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I found a mosquito map! Not that it makes you feel any better this time of year, but I thought it might be useful in planning trips.

Go to http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/detroi ... ast/348755. This one is for Detroit, MI. Unfortunately, it only lists about 7 or 8 towns, but that does not matter because there is also a national map shown. Just pick the nearest town and open up the main page for that city.

Then you need to click on the plus sign (red arrow) and scroll down to where it says "Mosquito Map" (green arrow) and click on it.


THis will add the mosquito forecast to that town, as shown by the yellow arrow.


Then, to get the national map, you need to scroll down and look on the right to see this:


I think I want to go back to California. Unfortunately, it really doesn't give you much of a forecast in terms of days out, but it is interesting.

Very interesting! Never knew there was a mosquito map!

The map is interesting. We are in the extreme area but we have mosquito spraying every week. It might be more than once a week, I don't really pay attention to the truck. The spraying must help because we really don't see a mosquito until right at dark. I have to watch that Harold doesn't leave a light on in the barn. The horse has a fan that blows on her to help keep the mosquitoes off.

Martha

That map is precisely why I live in California. My definition of hell is being in mosquito territory. The rest of the country may be beautiful and green this time of year, but I believe that God has made a deal with California -- no mosquitos, but no water, either.

I'll take it.

I've heard people say that they're not bad. Those are folks who've grown up with them and know nothing else. In my mind I'm saying, "There IS another way of life, you know!" I can sit outside in shorts and a t-shirt at dusk without being slathered in DEET. Apparently I'm allergic to them. And they find me extremely attractive. I end up with absolutely huge welts that will itch for a week or more. And nothing works to take away that itch, short of scratching them open. It's true torture.

There aren't many things that I'm passionately against in this world. But mosquitos top my list, hands down.

Laura, you weren't vaccinated as a child by a mosquito. It use to be bad before we started having mosquito control. My younger son was a mosquito magnet. If there was one in the house when he was a baby it found him.

In the 70's the parish to the West of us had mosquito control starting up. We would show horses there and noticed the lack of mosquitos. Some of our friends that showed horses campaigned to get mosquito control in our parish. Now it's all over South Louisiana.

Martha

Laura, I grew up in mosquito-haven Michigan. As a child and up until about 5 years ago, mosquitos would bite me but leave no marks at all--no itching, nothing.

Now, however, they leave huge welts and often infect. I still have scars on my legs from two years ago in Florida. Mosquito bits on me get to be the size of dimes or larger and stay for months. So why am I going back to Florida this winter?? Because I love the birds and alligators and other animals they have down there. But this year, I am leaving earlier, while it is still cool and before the bugs come out in hoards, as they did the year I stayed through April.

Right now I avoid going outside here along the Mississippi even during the day because this campground is really full of them, especially since the rain yesterday. Hence the mosquito map for making plans, except they seem to be entirely over the entire eastern U.S. Anyway, will be headed back to California in spring and looking for mosquito-free places for next summer--like San Diego in May!! See you then.

Another nice thing about Las Vegas, very few bugs of any kind. They have better sense than to live here. Because I am on so many histamines for my hives I don't itch when bitten. And very seldom get bites. Poor Bill, he looks like he has measles sometimes when we're in a buggy area. Did have a lizard in the bathroom this week. How do they get inside?

I remember when I was living in San Diego, I came back to visit MN for a week in May. The day I got here there was a small earthquake in northwestern Minnesota! The day after I got back to San Diego, I got bit by a mosquito! Strange but true!

Our county skeeter control division is issuing daily skeeter control air force flights so we know when not to breathe when outside! a county guy checks my pond each year and puts in free mosquito fish and I don't even have to call, they just do it for free! And I live in northern California where we have always had mosquitos. I think it's partially because of it being agricultural land around along with the two river s and many creeks. So don't know where Laura is in Ca but yes we have skeeters and they may carry West Nile disease! a few people die each year of West Nile. We try to stay in during hours when Mosquitos are out.
Velda

Velda, what kind of fish do they put in your pond to help control mosquitos? They don't check ponds here that I know of. Our ponds are stocked with perch and bass. I think the birds stocked the catfish and the 2 storms put other kind of fish in.

Martha

Martha, you should call your state DNR or state agricultural agency. If a pond has the right fish, you will not get mosquitos. Believe it or not, a well-stocked swamp never produces any mosquitos because the fish eat the larvae.

Dragonflies eat mosquitos!

http://www.dragonfly-site.com/what-do-d ... s-eat.html

When I was in my teens my family moved to Minnesota for 3 years. For this California kid, I thought I'd been condemned to he]]. While there are certainly good things about all the green, the beautiful autumn, and many lakes, they were lost on me. Between the 6 months of snow, I simply couldn't tolerate the non-snow times because of those "bughs". There was one summer when I used a dull kitchen knife to scratch open bites all over my legs. Looked like I had a bad case of the chicken pox. We moved back to San Diego the week after we got out of school my junior year, and I didn't look back. Haven't been back & have no intention of doing so.

Velda, I'm just outside of Pasadena where it's dry. That said, one summer many years ago we had a mosquito problem here to the point that I called vector control & they came out and sprayed. Turns out that a flood control ditch wasn't moving water like it should & it became a breeding ground for the little buggers. Since then it's been monitored & water has been allowed to flow more freely, preventing them from breeding.

I'm a bit jealous of people who don't seem to be bothered by mosquitos. But not enough to try to figure out how to protect myself against them. There are lots of beautiful places in the world that don't have those blood-suckers. I'll visit them.

Martha, the Mosquito fish here look kind of like a Guppie. I've never seen them more than 3 inches long but they have a voracious appetite for Mosquitos. Maybe google mosquito fish? They just call them mosquito fish on the county website!
Velda