Why don't Mosquitos bite me?

[BwindiBoy]

In the words of Moz..."...and the smiling children tell you that you smell...".

[transam]

Girlie soap or ad ons. ................. .................... don't only attract guys.............

[mikemac]

I was in Broome, Western Australia years ago when there was a plague of mozzies, and the shops sold out of repellant. We bought Dettol and baby oil and mixed it 50-50. Rubbed it on legs and arms, mozzies would not come near us, either would sandflies, which are just as annoying. Cannot use this mixture on your face as it will burn. Very effective and long lasting and a fraction of the cost of mozzie sprays and cremes.

[Andre0720]

I remember a lady working as a masseuse in a sauna-massage spa, and where the massage beds were outside on a wide wooden platform.

As I was being bitten, she said:

Mosquitoes like farangs...

Peculiar isn't it?

So her experience is that the thai people working there as well as customers were being bitten fewer times than farangs.

Or else Thais are less allergic to the liquid that mosquitoes inject while biting, to keep the blood from coagulating.

[hempa]

I'm not getting any bites either, never had problem with mosquitos. My wife and I was at Koh Samet couple a years ago and we was trapped in a swarm of mosquitos. 35 of them sat on er leg having breakfast and I have zero on my legs! My sister have problem with bites also.

[cocopops]

According to the American Mosquito Control Association (of America):

What can be safely stated, though, is that ingestion of garlic, vitamin B12 and other systemics has been proven in controlled laboratory studies to have no impact on mosquito biting. Conversely, eating bananas did not attract mosquitoes as the myth suggests, but wearing perfumes does. People drinking beer have been shown to be more attractive to mosquitoes.

http://www.mosquito.org/faq#attracts

Millions of years of evolution have worked to design efficient and robust human being seeking micro-drones. My guess is that we won't defeat this technology by fiddling with our diets or vitamin levels. Exposing it to something new, that it has not adapted to, can work though. Hence DEET.

[transam]

I'm not getting any bites either, never had problem with mosquitos. My wife and I was at Koh Samet couple a years ago and we was trapped in a swarm of mosquitos. 35 of them sat on er leg having breakfast and I have zero on my legs! My sister have problem with bites also.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, you do not shower and soap up much eh..............................

[Toscano]

I rarely get bitten by mosquitos . They don't seem to be attracted to me . Once at Coff's Harbour in Australia ; I sat beside a friend on a park bench , the mozzies were buzzing all around him and not me at all . My daughter once bicycled from Kenya to Cape Town . I asked her if she took an anti Malaria drug ; she said no , she drank Indian Tonic Water with quinine , all the way . I guess mozzies don't like the bitter taste of quinine or perhaps it gives ones sweat an unpleasant smell to them .

[partington]

Nope. Quinine is anti-malarial drug- it is a treatment taken to prevent malaria, by killing the infectious agent after you are bitten.

It is not and never has been a mosquito repellent, and does not affect mosquito biting behaviour in any way!

[joboss]

Mozzies wont bite if u r a smoker,the vitiman B in nicotine is in your system and they don't like it...if u have a high vitimam B content in your blood/system that will keep them away

Unfortunately not true. I'm a smoker, although not a heavy one and I take a vitamin B supplement every day. I reckon that if there was only one mozzie in the whole of Thailand it would find and bite me!! Might give the Blether's vinegar trick a try though.

Try nockin back a few longnecks frequently. ,... works for me..

[joboss]

I'm not getting any bites either, never had problem with mosquitos. My wife and I was at Koh Samet couple a years ago and we was trapped in a swarm of mosquitos. 35 of them sat on er leg having breakfast and I have zero on my legs! My sister have problem with bites also.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, you do not shower and soap up much eh..............................

He was in long pants..

[WhingeingMoaners]

Some people, especially Farangs who tend to have a blue cheese-like odour, are fortunate not to be bitten. Perhaps their smelly bodies are acting as an insect repellent.

[joboss]

I was in Broome, Western Australia years ago when there was a plague of mozzies, and the shops sold out of repellant. We bought Dettol and baby oil and mixed it 50-50. Rubbed it on legs and arms, mozzies would not come near us, either would sandflies, which are just as annoying. Cannot use this mixture on your face as it will burn. Very effective and long lasting and a fraction of the cost of mozzie sprays and cremes.

Really! Kept the sandflies at bay. I'll be trying your mix next fishing trip. Thank you.

[unanimosity]

fragrances used, shampoo, skin cream, conditioner hygeine etc all seem to have an effect.

years ago when i worked in the bush in British Colombia, you could clearly see the mosquitos swarming around the heads of people who had just washed their hair in the evenings.

