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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMosquitoes and ticks are going to eat us all alive this summer
Much of the United States is expecting higher than average mosquito numbers this year.
This winter, as occasional cold snaps were outnumbered by weirdly balmy days, we at the PopSci offices had a running theory that come spring time we might be contending with buggy madnessenough mosquitoes to keep us firmly indoors, or at least coated in DEET.
Whoever bet on bugs made the right choice this year, said Jim Fredericks, the Chief Entomologist & Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs at the National Pest Management Association. It probably will be a pretty buggy spring and summer.
The National Pest Management Association recently released its "bug barometer", and the predictions are lousy. This spring and summer, most of the continental United States (apart from the Pacific Northwest) will experience an uptick in insect numbers. In most regions, mosquitoes and ticks will emerge earlier and in greater numbers than usual. The southwest doesnt have to deal with earlier mosquitoes, according to the barometer, but it gets to share in the nations bitter, buggy bounty: once the insects do emerge, they'll be more prolific than usual.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mosquitoes-and-ticks-are-going-to-eat-us-all-alive-this-summer/ar-BBzia88?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=mailsignout
I've been applying the caladryl lotion quite liberally the past couple of days. And I've found ticks on all my dogs so they're on frontline.
furtheradu
(1,865 posts)Sunsuvbitches. SPLAT!
RandySF
(59,264 posts)furtheradu
(1,865 posts)I am often told it's cuz I am "so sweet", maybe You are,too?
Old timers say to eat more garlic, but I do eat lots.
I wear long pants & long sleeves when ever body else is half nekkid. I avoid early am or evening outside, but they still find me.
I dislike the deets.
I do know vinegar or rubbin'alcohol takes the itch/sting away.
& I hope no zikas jump on me. SPLAT!
DFW
(54,445 posts)Here in Central Europe mosquitoes are usually bad to begin with, and Lyme Disease has been around for years. My younger daughter got it right here in the Rheinland over 15 years ago. I picked the tick off her leg myself, and the rings had already formed.
Dem2
(8,168 posts)Ugh. Glad they can treat it quickly now.
Lisa0825
(14,487 posts)The fleas are so plentiful that they are hopping the patio or riding on my shoes into the house. This is the first time in about 8 years that I have needed to use flea control products!
Doreen
(11,686 posts)though.
I am not as worried about fleas, mosquitoes, and ticks as I am repukes eating us alive. Can anyone recommend a good repellent for those pesky repukes?
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,902 posts)At 7,000 feet (Santa Fe, NM) I'm simply not bothered by many of these things. It may be that lack of standing water helps to have no mosquitoes.
OregonBlue
(7,754 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Lucinda
(31,170 posts)with a big stand of woods right off the deck. Thank goodness for diatomaceous earth!