Mosquitos

✎ This article/section is a stub — some half-sorted notes, not necessarily checked, not necessarily correct. Feel free to ignore, or tell me about it.

All from a single web search, and not very well checked, so take with a few grains of salt.

Things that affect mosquitos

Mosquitos like...

Mosquitos lay eggs in still water. Ponds can be okay when the larvae get eaten, it's often more than random pots and containers and waterbutts, etc..

Mosquitoes like carbon dioxide, and find people that way.

Mosquitoes seem to also like heat, and light, but that seems to be via the CO2, whether it is from fire or people.

Some skin lotions and some perfumes actually attract mosquitoes (but there's no easy way to tell which).

Mosquitos dislike...

Mosquitoes somewhat dislike moving air. they can't sit comfortably enough to sting, so on a warm summer day, a (tower) fan can be both refreshing and lessen mosquito bother.

They're also not fans of oily skin. You could get this in varying degrees from almost any oil, including cooking oil, but most oils won't last particularly long. Various oils are also a great way to get a sunburn.

They don't like the smell of some plants in your garden. This seems primarly about citrus-like smells, though there seem to be more.

Physical barriers

Insect repellant clothing is sold, which can be handy while camping.

But it's nicer to have at least some volume between you and the net, both to keep buzzing impossible to hear, and having more space to move in.

Nets are simple barriers when fine enough (there is occasional cheap stuff though most is fine).

It's usually not easy to close off a part of your room without having to close off a lot of it, and it's hard to purge mosquitos from a fixed volume that may have been open.

Still often better than nothing, but makes it interesting to consider hanging nets instead. Longer may be better in that it can be hard to keep netting hanging on a bed closed, in that both parts can wrinkle. Over the span of a night some may well get in.

On repellents

Most smear-on repellant products work, but how well and how long varies per product / active ingredient (and also with mosquito species).

Most studies on repellants show how well which repellents work, but are often not clear on how long.

Things that don't really help

High-frequency sound.