Skeeters! :-(

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:00 am

Well, we moved into our beautiful new home and we're loving it. However, as usual there's a serpent in paradise. Well, not a serpent...mosquitos! We can't go outdoors for more than a few minutes without being devoured.
We have no standing water on the property (oops, better check to make sure the gutters are draining...), but there is a pond across the street.
Any suggestions for controlling the critters?
I don't fancy one of those expensive CO2 bug zappers.
Any effective, relatively safe killer/repellant sprays? Pet bats?

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:28 am

One of those blue fluorescent rings, like they have in diners.

Or a toad.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:01 am

The pond is probably enough. Mosquitoes have been pretty persistent this year around our parts too.
1. Screen a porch. (not necessarily easy or cheap...our front porch is not screened--it's not that type of porch, it's more the rocking chair kind.)

2. Get some of those wipe on repellents of a not-toxic variety and keep them handy.

3. Wait for Fall. Things will improve.

chrisoff · Post by **chrisoff** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:10 am

When I was last on holiday in a place plagued by mosquito's we bought a repellent that just plugged into the electric socket and that was them gone for the whole time we were there. Worked brilliantly.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:13 am

Unfortunately some people can hear those things. Like me, and in most cases Martin (who can also hear bats).

Martin's mom has one that annoys the dog and us, but she doesn't believe us when we say it's painful. The people across the street had one last year that I could hear but Martin couldn't. Fortunately they didn't use it this year.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:42 am

I would definitely go for one of the CO2 devices. They are noiseless and, unlike other suggestions here, allow you use of your whole back yard, instead of being sequestered to one tiny area. Those things kill enormous quantities of skitters and make a significant dent in local populations. They are well worth the money IMHO.

djm

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:42 am

avanutria wrote:Unfortunately some people can hear those things. Like me, and in most cases Martin (who can also hear bats).

Martin's mom has one that annoys the dog and us, but she doesn't believe us when we say it's painful. The people across the street had one last year that I could hear but Martin couldn't. Fortunately they didn't use it this year.

The good news I have about that is that all you need to do is wait a few years and you'll no longer be able to hear it. The remarkable thing is that Martin can, since these frequencies disappear rapidly for most people by their 30s.
Hear...I mean here:--check these out:
http://thot.cursus.edu/en/rubrique.asp?no=24413
A fun activity is to turn one of these on and wait for your teen and young adult children to react, while you innocently pretend you're merely checking your email.

missy · Post by **missy** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:06 am

you could invite me over. No one gets bit when I'm around because all the dang bugs are dining on me.

Serioiusly, I can't go outside in our backyard after about 7pm during the summer. There's a sink hole behind our house, with a permanent seap. It's not on our property, and while we've "asked" the owner to treat it, she refuses.

So I spend most of the summer months on our 3 season, screened porch.

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:59 am

There's a product sold made out of barley straw that is said to make a pond inhabitable by baby mosquitos yet its nontoxic for animals.

Just goggle _barley straw mosquito_.

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:58 am

There's BT dunks that you float in the water http://www.ghorganics.com/MosquitoDunks.html but if it's not your pond I don't know if it would be legal. Can you call the health department and tell them you're worried about West Nile Virus and could they please do something about the mosquitos?

Or you could be doubly safe and have me over at the same time Missy comes over, and while we're both being eaten alive you can enjoy your yard!

tansy · Post by **tansy** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:54 am

I use mosquito coils which you light like incense, works really well also i have a little electronic device I hang around my neck which makes the high pitched hum of a hungry and possibly horny dragon fly. Works well for some not so well for others.
then I also spray with non-DEET Repel Lemon Eucalyptus insect repellent spray, DO NOT get in Eyes

keep fans goin' or keep movin'

"you better keep a movin' and don't stand still, if the skeeters don't getcha then the gators will"

Good luck, Tansy

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:01 am

Bats. They eat 3,000 mosquitoes an hour, I seem to remember. Bat houses are fun and easy to build and to mount. Bat population in New England has recently taken a mysterious and alarming hit, with large bat colonies in caves being particularly affected. It's a good thing particularly now to encourage bats by providing bat habitats---they are enormously beneficial and important animals.

Plans for bat houses and instructions on how and where to mount them are easily found on the web.

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:12 am

I don't know how big a pond you're talking about. We have a 'water garden' type pond, stocked with cheap goldfish. They eat any larvae that show up. You can usually buy them 10 for $1 in a pet store, and they breed quickly, and grow to be 6-8". (Of course, we also feed them fishmeal pellets).

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:36 am

Bloomfield wrote:Bats. They eat 3,000 mosquitoes an hour, I seem to remember. Bat houses are fun and easy to build and to mount. Bat population in New England has recently taken a mysterious and alarming hit, with large bat colonies in caves being particularly affected. It's a good thing particularly now to encourage bats by providing bat habitats---they are enormously beneficial and important animals.

Plans for bat houses and instructions on how and where to mount them are easily found on the web.

They are shy though, and are known for taking a couple years to get use to the presence of a new house before they actually move into it. We hung one on the maple out front a few years ago--too low, unfortunately. The second year, a woodpecker moved in and nested.
My cat Piper climbed the tree and knocked the bat house down when the babies were newly hatched and they all died. It was seriously tragic.

Bubbie · Post by **Bubbie** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:50 pm

I hate skeeters. It's the only thing that makes being outdoors in the summer intollerable for me. The only thing I hate more than the bugs is the junk that you spray or rub on your skin to keep them off. I tried putting scented dryer sheets through a couple of belt loops on my jeans or shorts and that worked pretty well to keep them away. Not perfectly, but far fewer bites than normal.

emmline wrote:Hear...I mean here:--check these out:
http://thot.cursus.edu/en/rubrique.asp?no=24413

I have been almost deaf to very high frequencies most of my life. I have perpetual tinitus in both ears ranging from a very high pitch (that I probably would never hear if it was coming from a real source, as well as a lower pitch like cicadas.) Anyway, I played both mp3's in the above link and could not hear either tone. I could, however, feel a certain strange pressure on my ear drums only when the files were playing. I asked a couple of teenagers to come into the room and they immediately asked, "What's that?" They verified they could hear both of the tones and didn't care for either one.

When I play the top end of the soprano whistle (notes A & sometimes B), people will mention that it's too loud and sometimes borders on being shrill. I wonder if I ovrcompensate on those high notes because I can't hear them as clearly as other people when they are played with less force (volume).

Now back to the skeeters . . .