Mosquitos

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Sonora desert scorpion study says the big ones are worse than the small ones. Authorities used to say the opposite. Link to article.
-crofter

https://chemlatte.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/scorpions-in-yuma/amp/

Link to article.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5678389/

The public health researchers say the critters are located in town, while the Sonora Desert researchers go out into the desert to find theirs. I wonder if the town critters and the country critters are genetically the same? -c
 
When I went to Alaska several times, there used to be a powder called Buhach, it was dried chrysanthemum flowers I believe. It was a neurotoxin to insects but supposedly safe for mammals. It had been around since the gold rush days on late 1800s-early 1900s. Id take a bit out of the cardboard can with a knife and put it in the metal friction lid, then light it with a match, it would smolder and smoke, the smoke slaying vast numbers of mosquitoes that came into contact with it. Once when stopping for the night at Haines Jct, the swarms were so thick I had to walk very briskly to keep them behind me so I could brush my teeth. They were clouding around the dog also. When i got in the back of my toyota with shell (as fast as i could) about 50 or 60 mosquitoes got in with me. A flyswatter got some, then I burned a bit of Buhach, and wiped out the rest.

A flyswatter on a wrist cord is pretty handy at times in camp for slaying horse flies and mosquitoes. I like to keep them clean so the fly guts cooties dont contaminate anything.

Whatever the perceived issues with Deet, it does seem to work well, so I use it without hesitation whenever in the mountains and its mosquito season. Bens 100 was popular in Fairbanks, so thats wheat Ive used since for the most part. 100% Deet. Dang right. :D
 
Malamute said:
When I went to Alaska several times, there used to be a powder called Buhach, it was dried chrysanthemum flowers I believe. It was a neurotoxin to insects but supposedly safe for mammals. It had been around since the gold rush days on late 1800s-early 1900s. Id take a bit out of the cardboard can with a knife and put it in the metal friction lid, then light it with a match, it would smolder and smoke, the smoke slaying vast numbers of mosquitoes that came into contact with it. Once when stopping for the night at Haines Jct, the swarms were so thick I had to walk very briskly to keep them behind me so I could brush my teeth. They were clouding around the dog also. When i got in the back of my toyota with shell (as fast as i could) about 50 or 60 mosquitoes got in with me. A flyswatter got some, then I burned a bit of Buhach, and wiped out the rest.

A flyswatter on a wrist cord is pretty handy at times in camp for slaying horse flies and mosquitoes. I like to keep them clean so the fly guts cooties dont contaminate anything.

Whatever the perceived issues with Deet, it does seem to work well, so I use it without hesitation whenever in the mountains and its mosquito season. Bens 100 was popular in Fairbanks, so thats wheat Ive used since for the most part. 100% Deet. Dang right.  :D
Click to expand...

Wow.  It makes one wonder how animals survive in the wild with all those pests..
Some area of Yosimite National Park have pretty bad mosquito problems IIRC.  At least last time I was there (long time ago)
 
PeterPiper said:
Wow.  It makes one wonder how animals survive in the wild with all those pests..
Some area of Yosimite National Park have pretty bad mosquito problems IIRC.  At least last time I was there (long time ago)
Click to expand...

 I think that there are shorter periods of intense mosquito and black fly infestations that vary by location and how the local conditions are that contribute to bad bug years. Moose reportdely go out in lakes to escape them at times. i think some animals roll in mud to help somewhat, but many just suffer through it.
 
" I think that there are shorter periods of intense mosquito and black fly infestations that vary by location"

hahahaha yeah in Alaska it's called spring, summer, and fall. Those 3 months are killer. LOL

Highdesertranger
 
highdesertranger said:
hahahaha yeah in Alaska it's called spring,  summer,  and fall.  Those 3 months are killer.  LOL
Click to expand...

Their so mean up there because of the short season.  I heard that they travel in gangs; hold their victim down so they can suck them dry.
 
