4 ms·

Mosquitos are dangerous, painful and a huge nuisance for a lot of people.

jMyles 7y ago
If we're talking about the USA, mosquitos are not dangerous enough to warrant taking any action whatsoever. Of the dozens and dozens of species of mosquito, there are less than a handful that are potentially dangerous, and only in a small region, and only sometimes. There is no reason to spray chemical toxins in a yard because of mosquitos. If you want to take action to reduce mosquito numbers, start with pooling water. They are often able to breed in ruts left by vehicles driving on paths where they aren't supposed to be.
- velosol 7y ago
  Zika [1], West Nile, Encephalitis, Dengue, Chikungunya have all shown up in at least Texas and Florida in the past few years [2]. While I agree reducing pooled water is the most important vector control action you can take, it seems likely that the US will not remain immune from arboviruses in the long term. Thankfully the vast majority of cases continue to be travel-related but there are small numbers of locally-acquired disease being reported since ~2013. Which is to say in those areas at least you should most definitely wear long clothes, wear an approved repellent, and avoid sleeping in unprotected areas (rooms with open windows without screens, outdoors without netting, etc). [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html [2, and annual summaries]: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/idcu/disease/arboviral/westNile/reports/weekly/ https://www.dshs.texas.gov/idcu/disease/arboviral/westNile/r...
- blunte 7y ago
  Mosquitoes are pretty generally determined to be bad. Their value to any ecosystem is difficult to justify. However, many methods used to eliminate them have collateral damage. I want this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser If you search for videos, particularly the high speed captures, you'll be impressed.
  - ravenstine 7y ago
    Holy crap! I imagined this exact thing when I was a kid. I didn't think it had ever become a reality. Very cool.
- jawilson2 7y ago
  We put up a few bat houses in our yard this spring. We think a few have finally moved in to one. These are really supposed to help control mosquitoes.
  - jelliclesfarm 7y ago
    we have a bat house at the farm and not only do they do an excellent job patrolling..the area where they drop their poop is the best fertilised soil.
anigbrowl 7y ago
That's not a good reason to do the equivalent of carpet bombing and killing every other sort of insect life.
ansible 7y ago
I encourage people to put up bat houses, one of the mosquito's natural predators.

If we're talking about the USA, mosquitos are not dangerous enough to warrant taking any action whatsoever. Of the dozens and dozens of species of mosquito, there are less than a handful that are potentially dangerous, and only in a small region, and only sometimes. There is no reason to spray chemical toxins in a yard because of mosquitos. If you want to take action to reduce mosquito numbers, start with pooling water. They are often able to breed in ruts left by vehicles driving on paths where they aren't supposed to be.

velosol 7y ago
Zika [1], West Nile, Encephalitis, Dengue, Chikungunya have all shown up in at least Texas and Florida in the past few years [2]. While I agree reducing pooled water is the most important vector control action you can take, it seems likely that the US will not remain immune from arboviruses in the long term. Thankfully the vast majority of cases continue to be travel-related but there are small numbers of locally-acquired disease being reported since ~2013. Which is to say in those areas at least you should most definitely wear long clothes, wear an approved repellent, and avoid sleeping in unprotected areas (rooms with open windows without screens, outdoors without netting, etc). [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html [2, and annual summaries]: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/idcu/disease/arboviral/westNile/reports/weekly/ https://www.dshs.texas.gov/idcu/disease/arboviral/westNile/r...
blunte 7y ago
Mosquitoes are pretty generally determined to be bad. Their value to any ecosystem is difficult to justify. However, many methods used to eliminate them have collateral damage. I want this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser If you search for videos, particularly the high speed captures, you'll be impressed.
- ravenstine 7y ago
  Holy crap! I imagined this exact thing when I was a kid. I didn't think it had ever become a reality. Very cool.
jawilson2 7y ago
We put up a few bat houses in our yard this spring. We think a few have finally moved in to one. These are really supposed to help control mosquitoes.
- jelliclesfarm 7y ago
  we have a bat house at the farm and not only do they do an excellent job patrolling..the area where they drop their poop is the best fertilised soil.

anigbrowl 7y ago

That's not a good reason to do the equivalent of carpet bombing and killing every other sort of insect life.

ansible 7y ago

I encourage people to put up bat houses, one of the mosquito's natural predators.