Mike007
Well-Known Member
Help!! Bob the (not a) cob is being eaten alive by big fat bloody mosquitoes. Not Midges or flies ,but genuine blood sucking bloody mosquitoes. All advice on how to repel or destroy welcome.
Mosquitoes.
- Thread starter Mike007
- Start date
Cuffey
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you might have to invest in fly rug which you can buy already treated or spray with stable ''fly free zone'' product.
Horse into stable when mossies most active.
Fans near stable--keep air moving
The Midgebuster machines (not cheap) attract the female biting midges and mossies with carbon dioxide and trap them. By removing females you considerably reduce future numbers
Do think about destroying mosquito breeding grounds--larvae found in stagnant water, old tyres, gutters etc
Clean water tubs weekly, guppies into large tanks.
Having recently attended a West Nile Virus workshop I am now more conscious that better control of mossies now could save pain and illness later
Lollii
Well-Known Member
Feed Garlic...it keeps the bu**ers away, they don't like the taste 
Enfys
Well-Known Member
They don't like citronella.
I live in mosquito central (a couple thousand acres of forest and swamp beside the property) and I haven't found anything that actually stops the blasted things apart from mechanical devices
We buy OFF by the box load, not the can for us (deet), I do actually use it on the horses as well.
The only sure fire thing that kills them is SWAT, and that only does the job on contact, also it isn't actually a deterrent rather an antiseptic cream, but in summer my horses sport bright pink ears.
We have plug in machines that emit something or other that keeps them away from the deck so that we can at least sit outside, fat lot of good for horses though. It is so bad in some places that people do their gardening with mosquito net hats and suits on, and most gazebos come with netting, and ALL windows and doors have bug screens otherwise life would be unbearable. I bring my horses in during the day at the worst times, but mosquitos don't sleep, the little swines, so they still bite at night. All my horses are routinely vaccinated for WNV.
As for deterring them, well yes, there are things you can do.
Clean your troughs regularly so that they cannot hatch out.
Mosquito traps - strategically placed buckets of water with grass clippings in, they like to lay eggs in that, then tip it away somewhere dry after a few days.
Remove everything that will hold standing water, they don't breed in running water so keep ditches moving and ponds circulating.
There are also pellets which can be put in water, I have read that a few drops of oil (as in cooking oil, not fuel oil) on the surface of ditches etc can be effective, the larvae can't breathe then apparently.
Encourage bats (build bat houses) birds and especially dragonflies to feed in wet areas they love mosquitos
I live in mosquito central (a couple thousand acres of forest and swamp beside the property) and I haven't found anything that actually stops the blasted things apart from mechanical devices
We buy OFF by the box load, not the can for us (deet), I do actually use it on the horses as well.
The only sure fire thing that kills them is SWAT, and that only does the job on contact, also it isn't actually a deterrent rather an antiseptic cream, but in summer my horses sport bright pink ears.
We have plug in machines that emit something or other that keeps them away from the deck so that we can at least sit outside, fat lot of good for horses though. It is so bad in some places that people do their gardening with mosquito net hats and suits on, and most gazebos come with netting, and ALL windows and doors have bug screens otherwise life would be unbearable. I bring my horses in during the day at the worst times, but mosquitos don't sleep, the little swines, so they still bite at night. All my horses are routinely vaccinated for WNV.
As for deterring them, well yes, there are things you can do.
Clean your troughs regularly so that they cannot hatch out.
Mosquito traps - strategically placed buckets of water with grass clippings in, they like to lay eggs in that, then tip it away somewhere dry after a few days.
Remove everything that will hold standing water, they don't breed in running water so keep ditches moving and ponds circulating.
There are also pellets which can be put in water, I have read that a few drops of oil (as in cooking oil, not fuel oil) on the surface of ditches etc can be effective, the larvae can't breathe then apparently.
Encourage bats (build bat houses) birds and especially dragonflies to feed in wet areas they love mosquitos
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Crazy Friesian
Well-Known Member
Feed Garlic...it keeps the bu**ers away, they don't like the taste
CAREFUL with Garlic, can make matters worse with midgies, irritate the gut, compromise the immune system - make it go into overdrive, cause heinz anaemia.....
Neem oil (for application), neem herb (feed) Rugs. Also (if you can) keep him in when there midgies around - dawn and dusk. Also can add Echinacea, rosehip and seaweed and brewers yeast to feed.