Yep, and they are attracted to exhaled CO2 which may be why we see them also around plants that absorb CO2. Have heard that yeast discourages them and surmised that beer tended to repel them, due to hardly ever getting bitten before going on the wagon a couple of years back, which is less the case now. Dark colors tend to attract them.

Two things that work to repel them--apart from the mozzie coils, which are useless indoors due to the smoke--are ARS Matt 12 pellets that you put into a heated dispenser, and Shieldtox heated liquid dispenser that plugs directly into a wall outlet. Shieldtox is only identified in English very small on its hang tag at the top and comes in a black box with a red arrow design outlined in yellow lightning on the front. Both of these products are available at Tesco, are quite effective, and very inexpensive. The other key is to keep a fan blowing, makes them retreat to still areas.

[unanimosity]

Skin So Soft from Avon or one of those companies repels mozzies but only for a short time. Outdoors-men sometimes stuff fabric softener dryer sheets into their pockets and claim that it works to keep them away.

[masuk]

Yup, vitamin B is a good deterrent. Just keep on with the Vegemite mates!!

Not joking here. While the smell of smoke is enough to drive anything away, maybe Vitamin B is enough to do the job.

[Dap]

They don’t bite me either.

When I was about 16 I slept by a creek in Montana and got bit all over my face until my eyes swelled almost shut. I don’t think I’ve been bit since.

Hmmmmmm, Your experience may have created some sort of immunity. That's very interesting.

[wolf5370]

I rarely get bitten these days - years ago (over a decade ago) I was bitten often when I came here on holiday - but after living here, over the years I am bitten less. These days I get bitten in certain places - like the café across the road from me, I have to wear shoes and jeans rather than shorts and flip-flops. Yet I can sit out in front of my place, literally across the road, and not get bitten.

When I do get bitten now there is little real reaction - when I was just a holiday maker 15 years ago bites used to swell up into huge lumps that last a week - now I get a small red blur that lasts a day max.

[Dap]

Mozzies wont bite if u r a smoker,the vitiman B in nicotine is in your system and they don't like it...if u have a high vitimam B content in your blood/system that will keep them away

Really?

[Robby nz]

Could it be that there is not enough blood in your alcohol stream?

[Muhendis]

Mosquitos are attracted to body odors. The more you sweat, the more you smell (good to a mosquito). However some people do not give off an odor which mosquitos find attractive, so they do not enjoy the same level of attention. It is only the female of the species who sticks her proboscis into the unfortunate recipient. She needs the blood to procreate. I think I must have very many offspring in Thailand.....

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

I'm not getting any bites either, never had problem with mosquitos. My wife and I was at Koh Samet couple a years ago and we was trapped in a swarm of mosquitos. 35 of them sat on er leg having breakfast and I have zero on my legs! My sister have problem with bites also.

hah, if i share a bed with a woman or my kid, they get bites, i dont. when i was working in the bush, planting trees in university, it was definitely a key reason to find a rookie hippie chick to share your bed

Edited August 16, 2013 by GirlDrinkDrunk

[clarkeman]

That's my guess too. You aren't allergic to the proteins in the bite. I'm not either. I've watched them stick their proboscis in me and suck the blood, but I don't feel it or get any swelling from it.

I'm also not allergic to the proteins in poison oak or ivy. I read that only about 25% of the population is affected by it.

Link

Ditto, never have been affected by poison ivy or oak. Never get mosquito bites.

[Cuban]

My daughter once bicycled from Kenya to Cape Town . I asked her if she took an anti Malaria drug ; she said no , she drank Indian Tonic Water with quinine , all the way. I guess mozzies don't like the bitter taste of quinine or perhaps it gives ones sweat an unpleasant smell to them .

The Indian Tonic Water story is about the Quinine content and the effect on parasite that causes malaria. Nothing to do with the blood sucking female mosquitoes being deterred form feeding.

"Quinine was the first effective treatment for malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, appearing in therapeutics in the 17th century. It remained the antimalarial drug of choice until the 1940s, when other drugs such as chloroquine that have fewer unpleasant side effects replaced it. Since then, many effective antimalarials have been introduced, although quinine is still used to treat the disease in certain critical circumstances, such as severe malaria, and in impoverished regions due to its low cost." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine

These days ITW contains very very little Quinine although those selling it remain propagators of the out dated tale - because it sells product.

Although the mosquitoes are attracted by C02, expelled by animals (humans) this is a rough location system for them, otherwise you would only expect to see mosquito bites around mouth and nose.

When close to their target they use their eyes and sensors to find a ripe source of blood.

They see in the infra-red spectrum and warm blood flow looks more interesting. The smell of body odor will help narrow the mosquitoes' search, and so cheesy smelling feet help them.

