I hate mosquitoes
Does this crap work on anyone?
Our garden not only provides us with delicious produce, it also seems to be a huge feeding ground for mosquitoes. We tried to visit the garden on Saturday afternoon, just to see how things were doing, but were immediately greeted by a swarm of mosquitoes and had to head home.
We went back on Sunday just before 10:00 am, and sprayed OFF! on before going out to the garden. I also put sunscreen on (maybe that was the mistake?).
And just how many mosquito bites did I get?
Over 100
- 50+ on my butt and hips
- 15+ on each shoulder
- 10+ on each arm and leg
- A few stragglers on my face
I itch so bad.
And the ones on my butt? Visible lumps though my work pants. Awesome.
Believe me, I tried to take a picture of the damage to show you how awful it is, but the only ones that show up well are on my ass. And yeah. It’s gross without the bites, so I’ll leave that picture on the camera.
I told my mom about this and she suggested I wear a loose long-sleeved top instead of a tank top. Yeah, that would work for the few I got on my shoulders, but what explains the 50+ on my butt and hips? Okay, okay, I do understand that is the largest area and therefore, probably the easiest to feed from, but… it was obviously covered when I was working in the garden, and that did me no good!
Mosquitoes have always been really attracted to me, but this is just ridiculous.
Do mosquitoes like you? What do you do avoid them?
I was reading up on mosquitoes and learned some interesting facts:
- Mosquitoes go through four life stages – egg, larva, pupa, and adult (imago). The first three stages are aquatic and last 5-14 days. The adult life can span 1 week to 2 months. Males typically live a week and females live about 2 weeks in nature, reproducing as much as possible.
- Adult females lay their eggs in water – which can be salt-marsh, a lake, a puddle, in a plant, or even in a bucket of sitting water.
- Male mosquitoes typically feed on nectar and plant juices, but the females need to obtain nutrients from a blood meal to produce eggs.
- Mosquitoes prefer some people over others becuase their sweat has the preferred mix of carbon dioxide, octenol and other compounds.
- Mosquito bites become visible and irritable because of the body’s immune reaction to the binding antibodies to antigens in the mosquito saliva (whatever THAT means!).
- Mosquitoes carry diseases and parasites that cause millions of deaths each year. So if you don’t hear from me tomorrow, you’ll know why! Just kidding – most of these deaths are in other countries (Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and a lot of Asia).
- Dragonfly Nymphs will eat mosquitoes at all stages of development, and are quite effective in controlling populations. Bats will eat mosquitoes too, but less than 1% of their diet consists of them.
Themocracy
Matt Damon…
I just read something about mosquitos in Real Simple magazine. Pretty sure it said to use repellent with DEET to keep the mosquitoes away. Just make sure to wash it off your skin after you’re done gardening. Also, apply sunscreen first since your skin needs to absorb it and the bug spray should be on the surface.
I was going to mention that article too! 🙂 And Kim, I am a mosquito magnet. I get bit 20 times and Chris is bit none.
Oh my gosh… I get the worst reaction to mosquitos! I can’t imagine what that feels like!
An observation from growing up in swarms of mosquitoes (ok an exaggeration, but still..) in Malaysia: they like black/dark-colored clothes. The last pic I remember of you at the garden, you were something like bike shorts: maybe try wearing lighter-colored shorts? That might “even out” the body parts that are the focus of these critters, LoL! 😀
Oh, thanks for pointing that out! I was wearing dark black shorts on Sunday. Hmm.
Mosquitoes LOVE me. I console myself with the knowledge that somebody does, even if it’s an annoying insect. :p
Seriously, though — maybe you should wear a sachet of camphor around your neck!!
<3 <3
Mosquitos make me crazy! I normally swell up like crazy and it seems to last forever. The DEET stuff scares me because there are so many chemicals in it. If I do put it on myself or my kids I always make sure we take a shower and scrub it off when we come back inside.
Yesterday I was outside for a while and got bitten a bunch. What I noticed is that the bites still itched but didn’t swell up as much and went away quickly. I was thinking about this and wondering what was going on and then remembered I am on a massive dose of steroids right now. I bet that has something to do with it!
But I have no helpful suggestions. I didn’t realize bats ate so little of them. We had been talking about getting a bat house in our backyard but now I’m not sure it is worth the hassle. (?)
You should still get a bat house. That sounds fun 🙂
LMAO- your post cracked me up!!!! AH, mosquito fun facts!!!! I hate mosquitos!!! But like you, they seem to love me! Maybe I should buy stock in Off products since I use so much of the stuff!!!! I don’t have any helpful suggestions, though if you learn some please share!!!
=^..^=
All the mosquitos in my ‘hood are on “team Bobbi.” *sigh* and I have never found anything to keep them off of me. Which is why I am so NOT a gardener…
OH F*******CK MOSQUITOES. I hate those little buggers so much. They get me every time, and I swell up like nobody’s business.
You should get one of those dorky personal fans that repel mosquitoes. (Not really, I just saw this on a TV commercial.)
I found these “natural” tips: http://www.thefrugallife.com/mosquitoes.html
Maybe they’ll help?
Someone actually recommended that fan to me (at work) and I had no idea what they were talking about! I like the garlic idea though!
