Dang Mosquitoes!

[Lammie]

Why are they worse now than they were all summer??? I have mosquitoes the size of ponies. Every time you walk out the door they pounce. It has been dry here. I can't find any standing water on the place. I don't know where they are coming from. Ladies, ever shave your legs and run over a mosquitoe bite? I thought I was going to need a transfusion! It's almost October, for Pete's sake!

 

[Jalopy]

Now those are big skeeters ... the size of ponies.... but then I guess everything is bigger in Texas. :lol:

But on the flip side i am amazed how few mosquitoes we have had this year. I figured with all the early summer rains we had that we would be inundated by them but we have been able to use our front porch and back deck as much as we wanted. We have had flies and recently noseeums but haven't been bothered by skeeters.

Oh well we are getting cooler weather and a frost within the month will take care of them all.

 

[Lammie]

These are the size, really, of house flies. If you swat one you will need a spill kit to clean up the mess. You have to wonder who else's blood you are getting on you when you swat one. I'd rather not think of that...

 

[bigbull338]

yes the skeeters are pretty bad.an they will bite the crapp out of you.

 

[Jogeephus]

These are the size, really, of house flies. If you swat one you will need a spill kit to clean up the mess. You have to wonder who else's blood you are getting on you when you swat one. I'd rather not think of that...

Those sound like the tropical ones that probably blew in with the hurricane. We had some of those from our last storm. Thankfully they can't survive here for some reason. But you are right, the first time you slap one they will just get teed off. Second slap normally does them in.

 

[perda04]

Harbor Freight ( Importers of cheap chinese cr*p ) has electric flyswatters. Picture a tennis racket loaded with d-cell batteries. ho-boy this is fun. If you listen hard you can hear the mosquitoes scream before their wings catch on fire.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=40122

 

[Lammie]

Can you use that on unruley kids? I might like to try that out on my back porch.

Fleas are bad all of a sudden, too. I don't get it. It has been pretty mild here but no rain since Ike. I could use a good rain. Or a bad one...

 

[john250]

Harbor Freight ( Importers of cheap chinese cr*p ) has electric flyswatters. Picture a tennis racket loaded with d-cell batteries. ho-boy this is fun. If you listen hard you can hear the mosquitoes scream before their wings catch on fire.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=40122

Is that even remotely safe?

 

[Lammie]

Sounds like them that needs to be killed with a 22. We rented a house once in South Carolina on the beach at Myrtle Beach. There was a palmetto bug that got inside the house. Shot the bugger with a 22 pistol and it just looked at me like you arsehole. I had to keep beating it and beating it with a hammer to kill it. I hope them skeeters aint like that.

We call them water bugs or water roaches around here. When we lived in student housing we didn't use the a/c a lot and slept with the windows open. We had our bed by the window and sometimes those things would come inside and get in the bed clothes. You talk about waking in the middle of the night screaming!!! You could beat one with a wingtip shoe and it would keep going. Spray one with insecticide and it would turn and charge you. Squish one and it is full of brown gook. I hate them. I would rather have snakes.

 

[john250]

Shot the bugger with a 22 pistol and it just looked at me like you arsehole. I had to keep beating it and beating it with a hammer to kill it.

Spray one with insecticide and it would turn and charge you.

I'm seeing a pattern here. When Insects Attack. Are we sure altered states weren't part of these tales? :banana: :banana:
You guys better order an electric fly swatter.

 

[grannysoo]

We have some of those same skeeters too. Takes 3 men and a small boy to kill one of them..........

Not a puddle to breed in anywhere, dry as a bone, and enough skeeters to tote you off in the evenings. Beats all I have ever seen.

Let's just hope it stays dry thru Monday so I can get up the rest of the hay I have on the ground!

 

[backhoeboogie]

You guys better order an electric fly swatter.

Purple Martins are the answer. They eat tons of them every day. The only time you have problems is when the Martins migrate out.

 

[perda04]

Safety notes for the day:

Don't pee on an electric fence after someone tells you it's hot.

Don't lick the electric grid on this thing when you have the button pressed.

Harbor Freight ( Importers of cheap chinese cr*p ) has electric flyswatters. Picture a tennis racket loaded with d-cell batteries. ho-boy this is fun. If you listen hard you can hear the mosquitoes scream before their wings catch on fire.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=40122

Is that even remotely safe?

I didn't have to get a permit for it or wait 7 days.

 

[KenB]

Purple Martins are the answer. They eat tons of them every day. The only time you have problems is when the Martins migrate out.

Dragonflies eat way more mosquitoes, Purple Martins eat Dragonflies.

Martins, like all swallows, are aerial insectivores. They eat only flying insects, which they catch in flight. Their diet is diverse, including dragonflies, damselflies, flies, midges, mayflies, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, June bugs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, bees, wasps, flying ants, and ballooning spiders. Martins are not, however, prodigious consumers of mosquitoes as is so often claimed by companies that manufacture martin housing. An intensive 7-year diet study conducted at PMCA headquarters in Edinboro, PA, failed to find a single mosquito among the 500 diet samples collected from parent martins bringing beakfuls of insects to their young. The samples were collected from martins during all hours of the day, all season long, and in numerous habitats, including mosquito-infested ones. Purple Martins and freshwater mosquitoes rarely ever cross paths. Martins are daytime feeders, and feed high in the sky; mosquitoes, on the other hand, stay low in damp places during daylight hours, or only come out at night. Since Purple Martins feed only on flying insects, they are extremely vulnerable to starvation during extended periods of cool and/or rainy weather.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Purple Martins are the answer. They eat tons of them every day. The only time you have problems is when the Martins migrate out.

Dragonflies eat way more mosquitoes, Purple Martins eat Dragonflies.

Martins, like all swallows, are aerial insectivores. They eat only flying insects, which they catch in flight. Their diet is diverse, including dragonflies, damselflies, flies, midges, mayflies, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, June bugs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, bees, wasps, flying ants, and ballooning spiders. Martins are not, however, prodigious consumers of mosquitoes as is so often claimed by companies that manufacture martin housing. An intensive 7-year diet study conducted at PMCA headquarters in Edinboro, PA, failed to find a single mosquito among the 500 diet samples collected from parent martins bringing beakfuls of insects to their young. The samples were collected from martins during all hours of the day, all season long, and in numerous habitats, including mosquito-infested ones. Purple Martins and freshwater mosquitoes rarely ever cross paths. Martins are daytime feeders, and feed high in the sky; mosquitoes, on the other hand, stay low in damp places during daylight hours, or only come out at night. Since Purple Martins feed only on flying insects, they are extremely vulnerable to starvation during extended periods of cool and/or rainy weather.

I respectfully disagree with the study based on my experiences.