eucalyptus probably is not going to cut it. There is another new chemical spray out. The main ingredient begins with a p, but I can't remember the name. My friend who can't use Deet, uses it. Why don't you check that out? Otherwise, I would go with the regular Deet stuff, especially with the amount of rain we have been having.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crankin

Jolt, I know you are probably trying to go the natural way, but lemon eucalyptus probably is not going to cut it. There is another new chemical spray out. The main ingredient begins with a p, but I can't remember the name. My friend who can't use Deet, uses it. Why don't you check that out? Otherwise, I would go with the regular Deet stuff, especially with the amount of rain we have been having.

---

I think it's picaridin that you're thinking of, and I might try that since it seems like it's not as nasty as DEET. Either that or just clothing that physically keeps the bugs off (like what my friend and I ended up doing yesterday). The lemon eucalyptus is great for keeping blackflies away, but seems not to be as good for mosquitoes if there are that many of them!

Seattle isn't as bad for skeeters either. but when I lived in Idaho, where there is a lot of irrigation (and therefore lots of mosquitoes) I wore long sleeves and slacks in the summer if i was going to be outside much for protection.

Bad mosquitos in the woods here in NC this summer...last year we had bad drought and virtually none. Glad to have the rain, tho...even if mosquitos come with it.

Emily, scratching a few new bites of her own

We have several species of the ee-vile critters here.

If you get bit - Blue Star Ointment. It's camphor in petro-jelly. Just smear it on, and within minutes the sting is gone. I wish I knew about it a long time ago. Also works on fire ant bites.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jolt

I went hiking with a friend today on part of the Midstate Trail (the section in Rutland and Barre, MA) since we finally had a really nice day around here. We were having a great time until we got to a stretch where the mosquitoes were horrendous! We each had a thick cloud of the buggers following us for at least half a mile, and of course we got our share of bites (boy was I glad I was wearing long pants). And we were wearing repellent (lemon eucalyptus). I ended up having to pull out my windshirt, even though it was a warm day, and put that on just to keep the bugs off, and my friend borrowed my rain poncho to do the same. We had done about seven and a half miles at that point, and would have liked to do quite a bit more, but the bugs were so bad we decided to have someone pick us up and take us back to our car!! Next time we will bring head nets...anyone else having major mosquito issues in their area? I think it has to do with all the rain we've had here lately. Whatever it is, yuck!

---

I'm a little farther west than you (the Berkshires) and I swear that mosquitoes are about to be named the regional bird out here. :eek: Taking Chloe out for a walk turns me into a "bug buffet" despite using repellent. What I wouldn't give for some occupied bat houses in my neighborhood.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jolt

I went hiking with a friend today on part of the Midstate Trail (the section in Rutland and Barre, MA) since we finally had a really nice day around here. We were having a great time until we got to a stretch where the mosquitoes were horrendous! We each had a thick cloud of the buggers following us for at least half a mile, and of course we got our share of bites (boy was I glad I was wearing long pants). And we were wearing repellent (lemon eucalyptus). I ended up having to pull out my windshirt, even though it was a warm day, and put that on just to keep the bugs off, and my friend borrowed my rain poncho to do the same. We had done about seven and a half miles at that point, and would have liked to do quite a bit more, but the bugs were so bad we decided to have someone pick us up and take us back to our car!! Next time we will bring head nets...anyone else having major mosquito issues in their area? I think it has to do with all the rain we've had here lately. Whatever it is, yuck!

---

Jolt, you may want to try a mixture of peppermint oil in water. A natural pesticide which will not harm your body.

We discussed this all a few months back... If I have to wear repellent, I still swear by Bite Blocker (active ingredients soybean oil and geranium oil). Won't melt plastic, doesn't make my skin crawl, has a strong but not unpleasant fragrance, works as well as the chemical repellents. (although it does need to be reapplied a little more often than high concentrations of DEET) - but my mosquito block of choice is still a spun polypro painter's coverall.

But yeah... the fact that only about 1% of mosquitoes are infected with WNV isn't much consolation when I can get 100 bites in a single week if I go out unprotected...

It won't work with a moving...stopping...moving some more situation, but I'd sit naked in the Everglades with my Thermacell, and I'm a swamp rat.

Sadly, our swamps are drying up. No rain. "Extreme" drought declared.

Our creek has completely dried up. Pond is working on it.

Still, a bug found me when I was out riding in full sun today.

Camphor...yeah, it works on bug bites. That's why our grandmothers used it. Mine kept hers in a jug with a cork.