Also why they they choose certain places to bite/feed, ankles have blood vessels close to the skin's surface and the femoral artery in your leg is also a target as it pulses so brightly in IR.

I find that B vitamins do help, Vegemite and bread products, some say beer but this only applies to traditional types of ales where the final product is not filtered endlessly, bottle Chang and Leo are unlikely to help. Which leads to the major factor, how sweet is your blood.

From observation diabetics seem to be a favored source for mosquitoes to feed from, I've sat with little anti-mosquito spray on near a lake where a diabetic was also drinking, he was a pin cushion to the mosquitoes that dined on him.

[balo]

What about Thais , they seem to have less problems with mosquito bites than westerners ? Or maybe they are just not complaining ?

[thaidel48]

Truth of the matter is that you do get bitten but do not react as badly as most people..I am the same

[chrisinth]

People who are being bitten......wash your feet and and lower legs then dry them off. Then soak the same areas with vinegar and let it dry in. Leave it an hour or so and rinse the vinegar off with water, water only.

Mossies are attracted to the bacteria which gathers around this area. That's why you'll see people with multiple bites on their lower legs and virtually none elsewhere.

Repeat the exercise once a month and you'll find a big difference.

Still think you'd be in a bit of a pickle.....................

[pomchop]

It seems at my house that the skeeters stay close to the ground.....on the ground level they love the ankles and lower legs....perhaps because these are the areas closest to their habitats which seem to be in/around low growing bushes/foliage.

upstairs at my house I can leave the windows and doors open and very rarely does a single skeeter make it up to the second level.....not sure how/why but just happy that they don't seem to want to fly upwards a few more feet to gnaw on my feet...

[partington]

My daughter once bicycled from Kenya to Cape Town . I asked her if she took an anti Malaria drug ; she said no , she drank Indian Tonic Water with quinine , all the way. I guess mozzies don't like the bitter taste of quinine or perhaps it gives ones sweat an unpleasant smell to them .

The Indian Tonic Water story is about the Quinine content and the effect on parasite that causes malaria. Nothing to do with the blood sucking female mosquitoes being deterred form feeding.

"Quinine was the first effective treatment for malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, appearing in therapeutics in the 17th century. It remained the antimalarial drug of choice until the 1940s, when other drugs such as chloroquine that have fewer unpleasant side effects replaced it. Since then, many effective antimalarials have been introduced, although quinine is still used to treat the disease in certain critical circumstances, such as severe malaria, and in impoverished regions due to its low cost." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine

These days ITW contains very very little Quinine although those selling it remain propagators of the out dated tale - because it sells product.

Although the mosquitoes are attracted by C02, expelled by animals (humans) this is a rough location system for them, otherwise you would only expect to see mosquito bites around mouth and nose.

When close to their target they use their eyes and sensors to find a ripe source of blood.

They see in the infra-red spectrum and warm blood flow looks more interesting. The smell of body odor will help narrow the mosquitoes' search, and so cheesy smelling feet help them.

Also why they they choose certain places to bite/feed, ankles have blood vessels close to the skin's surface and the femoral artery in your leg is also a target as it pulses so brightly in IR.

I find that B vitamins do help, Vegemite and bread products, some say beer but this only applies to traditional types of ales where the final product is not filtered endlessly, bottle Chang and Leo are unlikely to help. Which leads to the major factor, how sweet is your blood.

From observation diabetics seem to be a favored source for mosquitoes to feed from, I've sat with little anti-mosquito spray on near a lake where a diabetic was also drinking, he was a pin cushion to the mosquitoes that dined on him.

Well you get the quinine bit right and then spoil it all with some obvious myths about mosquitoes seeing infra-red, and aiming for arteries! They just go for body heat, when they are near a body. They don't bite arteries!!

You must know from your own experience that mosquitoes can bite you on the face, nose, eyelid, ear, any patch of skin. A blood meal, though big to them, is just a drop of blood. Prick any part of your exposed skin with a needle, and a drop of blood will come out, and that's all a mosquito needs to do too!

Plus, if mosquitoes bit diabetics more than non-diabetics, then mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria would hit diabetics more frequently than non-diabetics, and this has never been observed so is not likely to be true.

Edited August 16, 2013 by partington

[hawker9000]

Welcome to the very fortunate club. Mosquitos excrete a numbing agent when they bite, so you don't feel it. The itchy red spot is the body reacting to the substance and attacking it. So, you most certainly are being bitten, but for whatever reason your body does not react to the numbing agent.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but I've been told that most people who have been bitten often enough, don't react to the numbing agent (akin to an anesthetic) anymore, so no itching, no bump, no redness when they're bitten.

Now the part about someone being bitten even through the deet, that is odd. The stuff has always been effective for me, and I use it religiously.