Mosquito nest in stable?!

[Getoutmypockets]

Hey guys just looking for help! One of my stables is swarming with bitey nasties, poor pony driving herself mad scratching! In closer inspection they are literally everywhere clinging onto walls and cobwebs!! The noise alone was annoying let alone the biting!

How can I get rid of them?! Horses are staying out the next few nights as I can't put a horse back into that! Is there something I can spray on walls or something? They are Brick breeze block types if that makes a difference.

Any ideas welcome, I'm still scratching at the thought of the swarm!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

First thought is to get rid of the cobwebs, then powerhose the walls and floor and use a good stable disinfectant.

 

[YorksG]

Mosquito and midge tend to breed and live near water, so ensure any buckets are emptied, if you are sure that is what they are. A liberal application of household fly spray should help.

 

[Getoutmypockets]

Thanks, I did start on them with the broom! What a nightmare! I think I'll find the jet wash haha

 

[Pedantic]

http://www.ima-usa.com/original-u-s-wwii-m2-2-flamethrower-dated-1945.html

 

[FfionWinnie]

Erm why would you get rid of the cobwebs, they are nature's mosquito killer?!

 

[Getoutmypockets]

That is amazing pedantic! I do feel like flaming them! I think I'll tey bug spray first tomorrow along with full on cobweb attack then pressure wash if that doesn't work! Only deep cleaned not long ago so rather perplexed as it just seems to be one stable! Arghhh.

 

[Pigeon]

Do you have an automatic waterer or a drain or something in/near the stable? It is usually a stagnant water issue.

 

[calvindonald]

same is the issue with my horse.

 

[OldFogie]

Unless you live in the tropics - your bugs aren't Mossies. Their breeding cycle - i.e. their "nests" are in stagnant water, the females alight on the water's surface tension and lay their eggs which quickly hatch to larvae that often wiggle - these need to breathe air and so will return to the surface every so often and can be seen hanging from the same surface tension while they take in oxygen. A good deterent used strong detergent or soap sprayed on the water which breaks the surface tension so all the bugs die - it was better than DDT but not much!
Later the Mossies rise to the surface for one last time, in a state of pupation, the larval skin then splits and an adult emerges above the water surface to fly off to join a mating flight to complete the cycle. There are many forms of pukka Mosquito - hardly any being those often referred to as Mossies!

It's the females that bite - most of them need blood products for the energy required to make eggs.

 

[Theocat]

Pretty sure we do get the occasional actual mosquito in Britain, OF ...

This thread is 18 months old.

 

[Casey76]

Mosquitoes certainly aren’t limited to the tropics, OF. I live next to a slow moving (if the weather is dry) stream, and I’m inundated in summer... and Alsace is hardly tropical

 

[OldFogie]

Mosquitoes certainly aren’t limited to the tropics, OF. I live next to a slow moving (if the weather is dry) stream, and I’m inundated in summer... and Alsace is hardly tropical

I agree with all posters who've said that Mossies aren't limited to the tropics - but my thinking was - if the O.P. was in them it makes it far more probable.

The Malaria carrying Mossie was rife all over Europe at one time and I believe some were captured in Havant and Hayling Island quite recently - hardly surprising when you think that it's apparantly quite easy to ship in a container load of much larger illegal immigrants!

Though I'm sure that many know that Malaria got its name from the latinised words for "bad air" because people once thought you could get it just by breathing in smelly air - particularly around marshes and bogs. My old mum and dad thought that you could catch a cold or the flu by going out with wet hair.