Mosquitoes 2010

I think the spraying is done by the county. I thought I saw that expense on our bill from Wade.

As to preparing for mosquitoes, it would be nice if we could hire some dragonflies or swallows.

I wonder if installing a bat house in a city yard is successful at attracting bats. In the past, I've seen bats buzz around our West Toledo home after sunset. Do the metroparks have bat houses? If they do, I wonder if they're occupied. I know the 577 Foundation in Perrysburg has them installed, but I don't know if they attract bats.

Supposedly, one bat can eat more than 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour. Maybe every homeowner should install a bat house. Natural mosquito control. But of course, humans freak out at the sight of a bat, so a chemical fog machine is preferred. Besides, we wouldn't want to do anything naturally.

I don't do anything for city mosquitoes except tolerate the bites. They're nothing compared to chigger bites.

But I do bundle up like it's cold and apply DEET to my hands, face, and neck to deter mosquitoes when visiting a wet forest like Maumee State Forest or a marsh along the lake shore. I wear rubber boots, heavy fleece-lined jeans, and multiple long-sleeved shirts and/or a jacket. I don't know of any other way to survive those areas. I tried a non-DEET product a couple of times with dreadful results. I got hammered so much so fast that my swatting couldn't keep up, and my field notes got bloody. I had to flee. Once, a fellow birdwatcher smoked a cheap, nasty cigar to help ward off mosquitoes, but I couldn't determine if that worked.

Maybe in last month's thread titled Burning in Toledo there's an idea for burning something funky that could keep mosquitoes out of the yard.

I need to get a bat house or 2 and a place for purple martins to live. not sure how they'll find me once the houses are up but I guess I'll find out.

Any giving evening I see 3-6 bats flying around the yard. We used to have a lot more in the past. Most people who I know who have but up bat boxes have just wound up with hornets or wasps nests in them.

We have bats but clearly not enough if them. :(

Don't know but in similiar boat. I live right next to a lake, and get 2-3 bites at least when I take my dog out. Started wearing long sleeves and jeans for the trek.

Have seen a lot of bats over in the Oregon area. Use to see them every night when I lived there and took my dog out.

What I've done is take matters into my own hands as I did last year - knowing full well that even when the city/county had $$ for mosquito spraying - it was non effective.

As I did last year, I contracted with Orkin again this year to treat my yard once a month through October. I was quite skeptical when Orkin first offered this service last year - but, it really does work.

It isn't cheap ($75/month + tax) but we like to spend time outside so it's worth it to us.

The mosquito spraying is totally separate from any city/county government - it is done by the Toledo Area Sanitary District and has it's own specific property tax, and therefore isn't subject to the irresponsible spending of some government officials.

Personally, we have converted our leaf blower to a fogger and use some mosquito spray to fog every few days. It works decently, although mosquitoes seem pretty heavy right now.

This morning, channel 13 is scrolling information about mosquito spraying. It is on a first come, first serve basis. You're supposed to call 726-7891. The service is free.

MrsArcher - can you tell me more about how you converted your leaf blower? Sounds interesting!

I got 2 acres, some of it with standing water we're getting ready to fill in. the problem is our neighbors have standing water, too, and they're not filling it in, so not gonna have too many summer nights in the backyard, I'm thinking.

thanks for the tip dell_diva!

dell-diva - my husband came across it searching the web; there was some kit that we bought that had a backpack-like tank to it hooked up to a different blower extension that would fog. There were a lot of different models to fit various blowers.