No one has talked about the diseases that they are now spreading. It can be very serious and apparently working it’s way up the east coast of America, is lime disease connected to mosquitoes? I got a very positive outcome from a mosquito invasion, story. We were camped along the Liard river under the bridge on the Alaska highway. There were a lot of signs of bears so we lowered the poptop to sleep, not sure how they got in, we thought through the vents, but not long after going to bed they started buzzing, and it grew louder, we set a mosquito net inside the van that didn’t seem to help, we were not that far out of Watson lake so we decided that sleeping in town, where they likely sprayed would be are only chance of survival so we packed up and left. It is 1 in the morning, midnight sun ish, dusk like lighting , we drive out of our spot windows open onto the highway, a big grizzly is sitting there chewing on dandelions, a mile down the road another, then a fox, a group of Bisson rolling in the dust, another bear then a albino bear almost pink in colour, I can’t remember how many bears in the short drive into town but at least seven, it was magical. Got to Watson lake parked up on the street slept till late no mosquitoes.
 
Scott3569 said:
Or what do you use if anything?
Click to expand...
The Thermacell is very effective, especially in a no/low wind situation... given the chance of nasties from mossy bites, it would be a good thing to have if entering their territory.. of course who know what if it does anything to us in the process..???  ( now to see other's reactions)
 
I use a natural spray called detur - mainly spearmint and geranium oils. I have used it for 3 + years with great success. But I am no in the UP of Michigan. It has worked in Florida last winter into spring also.
 
Lyme disease is spread mostly by ticks not mosquitos, IIRC.
Just because the mosquitos are biting doesn't mean the ticks aren't biting too! 
And the scorpions (yikes, Crofter).
 
highdesertranger said:
" I think that there are shorter periods of intense mosquito and black fly infestations that vary by location"

hahahaha yeah in Alaska it's called spring,  summer,  and fall.  Those 3 months are killer.  LOL

Highdesertranger
Click to expand...

 I was at the same place near Haines Jct at other times and it wasnt nearly thjat bad. I was in various places from june to early sept and they varied a lot in how bad skeeters were at different times. My friend that had lived around Fairbanks and Glenn Allen 12 or 15 years said much the same, some years were worse, some times of the year worse, and some for skeeters, some for black flies (white sox?) and for no-see-ums. Seems like the white sox liked to get into your hairline then start biting.

flying kurbmaster said:
... not sure how they got in, we thought through the vents, but not long after going to bed they started buzzing, and it grew louder, we set a mosquito net inside the van that didn’t seem to help...
Click to expand...

 No-see-ums can go through mosquito netting, are you sure they were skeeters, or just noisy biting bugs in the dark?
 
Mosquitoes and Diseases: A-Z
https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/about/diseases.html

Viruses
Cache Valley
Chikungunya
Dengue
Eastern equine encephalitis
Jamestown Canyon
Japanese encephalitis
La Crosse encephalitis
Rift Valley fever
Ross River virus disease
St. Louis encephalitis
West Nile
Yellow fever
Zika

Parasites
Dirofilariasis (dog heartworm)
Lymphatic filariasis
Malaria
 
Malamute said:
 


 No-see-ums can go through mosquito netting, are you sure they were skeeters, or just noisy biting bugs in the dark?
Click to expand...
No they were definitely mosquitoes, I think the buzzing outside the net was driving us as crazy as the bitting there were so many inside the van that night. Another time I was camped with a motorbike, I sat up reading a book at a picnic table and kept scratching /rubbing my sandeled feet around the ankles, the next day I was all swollen up from sand fly bites it took weeks for them to go away, I think they are worse then mosquitoes or I reacted to them worse then I react to mosquitoes.
 
I once worked for a mosquito control district. Talked with plenty of ranchers who had been instrumental in setting it up. Apparently, both cows and horses can die from intense mosquito concentrations. They get so maddened that they stop eating, and they start to avoid water sources, because of the biting. 

I had no idea.
 
Is there a safe excellent mosquito repellent/killer for inside then van/RV that doesn't need to be plugged in or need refills. USB I can do. I found this interesting and fun but expensive.

https://www.bzigo.com/product/bzigo...Aetcy7GhrSC5m3mq84g_HVGeZ9tETDicaAsVhEALw_wcB

They make their way inside not a lot one here one there. The inside exhaust fan helps suck them to the screen. Then I dispose of them.

I did get 4 bites on one night. That was scary. I think it was because of where I was boondocked at the time. And then I went to the local shop to find something for inside. Those refill things. I don't want to keep buying refills. I read they don't last long.

Wash my dog more in often with that smell they don't like. Lol

Just saw this

https://www.amazon.com/Zapper-Elect...365010173-B0C7V52DZ5-&hvexpln=73&gad_source=1
 
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