Mosquitos in Ireland???

Lossy

I have killed about 35-40 of them in my house in the last few days (Laois). Killed 10 in one night. Have kept the windows shut since and have not seen as many. Never had them in the house before. Little B@s7$rds.

TBF

very interesting. I live in Co. Limerick and have just spent an hour and a half vaccuming the s***s from the ceilings in my house - at minimum 100 of them:eek: ditto last night. I've never seen anything like it. HELP

ZorbaTehZ

Very strange, after reading this thread I saw one in my Bathroom, and then woke up the next morning with 3 bites (omg they're SO fcuking itchy).

Schlemm

Yes mosquitoes are in Ireland and there are about 18 species of them here:eek: however none of them are a cause of concern to people or animals as of yet;)

IrelandJunior

Killed another 40 two nights ago, the trick is don't leave the doors or Windows open. I'm seriously considering getting mosquito guard for my door next year. What the **** is going on? Al Gore must be right.

P.S. this insect repellant stuff is seriously expensive. Can be anywhere from €6 - €13 for a packet/jar of the stuff, and the amount you get just isn't funny. This stuff called Ben's100, wasn't that great, used it up in a week, and cost about €13 for a 37ml bottle. Using Jungle Formula now, and Citronella. Both are better, but aren't cheap neither. I haven't got malaria, but I do hate these dick-faces, and I have around 50 bites on my body. I have around 10 bits (well they don't actually bite I know) on my left elbow alone. Friend sat there in a pair of shorts the other day, they didn't touch him. The love me, and I hate them.

Strange days indeed - John Lennon.

John

A book and a determination to kill with said book worked wonders last night.

r3nu4l

I've never seen so may people with one or two posts posting in a single thread...suspicious!

There are substantial breeding populations of mosquitos in East Anglia (where I live) and it has been confirmed that the populations are growing here so I wouldn't be surprised if there was an increase in Ireland too.

yank_in_eire

Merrion wrote:

There are a large number of different species of mosquito, many of which can live in ireland...but the only one to be scared of is the female anopholees (sp?) mosquito which is the one with the stripey back legs. <as in the photo above>. These need warm standing water to breed in so the only place you'd be likely to find them here would be in a used tyre yard.

Lots of different mosquito species have stripey back legs - look up Culex spp or Aedes spp if you don't believe me. There are around 60 different types where I'm from back in the States.
The thing to look out for is the resting posture - Anopheles mosquitos at rest are almost perpendicular to the surface they are on (ie their arses are pointing up in the air). The non-malarial species' resting position puts its body parallel to the surface.

wayne040576

Noticed a lot of these little buggers around the house over the past few weeks. There seemed to be a lot more of them this week. Just killed another one five minutes ago.

Decided to search google tonight with the words mosquitos and Ireland and got this thread as my first hit.

cazzy

i saw some at weekend in galway - havent seen any in dublin though.
surprised after the summer we've had

wayne040576

cazzy wrote:

i saw some at weekend in galway - havent seen any in dublin though.
surprised after the summer we've had

It was still quite warm with all that rain. Don't their larvae thrive in warm and wet conditions?

Mosquito larvae can be found in a wide variety of habitats, including temporary floodwater and snowmelt pools; more permanent water habitats like marshes, swamps, lagoons, and ponds; stagnant waters; and natural and artificial containers. Shallow water is ideal for larval survival because there is less turbulance and wave action. Upper water movement interferes with the surface feeding of some mosquito species, and in most species, it hinders the larvae and pupae from obtaining oxygen at the air-water interface. A deep-water environment prevents bottom-feeding water from reaching food that has accumulated at the lower levels of the water column. Water quality in larval habitats can vary from fresh to saline to high in organic wastes. Different species can tolerate and thrive in water with varying degrees of organic content.

DrIndy

remember that malaria was endemic in the thames basin in the middle ages and also in sicily until mosquito eradication after the second world war. there are 12 species of mosquito in northern europe that can carry malaria and with global warming, more mosquito species are moving northward.

joker77

I'd started a thread on the Weather forum in relation to Mosquitoes, unsure of where to put it and unaware of this thread.

For the last 3 years, I've been getting bitten while football training in Dundrum, Dublin in July/August and into September. I was training last night, and have got about 5/6 bites. I was amazed that on the 11th October the little b@stards would still be alive!

Noopti

I can't believe people in Ireland still seem to think the notion of mosquitoes in this country is untrue. I have been told numerous times "they can't be mosquitoes" or "there are no mosquitoes in Ireland". There are.

I have seen them for the past 5 years. My parent came back from holidays there at the end of September. When they came back they left the back door of the house open for a while to air the place. That evening, the house was infested with them, my dad killed something like 30 of them. And yes, they were definitely mossies, bulbous striped bodies/legs, needle mouthpiece and they even left large red blood marks when killed(so they had fed on something previously).

I have also seen them in other parts of Dublin, Leixlip and also in Navan this year. I think the reason we are seeing them so late this year is due to the very wet summer, and the relatively mild/warm days we had a few weeks ago.

unkel

Interesting thread. I've only seen mosquitos in Dublin in '95 and this year. In '95 (very warm and long summer) they stung the bejaysis out of me. This year they arrived late, seem to live in the bathroom only (damp). They don't seem to sting and they are very lethargic / can be killed easily

Briongloid-M

Right, so I'm not going crazy then, they are mosquitoes.
Though the allergenic carabuncles did kinda give the game away.
Great so now even though we don't have anything remotely resembling a tropical climate we still have monsoons and mosquitoes. Go global warming!

