Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Went around the corner & now I'm lost!!!!
1,544 posts, read 3,597,735 times
Reputation: 1243
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitopcat
Oh yah, the best one to get into your garden or backyard is a dragonfly. If there is a place with a lot of moisture, dragonflies will put their eggs into the water, as well as mosquitoes. The dragonfly larvae will eat the mosquito larvae and anything else that enter the water.
Other good bugs to get is a praying mantis. They eat any kind of larvae.
You can actually get praying mantis eggs and lay them out in your backyard. You can do the same with ladybugs and butterflies. Each one will kill larvae.
Location: Went around the corner & now I'm lost!!!!
1,544 posts, read 3,597,735 times
Reputation: 1243
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
The most voracious mosquito-eating birds are Purple Martins. They nest in colonial boxes, the big ones with at least eight separate compartments with separate holes.
They are not automatic, all you can do is put up a Martin House and hope. It helps if there is already an established colony somewhere within a couple of blocks, because if they are breeding successfully and have surviving young, they will need to expand to new boxes.
It is VERY important to have your Martin House in open space, with at least 20 feet of soaring space all around it, unobstructed by trees or buildings. It should be at least 12 feet above the ground. Wires are no problem, they love to perch on wires through the day, and they're pretty noisy, with a not-very-musical call.
If sparrows or starling show too much interest, you can deter them by putting a fake snake up on the ledge of the house. Martins don't know anything about snakes, because they never land on the ground, so have acquired no fear of snakes.
If you are successful in attracting a colony of Martins, you will be amazed at how mosquito-free your yard will be. Once you have them, they will keep coming back year after year.
Don't forget to check frequently around your house, and make sure there is no place where mosquitoes can breed. Remove any objects that can hold standing water when it rains, like bottles or tires or building materials. If you can't remove them, put a few drops of motor oil in the water---mosquoto larvae can't grow in an oil slick.
Good information. I had chimeny swifts, a relative of the Martin family but had to get rid of them with a chimney cap after they migrated back to Argentina. But I thought they flew too high for mosquitos from what I. Yes the starlings, sparrow even squirrels took over the Martin house until all the bottoms fell out of them...now it a wasp nesting place.
The most voracious mosquito-eating birds are Purple Martins. They nest in colonial boxes, the big ones with at least eight separate compartments with separate holes.
They are not automatic, all you can do is put up a Martin House and hope. It helps if there is already an established colony somewhere within a couple of blocks, because if they are breeding successfully and have surviving young, they will need to expand to new boxes.
It is VERY important to have your Martin House in open space, with at least 20 feet of soaring space all around it, unobstructed by trees or buildings. It should be at least 12 feet above the ground. Wires are no problem, they love to perch on wires through the day, and they're pretty noisy, with a not-very-musical call.
If sparrows or starling show too much interest, you can deter them by putting a fake snake up on the ledge of the house. Martins don't know anything about snakes, because they never land on the ground, so have acquired no fear of snakes.
If you are successful in attracting a colony of Martins, you will be amazed at how mosquito-free your yard will be. Once you have them, they will keep coming back year after year.
Don't forget to check frequently around your house, and make sure there is no place where mosquitoes can breed. Remove any objects that can hold standing water when it rains, like bottles or tires or building materials. If you can't remove them, put a few drops of motor oil in the water---mosquoto larvae can't grow in an oil slick.
Actually that is not correct. Purple martins eat many insects, especially dragonflys, but they are not voracious mosquito eaters. Mosquitoes are less than 2% of a purple martin's diet. http://www.abirdshome.com/pm/myths.htm
That voracious mosquito eating trophy belongs to bats. I suggest the OP put up some bat houses and also eliminate areas with standing water where mosquitoes can breed.
Location: Went around the corner & now I'm lost!!!!
1,544 posts, read 3,597,735 times
Reputation: 1243
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal
Actually that is not correct. Purple martins eat many insects, especially dragonflys, but they are not voracious mosquito eaters. Mosquitoes are less than 2% of a purple martin's diet. http://www.abirdshome.com/pm/myths.htm
That voracious mosquito eating trophy belongs to bats. I suggest the OP put up some bat houses and also eliminate areas with standing water where mosquitoes can breed.
I am a mosquito magnet and nothing stops them from attacking me. I bought couple of the citronella plants, they smell like lemon really, but that didn't stop the mosquitoes. I find covering up while out in the garden works best, or just keep moving, don't stand still for too long. I had no mosquito problems when I lived in CA, I guess dry summers help.
Put out hummingbird feeders, mix your own sugarwater an DO NOT USE any red dye. All the sources say one part sugar four parts water, I use one sugar, three water. The sugar water is not their nutrition source, it is their energy source, their real food are mosquitos and gnats. Put the feeders in the shade, put them on north facing windows, it may take a while for the hummers to find your feeders, but, they will find them and...if given an adequate food supply hummers will return within 100 yds of where they nested last year. This means you will get more and more birds with each passing season. You do not need to know their language to understand that they do not always talk politely to each other. Change the food in the feeder when empty or once a week whichever comes first.
We have literally an air force of dragonflies; they fly in formation over the yard and dive, pounce, come right back up. We have a pond with a raccoon fountain in the front yard, and a birdbath in the side yard. We also use "mosquito dunks" in every standing body of water (like our pond and animal troughs) - they have a hole in the middle and we tie them to rocks so that they don't float away or get accidentally eaten by our cows and horse (and insane dog who plunges often into every bit of water). The dunks don't seem to deter the dragonflies at all.
Don't forget Swallows they eat a lot of mosquitoes and do not believe the marketing stories about Purple Martins although the need our help and housing support they do not eat mosquitoes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
