Dougster75

Er... this sounds like a daft question but we've found a house that checks all the right boxes for us size, location, price-wise etc. etc. but a bayou runs behind the back fence (and it's not a huge yard). A Houston-based friend thought that the mosquitoes there might be worse than anywhere else due to the bayou.

Does anyone have any experience of living by one of those things and is it any worse than anywhere else?

I know this probably should be tacked onto the "Is Houston sh!t or not?" thread...

Cheers,

Doug.

Englishtart

The mozzies will be much worse the closer you are to 'standing water', so if you are, they will be

tonrob

Hey - the poll has spoken - Houston is lovely.

And if there are mosquitoes there then they'll be really nice ones.

Ozzidoc

Well, that was your interpretation

MrEmjoy

Wonder if you could get some flow into the water some how...


Then again what the ***** is a bayou...the description on Wikipedia is a bit 'loose'

Bill_S

In Houston-speak, a bayou is a flood-control channel. Houston is flat as a pancake and prone to heavy rain, so the bayous drain the storm water into the bay.

scrubbedexpat097

I think Dougster needs to be worrying more about his house flooding than the mosquitoes. Make sure it is well elevated, and I mean well elevated, flooding is a major problem in the area (been there, done that)

Bill_S

Yeah, good point. Flooding/overtopping is a much bigger worry to living near a bayou than mosquitos. Bray's Bayou runs right past the Texas Medical Center, and basements in the TMC have been flooded more than once.

lj2

I went for a wander around the Bayou when I was in Houston last summer.

98 degrees as it was getting dark, mosquitos the sie of my fist and alligators everywhere. The birds were amazing... it was a wildlife paradise and i LOVED it.

Each to their own though - Mozzie spray and plug ins are readily available. Id love to live there.

scrubbedexpat097

I have no problem living here but in reality living by a bayou can be a major problem and with all the building going on in and around Houston it is getting worse. We have lived in our house for almost 18 years now, at first the bayou was no problem and seemed to be far enough away not to cause a problem but after lots of major tropical storms and hurricanes we are now in a flood zone and the banks of the bayou break pretty regulary. We have even built a levy all around our property to help the problem but it is still very frustrating. If we ever move it will not be anywhere near water again..

ukintexas

Hi Dougster75, I have a Bayou that runs right at the end of my road - we're three houses away from it and I don't find it to give me any more mozzies in the back yard than if I'm at a friends house that's not close to the bayou. I live in Katy which is West Houston. Lots of trees around us, standing water etc but honestly don't find it a problem. We're not a flood plane, but as many peeps have said on here, it's worth having flood insurance as when the big storms come the streets likely flood and you don't want to take any chances - for the minimal cost it is to have it on your policy, it's worth the piece of mind. Hope this helps.

tigerbaywarrior

For the extra few bucks a year, I would also recommend the flood insurance.

As for the little b@st@rds.... They are supposed to stay within 150 yards of standing water. I don't think that is entirely true.

I'm getting a Skeetervac which clears about 1 acre around the device of most biting type of insects!

(I live in Spring on the Northeast side of Houston.)

snowbunny

They don't. I live atop a hill many miles from anything bigger than a large drop of water on the ground.... and they come.

But they don't bite me - I am a native. They DO bite my imported husband.

If it's not too large an area of standing water, there are safe tablets you can put in to kill the larvae. This would obviously be expensive if we're talking a BIG pond.

chartreuse

Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Bob

What, Houston? Bit extreme just for a mozzy problem