Mosquitos

frankenyoter

frankenyoter

No Rain, No Rainbow
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Location
DARK CITY
Tis the season for the return of unwanted bugs. I have trees and brush on the edges of my yard. Yard has a nice lawn. I don't have standing water, tires full of water, etc but I do have a fierce mosquito population. You almost need to run for cover at dusk during the summer. I have a toddler and want to reduce the mosquito population as much as possible to reduce exposure to to my family. I would prefer to abate the fawkers without using potentially toxic chemicals.

Any ideas or suggestions? I have heard bat houses and citronella plants as options. As a last resort I have Terminex, but would rather not poison where the family and dogs hang out.
 
Heard these make it like mosquitos don't exist in your yard... http://www.skeeter-vac-depot.com/ Have the same yard setup and problem as you. Looking into buying one of these, or hopefully hearing some other solutions (hopefully cheaper).
 
Go to the hardware store and get a couple of bottles of insecticide. The ones that screw onto the garden hose are best. Coat EVERYTHING, paying particular attention to the little shady/out of the way places. Spray the gutters. Get rid of absolutely anything that holds any rainwater. It only takes a couple of tablespoons of water to breed mosquitos.

Spray the shit in your neighbor's yard when they're not looking.

Repeat every two weeks.
 
johnski said:
Heard these make it like mosquitos don't exist in your yard... http://www.skeeter-vac-depot.com/ Have the same yard setup and problem as you. Looking into buying one of these, or hopefully hearing some other solutions (hopefully cheaper).
Click to expand...

I did a lot of research on them a few years back. There's a "better" one than that, but it was still expensive, didn't work for all species, and was highly dependent on external factors for success (shape of your yard, where you sit/play/etc in relation to mosquito breeding/resting areas)

Nothing really eats mature mosquitoes, either. So don't waste your time on bird or bat houses, unless you just really want some birds and bats living around.
 
I use this: Mosquito Authority http://www.bugsbite.com/

cost me $500 for them to spray april till nov..

works great and all last year we had no mosquito's .. for me it is $500 cost for my kids to be bite free and play all year in the backyard.. and when i work in garage it sure is nice not to be bitten..

my kids are home every day from 1pm on so they play outside a lot.. totally worth it..


PS: if anyone in raleigh uses them please tell them Ken Carter referred you :)
 
one thing I forgot to add. is if they spray and the bugs come back before the 21 day next spray they will come respray for free..
 
I have never had a problem with them until this year. I have seen more of them this year than in the last 25.
 
I can vouch for the Mosquito Authority guys - gave me my yard back! The chemical is a derivative from the Chrysanthemum plant, and has been used for decades in the dairy cow, horse barn, dog spraying, etc. areas. The guys who spray it don't wear masks or any protective clothing it's so safe. Recommend them highly.
 
Tough thing about this area for sure. Whenever we have a bbq or something I spray the backyard with that cutter shit they sell at HD. Supposed to last 4 weeks, lasts about a day and a half, but for that time frame it works for sure. My neighbor swears by this "Mosquito ban usa" place, even has a sign in his yard. Somebody might have mentioned that earlier, but I'm giving them a call this week.

Sidenote: It was a beautiful thing this morning turkey hunting in my blind, with (counted) over 20 'skeeters on the mesh...JUST BEGGING FOR A TASTE!
 
shawn said:
I did a lot of research on them a few years back. There's a "better" one than that, but it was still expensive, didn't work for all species, and was highly dependent on external factors for success (shape of your yard, where you sit/play/etc in relation to mosquito breeding/resting areas)

Nothing really eats mature mosquitoes, either. So don't waste your time on bird or bat houses, unless you just really want some birds and bats living around.
Click to expand...


Who told you that? I'm a wildlife technician and it is coincidental that I got an email about bats today. Here is a paragraph from my email which came from one of our biologists...



"Bats are important to ecosystems worldwide, including in North Carolina. They have an enormous impact on controlling insect populations. A nursing female bat may consume almost her entire body weight in insects in one night, including insects that harm crops and forests. The U.S. Geological Service estimates that loss of bats in North America could lead to agricultural losses exceeding $3.7 billion annually."





Got any idea how many mosquitoes it takes to equal the weight of a nursing female bat?
 
Nissan11 said:
"Bats are important to ecosystems worldwide, including in North Carolina. They have an enormous impact on controlling insect populations. A nursing female bat may consume almost her entire body weight in insects in one night, including insects that harm crops and forests. The U.S. Geological Service estimates that loss of bats in North America could lead to agricultural losses exceeding $3.7 billion annually."

Got any idea how many mosquitoes it takes to equal the weight of a nursing female bat?
Click to expand...

I used to have a neighbor that was a biologist. She said that bats "can" eat mosquitoes, but they really don't. Mosquitoes are pretty insubstantial. Bats would rather hunt big fat moths and flies and stuff that's calorie dense than chase after dozens or hundreds of tiny mosquitoes.

She said that adult mosquitoes don't have any significant predators.
 
i get the bat bit but you have to consider mosquitos aren't the only bug flying about. If one rolls up on a mothera I guarentee they'll be snacking on that vs. 1000 mosquitos. Risk vs. reward.

edit: hey jabber jaws how about letting me finish before you try and steal my thunder :flipoff2:
 
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Good points, but if you guys have yards with raging clouds of mosquitoes like you say you do, I would damn sure welcome a bat or seven.
 
Nissan11 said:
Good points, but if you guys have yards with raging clouds of mosquitoes like you say you do, I would damn sure welcome a bat or seven.
Click to expand...

I have bats and we were still getting eatin up by the damn mosquitos..

that is why we now pay and enjoy the backyard all year now..

we still have other bugs that the bats can eat.. so they are not starving :)
 
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