Mosquito.buzz Blog

Mosquitoes... they're the worst. Just when you've gotten comfortable in your favourite chair enjoying the fresh Summer air, along comes Miss Mosquito, on a mission to completely kill your vibe.

It's all in a days work for Miss Mosquito. Female skeeters require a blood meal in order to lay their eggs, so they use 3 special senses to track us down from a distance.

Using olfactory, visual, and thermal cues, female mosquitoes circle their prey, sniffing you out and sensing your body heat... before going in for the almighty bite.

With all the nasty diseases they spread, it's safe to say that mosquitoes are not our friends. While the saying "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer" might apply to many of our human on human relationships, it certainly doesn't apply to mosquitoes.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to keep tabs on an enemy you can barely see. So, you need to get smart and think strategically. Where does the enemy like to hide? And what can be done to help eradicate aforementioned enemy? 

Say no more. Here are the top 10 spots that mosquitoes live, rest, breed, and hide in.

Weather is a major motivator for what mosquitoes do, and when. 

Mosquitoes are cold-blooded insects. This means that their body temperature is more or less the same as their environment, since they don't have the ability to regulate their internal temperatures. 

Considering how driven by temperature mosquitoes are, it's no wonder weather plays such a make-or-break role in mosquito activity.

There are literally thousands of different species of mosquitoes. They're here, they're there - they're everywhere. While the biggest culprits feed on our blood and spread horrible diseases, some of them prefer feeding on other animals, and some rarer varieties don't feed on blood at all. 

Here we break down the most common genus of mosquitoes.

We've heard it time and time again; there's something about you, in particular, that mosquitoes just love. Is it your charming personality? No, probably not. Your exquisite taste in music and film? We think not. Is it something about your aura? Well, sort of.

It all boils down to one simple fact; You stink. Good, bad... we don't know. But whatever the perspective, mosquitoes all have acute receptors that detect scents from up to 100 feet away. These are the primary indicators that female mosquitoes (the ones that do the biting) use to pick out their prey.

Barbecues, going swimming, basking in the sunshine, watching the sun go down; all these things are what makes the summertime so great. But mosquito bites... not so much.

Female mosquitoes love to feast on us; we provide the necessary nutrients for them to breed even more mosquitoes. While they're going to town on our nutritious blood, they inject saliva into us as an anticoagulant; in other words, their saliva acts as a blood thinner that makes it easier to suck up more of our blood.

That residual spit is the reason we get itchy; coincidently, it's also the reason why mosquitoes are the number 1 killers in the world, since their saliva can sometimes contain diseases. While mosquito borne illnesses are becoming more of a global concern, most of the time you're just left with ugly and incredibly itchy red bumps.

Here are a few ways you can get a bit of temporary relief.

Have you ever been the only one complaining about mosquitoes ravaging your skin? What is it about you that makes those pesky skeeters bypass your buddies and start feasting on your seemingly special skin?

If you think you're a mosquito magnet, you might be on to something. Here's a quick guide to help determine how attractive you are to mosquitoes.

How good is Summer? Especially when you have your own backyard and some crazy friends and family... what's the point of even going out? Your backyard doesn't have cover charges, closing hours or long queues, so why not keep the party going til whenever o'clock?

Our friends over at the American Mosquito Control Association started this initiative with the ultimate goal of educating the public about mosquitoes, the risks associated with mosquito bites, and the significance of mosquito control providers like the crew here at Mosquito.buzz.

Summer is now in full swing... and so is mosquito season. With public health concerns and the looming threat of the Zika virus growing across North America, members of the Mosquito.buzz team were extremely fortunate to spend a day at the University of Kentucky, learning from top researchers in the field of mosquito control.

Dr. Grayson Brown is one of the leading researchers at the University of Kentucky, and kindly spent the day with the team at Mosquito.buzz, comprising of Shawn Karn (Technical Director), Jordan Lavin (Chief Operating Officer), and Steven Fulford (Senior Field Technician).