How have the mosquitoes been in your area this season?

A

Aunt Marg

SF VIP
This year (season) has been one of the best I can remember.

Typically our mosquito season revs-up sometime in and around the month of June, and lasts through to August, however, providing the weather stayswarm and our days are sunny, mosquitoes and bites are next to nil by mid to late July.

We're in BC.

As an aside to this topic, what does everyone use as a repellant?

- Natural homemade sprays/creams, etc?
- Store-bought?
- Nothing?
 

Mosquitos have been a minimal concern in our area, this year. There is a small area in our creek that tends to pool up after any sizeable rainfall, so I keep a spray bottle filled with diesel fuel, and give that area a spray....the diesel fuel floats on the surface, and inhibits any mosquito larvae growth.

Our biggest concern, this time of year is the tics and chiggers. I stay out of the forest until late Sept., to avoid the tics, but the chiggers are everywhere...even mowing the lawn can result in some "itchy" bites. So, whenever I go out to do some yard and garden work, I spray my legs with some good bug spray containing "Deet", and that keeps most of them away. I buy the bug spray at Walmart, and keep a couple of cans on hand throughout the Summer months.
 
After waking up with 24 bites on me a few weeks ago, I got a bottle of 100% Deet. That stuff really works. Not one bite, since.
I did some research on mosquitoes. Those big ones you see flying around are males. They do not bite; they live on nectar. Only the females bite & they are tiny & usually not seen. We can't feel them biting because they apply a topical anesthetic first. And that itch & swelling is caused by our immune system reacting to the anticoagulant they inject first to prevent clotting.
 
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Touching on a few replies, my husband who is an avid outdoorsman, has tried all sorts of repellents throughout the years, Musk Oil included.

I've passed along the 100% Deet option to him.

In speaking for myself, I welt up bad when bit, and the sensation to scratch the bite area until it bleeds has always been one of my weaknesses. I find a lot of relief in making an X over the bite using my thumb-nail, but it only provides me with temporary relief.

As for myself, I loathe anything oily on my skin, and Deep Woods Off Dry, doesn't disappoint. Pleasantly scented, and no greasy, oily residue/feeling.
 
debodun said:
Haven't seen one yet. I think because it's been drier than usual, the mozzies don't have the nice pools of stagnant water in which they like to make whoopie.
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I think this applies to our area as well. It's been very dry and when we get a shower it's absorbed to quickly that pools don't form. With the lack of rain, even the old collectors of water in the form of various forms of junk and tires don't have their usually mini-pools of stagnant water.

Actually, I'd trade this above normal heat and humidity for a few mosquitoes. This has been one of the most miserable summers that I can remember.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Touching on a few replies, my husband who is an avid outdoorsman, has tried all sorts of repellents throughout the years, Musk Oil included.

I've passed along the 100% Deet option to him.

In speaking for myself, I welt up bad when bit, and the sensation to scratch the bite area until it bleeds has always been one of my weaknesses. I find a lot of relief in making an X over the bite using my thumb-nail, but it only provides me with temporary relief.

As for myself, I loathe anything oily on my skin, and Deep Woods Off Dry, doesn't disappoint. Pleasantly scented, and no greasy, oily residue/feeling.
Click to expand...
I also hate anything oily on me & that was a concern before trying Deet. But, although it's a bit oily when applying it, the oily feeling and the smell go away after 30 minutes.
And, besides mosquitoes, it also repels any other insect. I frequently buy produce at a nearby farm. There are goats & sheep in a pen. Some of the goats are affectionate & I always pet them. Of course where there are farm animals, there are flies. Before I started using Deet, I'd get many flies on me. I was there yesterday & not one fly got near me.
 
win231 said:
I also hate anything oily on me & that was a concern before trying Deet. But, although it's a bit oily when applying it, the oily feeling and the smell go away after 30 minutes.
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Thank you for mentioning this.

I find Deep Woods Off is great in town, but head into the woods and the game quickly changes.
 
In my new home state of Texas it seems to be too hot for them to come out
but back at my home in Alaska they are so numerous they put up road signs
warning about them....

mosqueto56.jpg
 
Mosquitos can get pretty bad here, and we have ticks and chiggers. We decide a couple of years ago to start spraying once a month during their season and that makes a big difference. I hate having to do that because of the environment, but the six weeks that I suffered with West Nile ten years ago convinced that I do not want to tangle with another mosquito borne disease. It did not put me down hard, but it was still miserable.
 

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