Mosquitoes 🦟 - Is anyone else being eaten alive?

ClosedAccountFuzzy

Over the past few days I have been devoured by mosquitoes. Anyone else being eaten alive?

I've bites on my feet and legs and they've turned into big flat weals that are literally throbbing. I've used anti itch creams and taken antihistamines and they're still pretty nasty.

I've a couple of mosquito plugs - the vaporising types. One seems to work pretty well (from Cyprus) the one I picked up in Boots appears to have little or no effect. I've ordered replacements from Amazon.fr and will just use them with Schuko adaptors.

They're an absolute nightmare though and seem to be more prevalent this year than ever. I don't remember being bitten this badly by them before, and I don't think I've even had this much of an issue with them on the continent in previous summers.

gipi

Thankfully nothing this year, but I do remember 2 very bad summers about 15 years ago when I was eaten alive. To add to the misery, I had travel vaccinations the year before - my immune system went into overdrive when I was bitten, my face swelled up and I looked like I'd met Mike Tyson on a bad night!

They are very fond of me and I get bitten frequently when on holidays.

Make sure that there is no standing water (buckets, pots, etc) close to your house as they will thrive there.

Just add heaps of Garlic to your meals, or eat some Garlic directly. It's brilliant for making most mosquitoes avoid you, and those bites you do get will disappear quickly.

I was eaten alive my first few years in Asia, until some locals took pity on me and explained the benefits of Garlic.

riclad

I'd prefer to get a mosquito bite than to eat garlic

beachhead

Are you talking about horseflies? Take garlic and Vitamin B1 tablets - one of each every day to repel mossies.It's about 99% effective-you might get bitten once a week.By the way mossies bite in a cluster of 3,that is 3 bites = 1 mossie or 2 other buddies.Holland Barrett sell B1 and the garlic.Chemist prob cost more for both.Lidl,Tesco etc sell garlic.Also,burn Citronella oil indoors.Do not buy the crap wax tea .... that Aldi selling at the moment,it's useless.Try H&B again or good pharmacy for the oil.The tablets could take up to one week to become effective.

ClosedAccountFuzzy

No they're mosquitoes.

2ndcoming

I've no interest in mosquitoes just this happens to be on the front page and I can't use boards anymore so howyaz

Real Donald Trump

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117644783#Comment_117644783

Same here, place has gone to shoite

Hangdogroad

Are mosquitos even a thing in Ireland? Midges, now those b@stards have been the bane of my life.

ednwireland

clegs (horseflies) i detest luckily easy to kill and i dont generally react to them just a pinprick. but if they bite me they die !

ednwireland

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645349#Comment_117645349

Have we mosquitoes in Ireland?

We have mosquitoes in Ireland, the commonest being Culex pipiens. They can be seen hovering over water and marshy places in the late summer and early autumn, especially in the south and east of the country.

Do Irish mosquitoes carry disease?

Irish mosquitoes have not been demonstrated to carry any human infections. 

Factsheet - Health Protection Surveillance Centre (hpsc.ie)

Ray Palmer

Find the source of them near you and eliminate it. They need water so anything holding water even small amounts should be removed

mojesius

There's one little fucker in the house the last few days who had been living off me. I can't find it. Irish mozzies are a lot more elusive than their continental cousins, small and silent.

Carodh

Hardly ever been bitten before. That’s just one side of my ankle both legs eaten alive & im petrified of a skin infection. I covered myself in bug spray yesterday but constantly felt myself being picked.

Weird looking bugs while emptying the lawnmower drew blood on Tuesday. Flat looking guys- not like flys at all. And only when emptying the bag of grass.

TomSweeney

You're lucky you don't have the invasive aedis (tiger mosquito) in Ireland, little fuckers are everywhere in Spain and give awful bites

Kat1170

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645571#Comment_117645571

Make sure they're not Ticks

Carodh

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645589#Comment_117645589

These were big guys. Not tics at all. Looked a bit like stink bugs but they don’t bite. Can’t find anything when I looked them up.

