Skeeters 'r Hatchin'

[Beenhere4ever]

I was hoping with West Nile they would be under control. Most of the time I've lived here, it is the itchiness of their bites that was annoying. Then something helped West Nile move into the country. Now some skeeters can make you sick!

[Beenhere4ever]

Funny. This doesn't jibe with my experience this summer. Maybe I'm just avoiding the times and places where the clouds of bugs are hanging out?

ST. PAUL — The Twin Cities metropolitan area is suffering through a mosquito population explosion.
Minnesota Public Radio reports (Metro mosquitoes triple 10-year norm | Minnesota Public Radio News ) the mosquito population this week is double the 10-year average.
Officials with the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District say the rainy, cold spring led spring and summer species of mosquitoes to arrive right on top of each other, causing a big surge in mid-June.
Right now, Minnesota is getting the “cattail mosquito,” a particularly aggressive strain that hatches in cattail swamps and usually peaks around July 4.
Of the 51 species in Minnesota, Mosquito Control focuses on the ones that bite people and carry disease.
A metro area homeowner with a house valued at $250,000 pays about $13 a year for mosquito control. But outside the seven-county metro area, Minnesotans brave mosquitoes on their own.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Funny. This doesn't jibe with my experience this summer. Maybe I'm just avoiding the times and places where the clouds of bugs are hanging out?

You must be lucky--the skeeters are BAD this year....actually, I don't know that they are "bad" vs we just haven't had them around much the past 5 years or so. I was out in my yard doing some work at about 6:00 last night and had to come in because they were everywhere. Saturday night we were out at some friends and even with 3M Ultrathon--mega bug spray, they were finding every inch that you may have missed with the spray.

[Beenhere4ever]

Originally Posted by golfgal

You must be lucky--the skeeters are BAD this year....actually, I don't know that they are "bad" vs we just haven't had them around much the past 5 years or so. I was out in my yard doing some work at about 6:00 last night and had to come in because they were everywhere. Saturday night we were out at some friends and even with 3M Ultrathon--mega bug spray, they were finding every inch that you may have missed with the spray.

Someone needs to invent a body wash that repels bugs. Taking a bug repellent shower might be the one way to keep from getting bit.

[plain and simple]

Sadly, these aren't the only skeeters we have to worry about anymore. As if they weren't bad enough, the following three minute YouTube video (not mine) is a reality and not science fiction.


Mosquito Robots Collecting DNA and Blood