Mike007
Well-Known Member
Thank you both . They are attacking him in the field, No obvious breeding grounds, and I really havent seen anything like it. Just landing on him one after another and filling up till they almost burst. (or I swat them). I hadnt expected to get the fly rug out so early, and even though he has a newzealand with a hood they are still getting him.Garlic , shall buy some tomorrow.
Mike007
Well-Known Member
These are not midges they are full grown moquitoes.
Trinity Fox
Well-Known Member
Not a problemfor me at present but Cuffey when you say guppies in large tanks?
Crazy Friesian
Well-Known Member
Yep, sorry, LOOOOOOOONG week (since beginning of LAST week! lol). Brain and fingers not firing together! Having fought my battle with a SEVERE sweetitch sufferer, I have tried most things (bar the injections)
Trials have shown that neem is effective even the Scottish variety of blood suckers!
Is currently also being trialled, waging war on the mozzies in Africa (AHS)
Its never easy...
Mike007
Well-Known Member
Yup, we have plenty of bats , All designs for bat houses gratefully accepted. We are also strangely, on chalk downland ,so no standing water of any kind, so where the hell are the little bastards coming from , and its not just a few either.They don't like citronella.
I live in mosquito central (a couple thousand acres of forest and swamp beside the property) and I haven't found anything that actually stops the blasted things apart from mechanical devices
We buy OFF by the box load, not the can for us (deet), I do actually use it on the horses as well.
The only sure fire thing that kills them is SWAT, and that only does the job on contact, also it isn't actually a deterrent rather an antiseptic cream, but in summer my horses sport bright pink ears.
We have plug in machines that emit something or other that keeps them away from the deck so that we can at least sit outside, fat lot of good for horses though. It is so bad in some places that people do their gardening with mosquito net hats and suits on, and most gazebos come with netting, and ALL windows and doors have bug screens otherwise life would be unbearable. I bring my horses in during the day at the worst times, but mosquitos don't sleep, the little swines, so they still bite at night. All my horses are routinely vaccinated for WNV.
As for deterring them, well yes, there are things you can do.
Clean your troughs regularly so that they cannot hatch out.
Mosquito traps - strategically placed buckets of water with grass clippings in, they like to lay eggs in that, then tip it away somewhere dry after a few days.
Remove everything that will hold standing water, they don't breed in running water so keep ditches moving and ponds circulating.
There are also pellets which can be put in water, I have read that a few drops of oil (as in cooking oil, not fuel oil) on the surface of ditches etc can be effective, the larvae can't breathe then apparently.
Encourage bats (build bat houses) birds and especially dragonflies to feed in wet areas they love mosquitos
Fii
Well-Known Member
I think she meens fish
We have two goldfish in the trough in the yard, Bob and Bobette, and don't have much trouble with mozzies, mind you the ruddy gurt horse flies probably eat them as well
Fii
Well-Known Member
Trough?
Mike007
Well-Known Member
Well the trough was bone dry today
so I doubt its there. But the bloody things are all the way down the valley.
so I doubt its there. But the bloody things are all the way down the valley.
Enfys
Well-Known Member
Yup, we have plenty of bats , All designs for bat houses gratefully accepted. We are also strangely, on chalk downland ,so no standing water of any kind, so where the hell are the little bastards coming from
Useful bat info, plus plans, and do's and don'ts here:
http://www.batmanagement.com/Batcentral/boxbuild/Small1.html
http://www.batmanagement.com/Batcentral/batboxes/whyfail.html
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Kokopelli
Well-Known Member
They don't like citronella.
I live in mosquito central (a couple thousand acres of forest and swamp beside the property) and I haven't found anything that actually stops the blasted things apart from mechanical devices
We buy OFF by the box load, not the can for us (deet), I do actually use it on the horses as well.
The only sure fire thing that kills them is SWAT, and that only does the job on contact, also it isn't actually a deterrent rather an antiseptic cream, but in summer my horses sport bright pink ears.
We have plug in machines that emit something or other that keeps them away from the deck so that we can at least sit outside, fat lot of good for horses though. It is so bad in some places that people do their gardening with mosquito net hats and suits on, and most gazebos come with netting, and ALL windows and doors have bug screens otherwise life would be unbearable. I bring my horses in during the day at the worst times, but mosquitos don't sleep, the little swines, so they still bite at night. All my horses are routinely vaccinated for WNV.
^^^Sounds like where I used to live! It was vile! But nice and warm
I can swear by OFF though fab stuff for the horses, if we ever hear of someone going out to the states we ask them to buy us a few cans.
A good fly rug might help aswell, I found that Weatherbeeta ones are really nice and breathable and I think you can get some now that have fly replllent on them.