AllForIt

erm no haven't seen any mosquitoes. In fact I was just thinking up to this hot spell this has been the best year I can remember for any type of flys as in never seen so few of them. Certainly for house flys.

One eyed Jack

Spent the last minute swiping on my screen and blowing on it trying to get rid of a fly… then I copped the thread title 😒

Well played OP, but no mosquitoes here at least 😏

Calahonda52

https://boards.ie/discussion/2058199633/mosquitoes-%F0%9F%A6%9F-is-anyone-else-being-eaten-alive

where are you living, they are not widespread in Ireland yet

riclad

i don,t think i,ve ever seen a musquitoe ,i think they are mostly in hot countrys ,africa, india, etc i think alot of insects ,midges are around water , beaches, etc

Joe_ Public

You will always know mosquitoes by the sharp high pitched whine you hear as they buzz past or around your ear. Its very distinctive Never encountered any in this country. Yet.

Calahonda52

They are in Dublin, especially between Balbriggan and Portmarnock

It is alleged this guy brought them in

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Talbot_of_Malahide

Kat1170

There are most certainly Mosquitoes in Ireland although Mosquitoes carrying diseases have not been recorded in Ireland, yet.

Info on the HSE website HERE

Everybody should educate themselves re. ticks HERE. They definitely are here, and they definitely carry nasty diseases.

fun loving criminal

I've been eaten alive by these lately. They say not to scratch but the intense itching is something else. Raided my cupboard that I keep all sort of creams and things in and I was desperate but I got some relief using deep heat cream on the bites.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117669729#Comment_117669729

I don't believe mosquitoes don't carry diseases. We were told that for years about ticks.

passatman86

Have one on my leg and the top of my sock is rubbing off it. I itched it until it hurt lol

smillingsam

Yeah, last week when it was hot myself and my wife got bitten a few times.

florryfox

I never realised we had mosquitoes in Ireland. Now I find myself analysing every flying bug that I see near me.

Pbbuster

I have suffered for years with a severe reaction to insect bites in Ireland abs abroad.I started taking vitamin B1 in March, I have now been in Portugal for a week and not one single bite! I'm delighted and will carry on taking the B1 daily all year round

Feisar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117646206#Comment_117646206

While I'm glad there are less flies I see it as a bad thing overall in that there seems to be a general lessening of all sorts of creatures.

Bobblehats

Yea. I don’t quite feel like a mosquito, whatever that’s about but I’ll be reduced to somethin inconsequential as a gnat at this rate

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636046#Comment_117636046

I live on garlic, unfortunately that never stopped them - it's obvious I'm too appetising!

Op, not so much this year, but a few years back, abroad, I used to be eaten alive by them: every bite would instantly turn into a big red welt the diameter of a tangerine, with broken capillaries, would itch and hurt like hell (the pain was easily a 7 or an 8) and would scab over (even without scratching!) and take weeks to disappear. It was clearly a severe reaction to them, the anti-histamines didn't make a blind bit of a difference.

TLDR: Me too, op, I understand perfectly.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119323029#Comment_119323029

Same here. Was in Florence a few years ago, apparently after a particularly wet spring, four of us in the apartment, I got bitten 42 times the first night! The other 3, a grand total of two between. Bought a year's supply of deet the next day for the next 3 days. I looked like I had been in a fight with a heavyweight.

Anyways, I don't think I've been bitten by mosquitoes in Ireland, or maybe a less severe reaction, but those bastarden horseflies! That's an ouchy.

whatawaster81

I'm in Malta and they've got me a good few times on the arms. The cream from the local pharmacy has worked well and nothing the last couple of days.

eltonyio

When I get bitten I've tried almost every cream/ spray/ gel/ pill as I swell up very badly from the little feckers, sometimes to maybe 5cm x 5cm bumps, with skin as hard as leather from them. After years, I've finally found one or two things that seem to help ease the itching- deep heat. Definitely reduces the desire to scratch anyway. Also tiger balm helps a bit too.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645623#Comment_117645623

They were most likely clegs, Haemotopata pluvialis