YES! They are horrible. I had to be out working in the back yard for a couple of hours last week and it was like they had called in reinforcements. I figured it was just in my little area since there is a creek (probably about dried up) in the woods behind our house. I was glad I did put on some bug-repellant, even though it smells to high heaven.

I have a small Koi pond so I always have alot around early and late in the day. Ive found nothing works better than skin so soft

ESH, cause you're so sweet :)
Don't come around my house wearing Skin so Soft... I wouldn't know whether to shake your hand or hug your neck...
Haven't a problem with them YET.

Shot

I walk around with a bucket of citronella candle lit when I garden this time of year. That way I don't have to wear chemicals on my skin...

GGG

Just a quick note to GGG - my wife bought a bottle of B12 after your recommendation. She has been having bad headaches lately (no jokes here plse) and she took one and her headache disappeared, at least for the time being - Tnx GGG :)

Shot

Absolutely, I am tasty ... not sure if it is the sweet or the sour that they like! ;) I mostly don't spray myself, just slap around and deal with the bites later. I don't like to use chemicals if I don't have to. Wearing long pants helps too. I think I've gotten so many bites over the years that they don't itch as much any more. I have noticed more of the "old fashioned" mosquitos this year - the brown ones with no stripes.

Hmmm, B12 for headaches? Have to pass that along. Apparently that works well if you have a B12 deficiency, I see.

Yes! My yard was almost mosquito free earlier this year (one good thing about a drought) but 2 evenings ago I was out in the yard and was attacked and I came in with about 50 bites. Like esh, I always attract mosquitoes and my husband loves having me around because then he doesn't get bit. Sometimes I'll put on spray, but I usually just put up with it and then use the benedryl spray when I get in the house. If find that works the best.

Buford, that brings up an interesting point. I don't get bit nearly as much as my wife either by mosquitoes or ants.
If there is an ant bed around.... she will find it with her feet! Does it appear that women are more likely to get bit than men? If so - why?

Shot

we have a lot too, but tons fewer than last year, which i think is because we have cleared so much of the ivy they liked to hide in. Now they are all living in our ivy-covered neighbor's yard!

I read that hanging those dryer sheets (Bounce) from your clothing should deter them -- has anyone tried that? I don't like to spray either so I usually just wear long clothes and hope for the best.

My dad always gets bitten in preference to anyone else around. We had attributed his tastiness to the constant level of alcohol he likes to maintain in his bloodstream. Not that I am lumping all of the "tasty" in the same group, but I wonder if that is one attractant? I like a glass of wine and I am quite tasty to mosquitos too. (my 4-yr old gets bitten tons though, and he has not started drinking yet).

Anyway, I'm writing this from upstate New York (Ithaca), where they apparently have no mosquitos, its wonderful! My kids are in bed and I am sitting out on the porch of our rental cottage (with a very nice glass of local vino), not being bitten at all! (Hubby is at a conference here for a few days, so I have internet and GW for company!). We drove up here, and on Weds will drive thru the Adirondacks and over to the Maine coast. Hoping for a continued lack of mosquitoes...

Yep, there's lots. And I agree, more regular skeeters than striped. Coulda been worse though, I found a tire in my woods--got rid of it by chopping the 6" diameter mimosa growing out the middle. You can tell we run a class act over here, heh.

Had to switch to Picaridin based repellant, not DEET, cause it made me mad. No really, I was getting angry for no reason after hosing down w/30% DEET... finally saw on the label that it can 'alter mood'. Whooeee I quit that stuff!

Ma is the tasty one to all bugs, I am average, and Dad is quite untasty. In fact, bees/wasps will get irritated at him at a 30 to 40% greater distance than myself. We've done some amusing tests.

I expect them outside so I'm usually prepared but the ones in the house are horrible! I know it's only a matter of time before they find me. I cannot go to sleep if I know there is a mosquito in the room.

I, too, am one of those people that mosquitos favor. I can be hanging out with our friends living on either side of us - 7-10 of us - and I have 20 bites on me before anyone else feels a single bite. I can't even set foot in our veggie garden for ~1 minute without getting bitten (seriously) at least 2-3 times.

As a matter of fact, our springtime arugula was starting to seed out, so last night, knowing i was going to need to pull it, I hosed down my arms, legs, feet and back of my neck, rubbed it in, stepped outside. It took less than ten minutes to clear both 2' rows of arugula, and in that time frame, I found a half dozen bug bites on the front of my neck, felt at least 4-5 on the back of my head, i had three on my face, two on my forehead. These spots are the only ones I didn't put bug spray on.

You folks out there who aren't "more attractive" to mosquitos are a lucky breed indeed. I dealt with this problem as a kid, and the older I get, the worse it gets. I really, really wish there was some explanation so I could find something OTHER than bug spray to use. I've heard eating a knot of sulphur half an hour before you go out will make them stay away, but ... i've never tried it. I wish it was something that easy

I don't know if my luck will turn now that I've read this thread, but... I've found that this year there are almost NO mosquitoes and NO fleas. I mean really, almost none, I was just musing this morning that I'll be calling this the year with no bugs. I'm in Clarkston, near Decatur, I wonder what that's all about. I even got a new rain barrel this year, and I was told I should put a mosquito dunk in there because even closed up, it attracts mosquitoes, but so far so good.

hmmm Rose

mayland, HMM, I suppose mosquitoes like red wine...but seriously, I've been like this since childhood (not semi-alcoholic, mosquito bait). I do have low blood iron and am now on thyroid meds, maybe something to do with that. The mosquitoes are supposedly attracted to CO2. Who knows.

Nosy, I have screen tops for my rain barrels and that takes care of mosquitoes, no problem.

One really gross problem we were having were a lot of flies. And now I know why. Today was our garbage day and I went to clean out the garbage bin because it smelled, and there were a bunch of maggots in there. YUCK!

this thread got me interested enough to run around and see if there are answers to the burning question: what attracts mosquitoes to some more than others?

apparently, a lot. there are "attractors" and "non-attractors". certain chemical "scents" - a few dozen different ones - actually spring mosquitoes into action and prompt them to find you over another person.

one interesting factoid that i read - mosquitoes can smell a victim up to 30 miles away.

here's a link, if anyone is interested in reading more from the USDA site.... (c. Feb 2000) http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/feb00/mosq0200.htm

and here's another interesting read @ the Register which is a bit more current (c. Nov 2006): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/10/the_odd_body_mosquitos/

Thanks Satellitehead for that information.
I have reached a clusion....
If you sit in front of your puter eating a limburger cheese sandwich and then go outside for a break... a female mosquito up to 30 miles away will smell you and come and suck your blood.

Shot

ps.. I left out the bit about the socks :)

i am afraid to ask where you're putting the sock. hehe

Shot, you are so funny. My dad used to love limburger cheese. I swear he used to buy it in a wrapper that had 3 XXX's on it, lol. We dubbed it 'stinky sox cheese'.

I usually never get bothered by mosquitoes because of my thyroid - however now that it seems to be more regulated, I find them liking me more and more. My barrels are closed or get dunks in them - but the brush is growing fast in the back of our yard where the trees fell. Nothing we can do about that until the bulldozer comes. You can't drive lawnmowers back there for all the ruts and mess the machines left while taking trees out...

We had a few fleas in the house this year. Surprised the heck out of me as we have few flea loving surfaces. Boo Boo can not be bitten by anything after having cancer last year. She is on indoor quarentine for the rest of her kitty years and we have to watch her. Poor girl, i had to slime her with a Revolution and that in itself is really hard on her.

GGG