I'm being eaten alive this summer (we've had a lot of rain and there's still a lot of water in the woods)- I can't even pick one tomato from the garden without coming back with bites.

A few years ago the New England Journal of Medicine published a randomized controlled trial comparing various mosquito repellants (how they ever got volunteers is beyond me) http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/347/1/13 - the bottom line is that DEET is the only thing that works reliably.

Much to our horror, we discovered this very week that our three eco-friendly (and invaluable during NC's drought) rain barrels that DH installed this year were absolutely teaming with mosquito larvae. It's been a bad year for skeeters around here, but if all the larvae in those barrels had matured, we would have had to run for the hills from the swarms of blood-suckers!

Unfortunately, the rain barrels have been decommissioned for now, at least.

Sigh... :(

If you make sure to drain the rain barrels weekly, the mosquito larvae won't survive to adulthood. Water really shouldn't be stored in open containers longer than a week anyhow, mosquitoes or no mosquitoes.


And... that NEJM study doesn't say the other repellents aren't RELIABLE, it just says that high concentration DEET is the only one that lasts for hours on end without being re-applied. I don't see the problem with re-applying a safer repellent (that incidentally smells much better and doesn't melt your clothes, electronic gizmos and sunglasses either). Sunblock has to be reapplied every couple of hours, after all; why not repellent?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OakLeaf

If you make sure to drain the rain barrels weekly, the mosquito larvae won't survive to adulthood. Water really shouldn't be stored in open containers longer than a week anyhow, mosquitoes or no mosquitoes.

---

The thing that was strange, though, is that the containers (large garbage cans) were had sealed lids on top, and the rainwater flowed in through the downspouts, which entered on the side (up high). So the skeeters had to slip in the cracks around the downspout to get in there to breed, crafty varmints! :mad:

You're right, though -- we'll definitely need to drain them regularly when we get them set back up (unless DH is just "done" with dealing with them, which he might be). That means they'll be empty a good bit of time since our rains have only been sporadic lately, but whenever we do get a nice little rain, like last night (unexpectedly), they'll fill back up.

Emily

I was told that there were very few (if any) mosquitos in the PNW.

Liers! :p I found them...or should I say, they found me. I am the walking mosquito catcher. Keep me around, and you won't get bitten. It's a running joke in my family. I don't find it very funny. :mad: It is not nearly as bad as some places I've lived, but they are definitely still a presence here.

If there is a mosquito within 50 miles, it'll find me. And black flies? Even pure DEET, literaly dripping off me, didn't stop them. Ugh. As much as I loved New England...I don't miss the biting bugs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

You're right, though -- we'll definitely need to drain them regularly when we get them set back up (unless DH is just "done" with dealing with them, which he might be). That means they'll be empty a good bit of time since our rains have only been sporadic lately, but whenever we do get a nice little rain, like last night (unexpectedly), they'll fill back up.

Emily

---

Just add a bit of olive or corn oil. The film on the surface suffocates the larvae and you can still use the water on your garden.

http://www.noahsnotes.com/naturalpest.html

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GLC1968

I am the walking mosquito catcher. Keep me around, and you won't get bitten. It's a running joke in my family. I don't find it very funny. :mad:

---

I feel your pain...or rather, your itch! I'm the mosquito magnet in my family. After our moonlight ride last weekend, I was the ONLY one covered in mosquito bites. They got me right through my bike shorts and jersey! :mad:

I get a couple of bites every evening when I walk from the kitchen to the compost pile and back. Not far, and still the little buggers find me. NO FAIR!

Through your skin tight bike shorts and jersey... ha. They bite me through denim.

In Florida, people must've thought I was on drugs, because I'd wear long sleeves and long pants in the height of summer. In the time it would take to lock my bike, I'd have 10 bites (not exaggerating). If I went out for a bike cruise with DH at less than 12-14 mph, they would chase me down and bite me.

This is my feeling about mosquitos around here this year :eek:
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...squitosign.jpg

A fisherman is at the Wisconsin river and was suddenly attacked by 2 mosquitos. As they lifted him up and were flying up river, he overheard one ask the other "Should we eat him here or take him home?" The reply stunned him, "Let's eat him here, if we take him home the big boys will take him away from us."

I have never had a problem with mosquitos while biking. I think they figure from my huffing and puffing that I'll be dead in two minutes anyway so why bother.

why would you build a nation's capital on a marsh?

Minnesota I understand; it was left over land that no one wanted. DC was built up from a stinkin' swamp. And I swear there must be something in the water (other than personal care products, or perhaps because of personal care products) there bites just won't go away.