val50

we tried sitting outside in our garden here in Bedford, NS tonight but had to come inside as we were being bitten to bits by mossies - even the cat got bit Don't remember them being a problem this late in the year before, but maybe it's because we had much more rain than usual in August.
Usually some pretty strong insect repellent we got from South Africa keeps them at bay, but they must be super resilient this year as I'm covered in big red lumps that itch like anything

Dave+Jules

Same here in Fredericton NB. We have had a pretty successful year with a Mega-Mosquito Catcher. It has kept the numbers down and pretty much sitting on the deck without repellent. But this weekend has seen them out in greater numbers and while cutting some dead tree's down I received at least 10-12 bites on my back!

So lots of repellent and citronella lamps on tonight while we sat by the fire. That seemed to do the trick no bites tonight

AndyBCbound

Citronella all the way!!

tracys

Just been surfing for info on mossie repellants, (skeeter vacs and magnets, etc). Came accross an advert for a mosquito repelling ultrasonic watch! Has anyone heard of these, or maybe even tried using one? Are they for real, and do they work?
If so will be investing in one each for my lot!

BristolUK

Really?
I thought citronella lamps/candles had been discredited

AndyBCbound

What the F**k is a skeeter Vac, sound like a new fangled dyson

tracys

Check out www.northlineexpress.com

All sorts of mossie killing items available!

hudd

[QUOTE=Caimas;6710437]Just reading this post and very interested in it. We lived in Australia for a year, and after the initial feasting, seem to remember they didn't seem to be a major problem.

Would any of you say it spoils your time in Canada and dare I say, look back to the delights of the good old British summer? It really does sound dreadful. Or do you really just get used to it - like we do over here with our brollies, macs etc. Just grumble but keep going? No real problem with bugs just lack of any real dose of sunshine.

(For those of you who don't remember, wet, unpredictable and more or less always disappointing, even though you know how it usually is)!!!!

Caimas

We found the mozzies were not bad living in Calgary. We then moved to Langdon , Alberta and someone had put a sign saying "The Land of The Mosquito" on the Hamlet sign, so you know what there area was like to live. Drainage ditches on the development made excellent breeding ground for mozzies. The only benefit was that my boys could catch small frogs that feed on the mozzies.
We spent the next summer living on the Prairies and my parents were visiting from England and my mother asked whats that grey haze. It was clouds of mozzies, so spent most of 1999 summer in doors.

We moved to the Ottawa Valley and spent 6.5 years and would say half the summers were ok for blackflies and mozzies. The wet summers were not much fun and still remember my father inlaw running up and down our garden trying to escape from the mozzies. Poor old boy came out in huge lumps.

We back in England and prefer the cool/wet summers rather than extreme heat/humid/mozzies. I wish August was a bit warmer, but still has not stopped the family from being outside or going places.
As for your question about mozzies spoiling your summers in Canada, I would say they were more of an annoyance and only really one summer out of 9 was that bad to make us stay indoors because of a mozzies. We found heat/humid in summer more restrictive i.e heatstroke/sunstroke.

hudd

cadpah

Things must have changed in England. I left the West Midlands in '82 for Toronto, and I have never seen or been bitten by one over there or here. Come to that nobody I know over there has encountered one either.

hudd

cadpah

Mozzies need clean stagnant water which is commonly found in rural areas both in Canada and England. Cities tend to have very few mozzies and not tend not to be s real a problem. I can remember hiring an Engineer from Toronto who could not believe the amount of Blackflys/Mozzies in the Ottawa Valley in summer.

As for mozzies in England we had them in a previous rental, due to the an old swimming pool in the garden not being chemically dosed. We had dozens of mozzies in the house at night. Dyson vacuums are good mozzie catcher. A crow bar through the lining of the pool got rid of our mozzie problem.

hudd

beeginger

old tip of my mums, we have always done it abroad in europe

take brewers yeast tablets.

all three of us together, this year have only been bitten twice and me NOT AT ALL yyeaaahhhhh. even though we sit out every night enjoying the heat or the storms

Beastie

We tend to use After Bite and found that Tiger Balm works really well too. Have to mention though that it shouldn't be used if the skin has been broken by you scratching too hard!

For those of you in the UK who are planning on going out to Canada whilst mozzie population are still active I picked up a 3 jar pack of Tiger Balm from Poundland this afternoon, one jar in Boots is close to £5. I do love a bargain


Lynne

dinger24

This is a bit of an old post here but thought I would add to it!
Been all over the world where the mosquito likes to eat ya! Years ago an old sweat told me this method and it works!
The mosquito senses warm blood (or smells it) to combat this eat garlic! Yes Garlic - only a small amount! Now remember the scary black and white movies when you were kids - Dracula liked the blood until you hit him on the nose with garlic! - well I am telling you that old wives tle is true!
Just a small amount daily will reduce the amount of bites, if not stop it. If you have a bad reaction to the bites it will again help reduce this effect.
Do not use the odorless tablets - they dont work!
It will not stop it completely but in some ppl it stops, and almost all see a much reduced reaction and a lot less occurence of getting a bite!

LotteW

This yes!

It is the only thing that seems to keept hem away from me - I must smell extra sweet to them or something because I get bitten even THROUGH my clothes when the rest of my family are totally ignored. And I react to them and swell up too - but the garlic seems to keepthem off me.

AlexInBC

Ermm - would one of these "all over the world where the mosquito likes to eat ya" places have been Canada, because, believe me - they're a law unto themselves here and nothing short of DEET will deter the buggers in BC, that's for sure. We rarely eat a meal that doesn't contain fresh garlic and they're still relentless