# Mosquitoes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/184138>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 24, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/184138 "2003-06-24T21:34:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/184138/1 "2003-06-24T21:34:20Z")

</div>

what is the purpose of their “venom” (or whatever the stuff is that makes you itch) other than to drive us humans crazy? i know some snakes’ venom paralyzes its victims, but it doesn’t seem lik mosquitoes would have small enough prey to do that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/184138/2 "2003-06-24T21:36:19Z")

</div>

I believe it’s a temporary numbing agent that gives them the seconds they need to fill up. Without it, you’d know they jacked in, and stop their suckin’.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/184138/3 "2003-06-24T21:57:23Z")

</div>

There’s no “venom”. The itching comes from your body’s response to the foreign substances in the mosquitoes “saliva” (i.e. histamine release).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/184138/4 "2003-06-24T22:02:36Z")

</div>

[http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/mosfaq.htm](http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/mosfaq.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> When a female mosquito pierces the skin with her mouthparts, she injects a small amount of saliva into the wound before drawing blood. The saliva makes penetration easier and prevents the blood from clotting in the narrow channel of her food canal.