Mosquitoes: How to get RID of them

N

Nomad

Guest
A family...more liike a neighborhood...of mosquitoes moved under my front porch. So, no one can stand at my front door comfortably. IN addition, now and again...at least one gets in the door. Last night, one was in my bedrroom and bit me all over. I am GROUCHY! Benadryl rubbed on the bites helps.
I would like to kill off the little intruders out on the porch. I have been spraying a few times a week and it isn't working out ideally. I think they live under the porch, but I can't reach them. Any ideas? Any of those zapping things work?
 

WhymeMom?

No real answers to life..
They like wet places so is there anyway you can dry out the place? I think they also sell foggers which I would aim under your porch if you think that's the problem....Get used to the smell of citronella?
 

nvts

Active Member
Hi! Watch out for bug zappers! A lot of people don't realize that you can't hang them near their houses because they attract bugs. The theory is that the bugs are attracted to them, get too close and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAPPPP! They're done. However, if it's near your front door, they could just as easily fly into the house. So you'd actually be hanging out a welcome sign to a lot of bugs.

Mosquitos breed in standing water, so if you're getting mosquitos under the stairs in droves, there's water pooling somewhere and standing to allow the larvae to hatch. You need to figure out if there's standing water in there.

Then, I did a search under "natural mosquito killers" and aside from breeding bats or purple martins, there's a host of natural bug killers to choose from. If you're not worried about natural, blast the heck out of them with Orkin or Terro products!

But the main thing will be drying up the spots underneath. Otherwise, the current gang will die with the pesticides, but once the water clears, they'll be back!

Good luck!

Beth
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Is there any water under there? Adult mozzies like shady, humid places. But they love pools of water to lay their eggs in. If you have pools of water you can either empty out the water, or spray oil on it. The thin film of oil on the water suffocates the wrigglers, which are air breathers. They have a snorkel in their tail which they use to breathe.

Another possible mozzie killer (I haven't tested this, but the theory is right) is to add a couple of drops of detergent to the water. This breaks the surface tension and should also stop the wrigglers from successfully using the surface tension to hold their snorkel in place.

Choose whichever will be safest to whatever needs that water.

The dog's water bowl shouldn't be a problem, if the water gets changed daily.

Outside, mozzies tend to bite more at dusk and sunrise. So strong suggestion - wear a good repellent and/or cover your limbs.

Indoors, screens on windows and doors are a good investment. Most Sydney houses have them almost as standard.
If your bedroom does not have screened windows, then maybe you will have to shut your window at bedtime. Before you go to bed - every night go carefully around the room with the spray, and spray every mozzie you see aiming for a direct hit with a short, sharp burst of spray. Look on the ceiling and the walls. And if you hear a mozzie in the night tat you missed - get up and do it again, or you will get bitten in your sleep. Again.

Mozzie zappers are not foolproof but are maybe better than nothing. There are chemical patches you can get which fit into plugs that you can plug in and switch on. Also there are mosquito coils which you can light and leave burning, they smell like burning hair. Or you can wear mozzie repellent to bed.

I've also heard of a gadget which emits a high-pitched whine which sounds exactly like a male mosquito. Apparently female mozzies avoid the males until it's mating time.

Spraying in the general area, outdoors, every few days, will not do a darn thing against mozzies. You might get one or two but more can fly in a few minutes later after the spray has dissipated.

We have a lot of mozzies where we live. Further into the town there aren't many at all. We think a lot of ours come from a brackish lagoon on the headland, and we're the nearest human habitation to the lagoon. Just about everyone in our street has a big mozzie problem.

Do you have a fishpond? Does it have fish in it? If not, get some. Your fishpond could be the mozzie breeding ground. Stocking it with fish should solve the mozzie problem. Just make sure any fish have safe shelter, from anything that could hunt them. We've got a number of water plants in our pond, plus we have frogs which are eating the wrigglers.

Good luck. I hate mozzies.

Marg
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
You have my sympathies! I posted a week ago that they are like crazy around here. One of the in homes that comes to our house said she felt like she needed a net to get from her car to our house!

Someone told us today that apple cider vinegar is suppose to work well on mosquito bites.
 
Nomad,

Check for shallow puddles of water - they can be in plant pot bottoms, gutters, drain pipes , and holes in trees. Empty the water - and if you can't empty the water you can buy "doughnuts" of chemicals that kill the larvae to place in the puddle. You can usually find the "doughnuts" at the hardware store.

We had horrible problems here before our last two drought years. We had the county extension agent come to our neighborhood to investigate and he said our problem was mosquitoes in the trees! Any hole in a tree - or place where a branch has fallen off can harbor enough water for the pests to breed. Because we couldn't do anything about the trees (we have way too many old oaks in our neighborhood) we resorted to fogging when we wanted to be outside for a while.
 

ScentofCedar

New Member
If you find the standing water where they are breeding, a tablespoon of vegetable oil will coat the surface of the water, preventing oxygen from entering the water, and preventing the hatchlings who do survive from leaving the pool.

Also, no mosquito will lay eggs in the oil-coated water.

You will need to re-oil the water every month or so ~ more often if it rains really hard.

We tried this in a rain barrel we had at the lake. It worked. We have heard too that a martin house will attract mosquito-eating martins. (I think that is what they are called.)

Barbara
 

tinamarie1

Member
around here, you see alot of Martin houses... (bird houses for those specific birds) , they must work. be thankful you don't have deerflys like we do...ugh! they hurt worse than a horsefly bite and they will swarm you. ahhh the joys of living in the country.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
Yes, you can get bat houses, or build them, and put them up on the South side of the house, high up.

I haven't been bothered in years, and I was always one to get great big welts. I think they don't like the garlic supplement I started taking. Luckily, husband takes it too, so it doesn't bother him...
 
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