DEET is the master of mosquitos. Just take a shower when you get home. It won’t kill you. (Or stunt your growth. Ha!) Also, taking a quantity of B vitamins over time helps. I used to do that before I went to the Boundary Waters – you kind of have to build it up. But at this point, just get the big guns repellent found in the hunting section of any sporting goods store. It works like a charm.
I’ve been taking some B vitamins for awhile now. Hmm. I wonder why that’s not doing any good.
As someone who is looking at about 25 bites on her legs right now (even though I was outside in workout capris), I can totally relate. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to help since obviously I do not want 25 bites on my legs. I had OFF on, for the record, and always put it on even though it doesn’t seem to do much good. I have also heard dryer sheets keep them away (tuck into your waistband) and that a bowl/plate of dish detergent will attract them to that (instead of you) but I haven’t tried either.
If you are still itching and the swelling won’t go down after another day or so, I really do recommend a trip to the urgent care clinic. I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 bites a couple of years ago on Memorial Day weekend. (I acquired these on Friday and Saturday combined) Well, Monday morning I woke up swollen and itching and feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. The bites were just as red as they were 3 days ago. I called my mom crying(!) and later ended up at the urgent care where they promptly gave me TWO shots in my butt (ouch!), one cortisone and one something else. They also prescribed me a steroid pack and gave me samples of 3% hydrocortisone (the stuff in the stores is usually around 1%). The doc told me that my body was not fighting off the poison b/c I had so many bites in such a short time frame. The residual butt pain and pink cheeks from the steroids were SO worth it…I started feeling better within a day…and I am not one to just pop pills whenever I am feeling a little uncomfortable.
I hope you feel better SOON!!
Oh gosh! Thanks for the tip. I will have to keep that in mind if mine do not get better.
I hope your leg is not feeling too itchy!
Vinegar works too, or at least it does for us. Spraying ourselves (and Rocky!) down with some apple cider vinegar. Yes it stinks. Yes it smells like vinegar or old socks but it dissipates quickly. You will have to reapply it but it worked for us.
Look at all your fresh produce! That’s fantastic! 😀
i have heard that those hokey looking fans that you clip onto yourself work wonders. my dad literally cannot get west-nile or else it would mean some worse things for him than with most people and he wears one of those and has not gotten bit yet.
Mosquitos love me 🙁 The best stuff includes DEET but that isn’t the best for your skin. I have recently seen sunscreen with mosquito repellent but haven’t tried it.
Over 100??? Yikes!!
The mosquitoes seem especially bad this year. I don’t remember getting bit this much last summer. I have quite a few, too. The worst part for me is that they swell up and when I scratch the bites they burst open, scab over, and scar. I try not to scratch but sometimes my finger just go there unconsciously!
The same happens to me! I seem to scratch them in my sleep.
I have tons of scars on my legs from mosquito bites growing up. Those who do not scratch are very well disciplined!
When I was in high school (in the stone ages) and spent summers camping outside, with little reprieve from the elements, we always took a daily B12 vitamin. It helps make your skin repellent to the biters. Not sure if that advice has changed or not … might be worth looking into.
I should look in to that. There is B12 in the B-50 Complex I take…
Ah that sucks about the bites! I actually found the mosquito facts really interesting (science nerdddd over here) 😀
Maybe you should try an anti-bug lotion??
I didn’t know they made those! I will have to check it out!
That sucks about the mosquitoes. They like me too.
You could try Skin So Soft for a non-repellent repellent. Smells pretty strong, but then so do bug sprays.
Also, check for areas of standing water around your garden and dump it out/fill it in if you can.
Mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors as someone said above, so light colored clothes might help.
You need a portable bug zapper! : ) I hope the itchiness goes away for you soon!
Oh no!!
I HATE mosquitoes. With a passion! There are so many of them where I’m from, you can’t enjoy an evening outside because you’ll get swarmed! Luckily, where I live now, it’s mostly too hot for them in the summer so I don’t see as many or get as many bites as I used to. I know there is some sort of ointment you can buy that makes the bites itch less.
As for keeping them off of you and away from your garden. There is some sort of “lamp-type thing” that you can buy that has a smell that it emits that they don’t like. You might want to look up to getting some things like that to put around your garden and keep them away!!
Mosquitoes love me. LOVE ME. And this summer they have been horrible, even with the spraying we pay for on our block. Sometimes I really miss Chicago on summer nights when I could wear shorts and sleeveless tops and not worry about getting bitten repeatedly … or worse, having them get into the house and bite me in my sleep.
Living in Phoenix means we literally don’t go outside in the summer (it will be 115 degrees by Thursday) so never have to worry about getting bit. Now, back when I lived in Europe, I used to get bitten to death when we went on our family vacations to Spain. Ah, good times.
I HATE mosquitoes!! They suck! I get eaten alive every summer. My dad on the other hand hasnt been bitten for like 30 years. Not even kidding. He rode his bike across Canada when he was younger, and the bites he got – insane. On his neck alone there were over 200. But its like all that made him immune. He has not been bitten since.
F’ing mosquitoes. We had them pretty bad in KC. I am pretty convinced that i’ll only be good for 1 kid with as much OFF that I put on. Worse that those, were the chiggers that we had. They would get int he most unfortunate places (read: crotch).