I HATE mosquitoes. What do they do other than suck blood and cause disease.
We spent the a couple of days up in nothern Michigan this weekend and I brought home a couple of souvenirs, one is about the size of a nickel and the other is about the size of a dime with a quarter sized red area around it.
I fucking hate mosquitoes.
What the fuck are they playing at, sucking peoples (and animals) blood and spreading diseases.
I hate the little bastards.
Ah, I feel a bit better now. I’m off to find something to distract me from scratching my legs.
When I went to the Caribbean for the first time I found out what it was like to be eaten alive by those things. I couldn’t leave the room and go outside without spraying myself down with that insect repellent stuff. And then at night I had to sit right next to a cintronella (sp?) candle. They had these cool electric fly swatter things that we used to kill them with and that was fun
The repellent is crap (and HIGHLY toxic to humans) - I tried every known brand in Australia. I also smeared myself in pure citronella oil and still got bitten all over the smeared areas, even when I tried smearing them with Bushmans and Rid as well.
The only thing that works - delightfully also the cheapest - is mosquito coils. They cost about Au$1.30 a packet of 12, and you can actually hear them driving the mosquitoes mad, and hear them sort of tumble to their death. The downside is having all your room and clothes reek of coil smoke, but it’s not that bad a smell.
Also - I discovered that Rid dissolves nail varnish. Given the stuff is supposed to be safe enough to put on your face, I dread to think what harsh fucking chemicals are inside it.
We suffer mightly here in Houston as well. The Deet in repellents does work well but also it’s a known carcinogen. If used out in the wilds, you might want to apply it to your clothes and hat instead of your face.
Up on the North Slope, I’d wear netting over my head as well and found that pretty easy to work in, despite the fact their numbers and size were absolutely staggering there.
Also, seeing as how we enjoy evenings out on our patio but were being bitten profusely, I installed an outdoor ceiling fan above our sitting area. Not only does it provide a cool breeze but it also blows the annoying little bastards away.
Gah! I got bit by a mosquito on Sunday at my parents’ house. The SO and I went over there for a cookout (his first dinner with my family) and we had a good time except…
THE ENTIRE BACK YARD WAS FILLED WITH BLOODSUCKERS!
I got bit on the back of my arm, right above the elbow. It’s STILL swollen and feels hot when I touch it. The bite is about the size of a softball; it looks like I have a tomato stuck on the back of my arm. One mosquito bite!
I wish they still had Mosquito Abatement fly over and spray the whole frickin’ county. I haven’t seen them in years…
When I met my wife, she was living in a place called Wabuska, Nevada, which I figured was an old Paiute Indian word for “bird-sized mosquito”. I would ride my motorcycle out to go’a’ courtin’ and would gain about 3 pounds in dead skitters on my leather! You could hear them buzzin’ like B-17’s and feel a breeze as they came in on their straffing runs. It was rumoured that they were known to carry off small children in the olden times.
Now I’m begining to understand why its a ghost-town. Silver vein dryed up, MY ASS!
Those little bastards have always loved me. I itch, somewhere, for several months out of every year. Nothing keeps them away completely, though if I’m going to be outdoors for a long time I do get out the spray. But then they bite me wherever I didn’t put the chemicals, and I itch anyway!
At least my SO is sympathetic, though they don’t seem to like him the way they like me. Then again, considering it’s the females that bite, maybe that’s a GOOD thing. He’s MINE!
I hope you remember never ever to go about touching someone else’s mosquito bites just after they stopped itching for the first time in what seems like forever.
I hear painting them with clear nail polish helps them not to itch so much.
For some people, taking vitamin B complex changes their “scent” so that mosquitos don’t like them. Also Avon Skin-So-Soft has been recommended and used in India, Africa and by American Marines stationed in Panama (these are all situations I know of personally.) In my family, SSS is the standard - it’s not toxic.
Bah, you people are complaining about single mosquito bites?
Years ago when I was in the AIRTC (Air Force Cadets), we were all on parade, standing at attention, waiting for inspection. Now the fellas were all fine, having long trousers, but it was another story for the females. Service dress skirt + pantyhose does not make for good mosquito protection.
This particular evening, it had been raining and evidently a million mosquito larvae had hatched - I know this because they all found ME. I could feel the little bastards poking their evil probosci into my legs, could hear their awful squealing in my ears - I could almost make out their taunts… “hahahhaha we’re biting you and there’s NOTHING you can do about it!!!”
After standing at attention for fifteen minutes for the entire squadron to be inspected, we completed the rest of the parade and marched off.
How many bites did I have, dear dopers? One? Perhaps a dozen? No. On my legs alone, I counted over eighty bites. EIGHTY.
Skin So Soft works great, and you should also consider a Purple Martin birdhouse in your yard if the mosquitoes and other insects are just too thick in your neighborhood. They feed on insects, and people I’ve known who had martin houses say they cut the mosquito population down to almost nothing. Their houses are designed to hoist up on a pole- well, at least the designs I’ve seen were. And they only require an open space in front of them (the birds like a clear run at their house), and a yearly cleaning. Seems worthwhile to me, and if I had a yard I’d have a Purple Martin house.
Unfortunately I can’t use any of the products today - I’m on my way out to collect some Ochlerotatus sollicitans (saltwater mosquito) adults. We use ourselves as bait.
I am the mosquito goddess. They want to be near me and drink of me. Whenever I go out, my companions come back with a couple of bites- I come out with dozens. I hate it!!!
I’m all about conservation and mother nature and all that, but if I could kill off an entire species, I’d have no problems condemning mosquitos. Sure it might through the ecosystem out of balance, but if the damn ecosystem is full of so many moquitos, I’d argue that it wasn’t that good an ecosystem to begin with.
Do you want to know about my trip to Maui? I lost track of the number of mosquito bits when I hit sixty. Most of them kind of joined forces and formed massive swollen plateus the size of paperback books across the back of each of my thighs. My arms were dotted with bites swollen to the size of potato pancakes. There were a couple nights when I couldn’t sleep due to the constant burning itch. Have you ever had a mosquito bite on your earlobe? How about between your toes? Lips? Ugh!