Actually I'd be interested to see how many people have been searching for "mosquitoes in Ireland" lately. Searching online that is, no need to search for them in our houses they seem to be doing a good job of finding us.
Especially since we're living beside a lake. Sure they don't seem to be as nasty as their Australian or North American counterparts (allergy wise) but they're still a nuisance and I, for one, am hoping that this mild autumn will finally end and so the little bastards will die.

By the way, I've come across a few cockroaches recently too, outside though, not in my house thankfully. Anyone else come across cockroaches?
Maybe it's time for a bugwatch site where people can sign in and report strange bugs they've found. Who knows what we'll discover; Scorpions, Galway Funnelweb spiders, green white and gold striped tarantualas?

Argh! I've to scratch my arm again...

Darth Melkor

I had never seen Mosquitos in Ireland before. I had been stung/bitten by wasps. midges, horseflies etc.

However, this summer I have been destroyed by Mosquitos. I have killed around 2 a night on average since June, some nights killing up to 10. I'm living in Limerick, but am often in Ennis and have been bitten a good few times there too.

Its November now, I thought once Autumn came I would have some relief, but I'm still being bitten at night and have to check the room thoroughly before sleeping - no use - they always have a way of hiding.

They are wrecking my head - I can't stop itching. Looks like even winter isn't going to deter them. I'm going to declare outright War and buy massive stockpiles of sprays etc.

I have talked to friends about this, and a lot agree that this is the first year they have encountered Mozzies in the Mid West, a friend from Wexford said that he has always been familiar with them in Ireland, but it used to be only Midges that annoyed us in Clare and Limerick.

Another colleague, informed me that Malaria returning to Ireland is only a matter of time, as its already appearing in Southern Europe again with the mozzies crossing over on the wind from N Africa.

Well, at least reading this thread has showed me that other people have noticed this as well.

Briongloid-M

Yeah there's still a few around, the little bastards. But they're dying now.
The weather's finally starting to get too cold for them.

Incidentally sprays are mostly ineffective and those UV zapper things you buy in the garden centre don't work. For my next trick I'm gonna see if I can't buy myself a Venus Fly Trap.

Victor

Darth Melkor, consider ventilating your house and chilling it out.

Are you sure they are mosquitos in these temperatures? Do you keep your house too warm. Where are they coming from?

John

Briongloid-M wrote: »

Incidentally sprays are mostly ineffective and those UV zapper things you buy in the garden centre don't work. For my next trick I'm gonna see if I can't buy myself a Venus Fly Trap.

I find a book is a most effective method of dispatch.

Just went searching the net to see was there anything on this...

I was recently in Crete where mosquitos are found, there very thin there so not that visible too see. Anyway i just noticed an insect on the outside of the window that looks EXACTLY like one, it's much bigger and easier too see then the ones found in Crete but looks identical.

Two hind legs in the air and a long sucker coming from the mouth area, surely it can't be a mosquito in Galway!!!! :eek:

Weather has been nice over the past two weeks...

Came home tonight and he was still there, so i captured him and decided to take a couple of pictures. TBH i never heard of them been in Ireland so it was a little surprising to see what appeared to be one on my window, maybe these things we're always here, i never saw a mosquito until a month and a half ago when i went to Crete, if it's not one, it's the spitting image anyway!!

''Mosquito 3'' is the clearest one, a sucker(of sorts) can clearly be seen coming from it's mouth area!!

serg

Hi there, I can see this thread was last debated back in december 2007 -- However I have plenty of these mosquitoes right now (October 2008) in my house. I'm a bit concerned about this! Anyone out there still with this problem?

wayne040576

serg wrote: »

Hi there, I can see this thread was last debated back in december 2007 -- However I have plenty of these mosquitoes right now (October 2008) in my house. I'm a bit concerned about this! Anyone out there still with this problem?

Yeah I have them again this year. Based on last year's experience, They'll die off in mid winter.

John

I got a bite there the other day from one so they're still around, the buggers!

Galvasean

Victor wrote: »

Mosquitos were introduced to Ireland by Lord Talbot (whatever possessed him to do it I don't know) and have been resident in Malahide for over a century.

Tell me about it. *scratches*

mhermannsen

It's October 09, freezing cold here in North Kerry, but the mozzies are out. For the last 3 weeks, we've been killing around 10 per night in the house. My bedroom wall and ceiling is speckled with dead critters. Haven't been bitten funny enough, but they are definitely mozzies (recognise them from my time in Italy). Can't wait until they're gone!!!!

Victor

They don't like lemon. You can also get sprays from pharmacies.

westerlywonder

seems like there wasn't too much action from the mozies in 2010.
Well they have started really early this year. I've had a constant few coming in the windows at night over the last few nights. Must be this lovely stretch of weather we are having.
I have seen them every year since i can remember, but i dont think i have ever noticed them this early before.

there is reported 17-20 species in Ireland but does anyone know the detail of these species. Or how far back this figure was put together.
I'm positive that this number has grown in recent years

Victor

Spotted my first one of the year on 2 May - in Rathmines!