# Mosquitoes **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 24, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290 "2012-07-24T22:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/41 "2012-07-26T21:32:19Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > My girlfriend has a horrible problem with the mosquitoes in our area. We’ll go outside to do some gardening, she’ll douse herself with repellant, but still wind up with dozens of bites which cause a terrible reaction. Meanwhile, I’ll have none. > > After a couple of weeks of this, it occurred to me that I couldn’t recall getting a mosquito bite in several years. So I ran a test – I had a couple of neighbors over and we all stood around in the backyard. Everyone there was getting swarmed, but the mosquitoes wanted nothing to do with me. > > Thinking it might just be that everyone else was simply more delicious than I am, we had everyone go inside while I stood out there alone. In 10 minutes, I got one bite. I didn’t swat him away, letting him drink his fill, but never got a reaction from the bite. > > So, either mosquitoes have no interest in me, the bites I get don’t bother me, or both. Fine by me. You do realize this is the sort of thing that gets people taken away by guys in dark suits and sunglasses and shipped off to secret government laboratories in Nevada to be experimented on. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/42 "2012-07-26T21:36:52Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > How does Randy feel about you playing with napalm and his privates at the same time? :dubious: > > I expect he’s too frightened to say anything He’s too frightened to say anything about the matter. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/43 "2012-07-26T21:43:39Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > You do realize this is the sort of thing that gets people taken away by guys in dark suits and sunglasses and shipped off to secret government laboratories in Nevada to be experimented on. Hal? HAL?! Are you there?! Talk to us man, you’re freaking us out! … Oh my god. There’s a black van outside my house… ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/44 "2012-07-26T21:45:12Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > For some reason, I find myself in **Hal’s** camp. Granted, I’ve never gone scientific with it, but it seems whenever we’re in a situation like camping, or a backyard BBQ, I have none to a couple bites, while my wife looks like a victim of smallpox. > > I must taste horrible. Well…maybe you just smell horrible, since so few are willing to even take a sample taste! :eek: I, too, am one of the lucky ones that most mosquitoes seem to avoid. I assume any that actually bite me are just doing it on a dare from their buddies. My daughter did not inherit that fortunate trait, as she is irresistible to all biting insects. She serves as our distant early warning system for fleas too - if there is just one in the house, it will find her! Then we know its time to break out the Frontline for the pets, lol. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/45 "2012-07-26T21:45:52Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Eat garlic and carry a .410 to blow the skeeters away. > 🙂 I think it’s time we both just admit we don’t really need the mosquitos to justify our love for randomly firing buckshot around our vicinity. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/46 "2012-07-26T21:51:23Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I wonder, if we manage to make mosquitoes extinct, won’t a new species fill the ecological niche? So there’s no point eliminating them? Their “niche” is to suck the nectar from flowers. Mammal-blood is a sideline - the females need some before they can lay eggs. Conceivably a replacement-species would not be so dependent. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/47 "2012-07-26T22:17:07Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I think it’s time we both just admit we don’t really need the mosquitos to justify our love for randomly firing buckshot around our vicinity. Good Lord, how large are your mosquitoes? We use birdshot around here. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/48 "2012-07-26T22:18:26Z")
The OP better be “[killing them humanely](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657868)”…or else **Maastricht** might go into conniptions yet again. I recommend using a magnifying glass. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/49 "2012-07-26T22:58:46Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Good Lord, how large are your mosquitoes? We use birdshot around here. Dobermans. The size of dobermans. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/50 "2012-07-26T23:03:31Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > The OP better be “[killing them humanely](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657868)”…or else **Maastricht** might go into conniptions yet again. > > I recommend using a magnifying glass. Or lasers. Why isn’t there a high-intensity laser that can watch the surrounding environment with highly sensitive high-speed cameras for these spawns of Cthulhu’s vagina, and zap them in mere nano-seconds, dozens at a time? Of course, there’s the possibility of it becoming self-aware. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/51 "2012-07-27T01:32:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Their “niche” is to suck the nectar from flowers. Mammal-blood is a sideline - the females need some before they can lay eggs. Conceivably a replacement-species would not be so dependent. But a species that gets additional protein from blood will do better than one that only uses nectar. Re lasers: I think Cracked had an article that mentioned this was a plan to kill mosquitoes ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/52 "2012-07-27T05:02:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Eat garlic and carry a .410 to blow the skeeters away. > 🙂 Bah. I eat tons of garlic and the suckers still go for me the moment I step outside the house. One of the bitches even invaded my house during the three seconds I had the door open one night, crawled down inside my shirt (!), and left a dotted line of bites across my frontal region. Which was then swollen even more than normal. And very, very itchy for a few days. Maybe firearms would help. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/53 "2012-07-27T05:13:00Z")
I don’t normally get bitten either, as long as there are other victims around. I lived in Alaska for 41 years, and even in the interior (mosquitoes are horrible there), they didn’t bite me. They annoyed the hell out of me by getting in my eyes, nose, and mouth and by constantly buzzing all around but very few bites. I : 1. Adore garlic (and spicy stuff) 2. Love cilantro as well. 3. I am pretty sure I don’t chew betel, since I don’t know what it is. 4. never smoked (tobacco), never will 5. I haven’t fired a gun since the late 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/54 "2012-07-27T11:07:10Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Hal? > > HAL?! > > Are you there?! > > Talk to us man, you’re freaking us out! > … > > Oh my god. There’s a black van outside my house… I. Am. Fine. No. Need. For. Further. Curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/55 "2012-07-27T11:53:56Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Or lasers. > > Why isn’t there a high-intensity laser that can watch the surrounding environment with highly sensitive high-speed cameras for these spawns of Cthulhu’s vagina, and zap them in mere nano-seconds, dozens at a time? > > Of course, there’s the possibility of it becoming self-aware. [Been there, done that. Bill Gates funded the work.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser) ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/56 "2012-07-27T12:47:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Good Lord, how large are your mosquitoes? We use birdshot around here. One landed at the Columbus Airport and they had 5,000 gallons of fuel in it before they realized what it was. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/57 "2012-07-27T12:55:07Z")
> [@SnakesCatLady](#): > > One landed at the Columbus Airport and they had 5,000 gallons of fuel in it before they realized what it was. Cool! Did they light it off? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/58 "2012-07-27T13:03:41Z")
I moved to Florida as a kid and would get big welts from the mosquito bites. Then after a while, the bites didn’t cause a reaction. I would still get bit, but I wouldn’t itch or get a welt. I must have developed a tolerance for whatever they inject into you. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/59 "2012-07-27T13:10:24Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I must have developed a tolerance for whatever they inject into you. I did a poll on that, but it didn’t go anywhere. I also wonder if it is species specific. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290/60 "2012-07-27T15:02:18Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > I. Am. Fine. > > No. Need. For. Further. Curiosity. Okay, cool. You had us worried. …then again you sound… Um… Nah, nevermind! Glad you’re safe! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mosquitoes/629290.md?page=4)