Mosquito Facts And How To Keep Them Away!

The mosquitos have four stages of life. The Egg...To Larva...To Pupa...To Adult.

The eggs are laid in water and float on the surface. They hatch into larva in about 48 hours.

The Larva live in water and come to the surface to breathe. They shed their skin 4 times...each time growing larger. They feed on micro-organisms. On the forth molt it changes into pupa. This stage lasts 4-14 days.

The Pupa is a resting stage. It doesn't feed during this time. In 1-4 days it will turn into an adult. The skin splits open and the adult emerges.

The adult will rest on the surface of the water for 2 days. During this time, it allows itself to dry out, harden and spread its wings. After 2 days it flys off to mate and feed.

Mosquito Facts

The mosquito facts are that they thrive in moist and warm enviroments. The Male lives for 1 to 2 weeks. The female lives for about 1 month. So that means that many generations of mosquitos are born every season. Water has to be present for the mosquito life cycle to be completed. Only the female mosquito bites us! The male mosquito feeds off of plant juices.

Here is a great mosquito fact: It is the females that bite us for our blood. She uses the blood meal so that she can develope eggs.

So What Is A Good Mosquito Repellant?

The best defense is to wear long sleeves, long pants and socks. Mosquitos can bite any time of day. But they are most active from dusk to dawn (usually 6pm to 6am). Sometimes (usually spring to late summer) we need a repellent. If you take a B6, B12 or B complex vitamin Mosquitos will not eat you! It takes at least month of taking B vitamins regularly to get into your system. If mosquitos are eating you...you are low on your B vitamins!

What Is DEET And Is It Bad For Us?

DEET is short for N, N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide. A chemical that works very well at keeping mosquitos away. It keeps them away because they can't stand the smell of the chemical. It is a known mosquito fact that mosquitos hate the smell of DEET. This chemical was designed to melt plastic and eat through nylon.

The problem with DEET is that it is a known neurotoxin. If you ingest it, it can kill you (so wash your hands if you use it and keep it out of the eyes, nose and mouth). It is not water soluble so it stays on your skin for 8 hours.

It is known to cause kidney and liver failure. It is also known to cause birth defects on the unborn child of a pregnant woman. It is known to cause fatique, headaches, dizziness, joint pain and mess with one's memory and muscle control. It absolutely should not be used on an infant that is under the age of 6 months. There is a debate on with or not it can cause cancer.

Never put on a repellent that has DEET and then put on sunscreen. The chemicals do not mix and you will more than likely get sick. And since sunscreen has to be reapplied more than mosquito repellent, you are just pushing the DEET into the pores of your skin everytime you apply sunscreen.

If you must use DEET, then put in on your clothes and not your skin. If you insist on putting it on your skin, get a repellent that has a low concentration of DEET (like 20%-30%. Do not use the 100% concentration.) Never put it on an open sore or cut.

Natural Moquito Repellent

If you want a repellent that has does not have DEET, you have some choices. There are alternatives. Products with picaridin, mint or oil of lemons eucalypus do work. These natural mosquito repellants need to be reapplied every 2-4 hours. Citronella products do not work at repelling the mosquitos.

If You Do Get Bit...

It is a mosquito fact that even putting a repellent on, we sometimes get bit. Try not to scratch the mosquito bites. It only makes them worse. Put your fingernail in the middle of the bite and push down. It helps a little bit to subside the itching. A cold rag or some water on the bite helps them not to itch not so much also.

Return To The Hiking Clothes Page


Return From Mosquito Facts To The Home Page