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Susan Horn

Beach Fanatic
Well I wonder if bats could manage amongst the trees? I don't know much about bats.

Maybe a little fish pond would be your best bet, with those skeeter-eaters in it, or a baby pool if making a pond is too much work!
 

NotDeadYet

Beach Fanatic
Jul 7, 2007
1,422
489
Maybe someone who knows can tell us if there is any value in bat houses. We already have plenty of bats here - in the summer time, you can see them flying around. So I wonder if we have the species that would appreciate a house?
I have a cat that used to catch two or three bats every summer. He would go up on the roof and snatch them out of the air. :eek:
He's older now and his bat catching days are over, thankfully.
 

florida girl

Beach Fanatic
Feb 3, 2006
1,453
67
Santa Rosa Beach
The solution is for the county to rebuild the ditch! Long range is for the county and the Mosquito Control to work together when building projects effecting water runoff.
 

florida girl

Beach Fanatic
Feb 3, 2006
1,453
67
Santa Rosa Beach
Considering some of my family members contracted Malaria (living on JD Miller Road, by the way), and known individuals who have died from West Nile contracted here, along with families who have lost loved ones due to Encephalitis, or been seriously and permanently damaged, I consider the increase of Mosquitoes to be a threat to not only humans, but also animals.
 

fisher

Beach Fanatic
Sep 19, 2005
822
76
Considering some of my family members contracted Malaria (living on JD Miller Road, by the way), and known individuals who have died from West Nile contracted here, along with families who have lost loved ones due to Encephalitis, or been seriously and permanently damaged, I consider the increase of Mosquitoes to be a threat to not only humans, but also animals.

You are very, very prone to exaggeration. Although these news pieces are a bit dated, they show just how RARE it is for malaria to be contracted in the US.

From 1957 through 1994, 76 cases of locally acquired malaria were reported in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said.

The CDC Annual Summary of Malaria for 1996
(January 3, 1997) reports a total of 1,542 malaria cases
in the U.S. (Figure 2). This compares to 1,419 cases
reported in the U.S. in 1995. In 80 cases of malaria
reported in Florida, all but two were acquired outside
the US.


Of the more than 50 cases reported in 2007, 42%
reported travel to Africa and were predominantly infected
with P. falciparum. The remaining cases reported travel to
areas of Latin America or Asia and were primarily infected
with P. vivax.19

Also, mosquitoes do not spread hepatitis.
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
Considering some of my family members contracted Malaria (living on JD Miller Road, by the way), and known individuals who have died from West Nile contracted here, along with families who have lost loved ones due to Encephalitis, or been seriously and permanently damaged, I consider the increase of Mosquitoes to be a threat to not only humans, but also animals.
Please remind me of those people's names who contracted West Nile in South Walton, and died. I must have missed that news story.

florida girl, I find it rather interesting that you consider "mosquitos to be a threat ... to animals," when you suggest that the solution to mosquitos is spraying poison over everything. Seems counter productive, if you really care about animals. If you are really concerned about contracting Malaria, West Nile, etc, why don't you just wear that Skin So Soft or Backwoods Off with lots of Deet? :dunno: You can also wear long sleeves, light colored clothing and a mosquito net headgear, but stop spraying poison on me and all of the other animals to "protect" yourself.
 

dogflyguy

Beach Lover
Sep 24, 2007
82
6
I breed Gambusia Hoolbrooki (Mosquito fish ) as part of my job and will give them free to anyone who wants some. they will help control future mosquito's, I say help because if you have a bad problem that is all they will do and they only eat larvae not adults, they will definetly help they eat larvae like its candy and they are prolific breeders just a few dozen can turn into a thousand in just a few months and they can survive in most any water from stagnant to brackish. Downfall is animals and birds think their tasty too!!. Also you want to make sure they do not get into an area (run off or flooding)that has a Native fish species where some Gambusia are not natural because they are very aggressive and will eat all the other fish eggs and food. Bats are not a good idea i have tried you have to have the right enviroment and the hardest part is trying to get a few to come to your little box they love lots of company.but i can send some plans for a simple bat house if anyone wants them. they usally get taken over by some type of bird
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
Don't tadpoles eat mosquito larvae? Seems that they would be better than introducing exotic species like Gambusia Hoolbrooki into our environment.

Also, you will hear people saying remove standing water from your yard, which does help, but not if you have leaves like the Live Oak on the ground. Thousands of little water trappers. I've also found that the clumps of native grasses in my yard act as water trappers and the mosquitoes love to nest in them.
 

Susan Horn

Beach Fanatic
Mosquito Barrier - Facts & FAQ's

This is the product that SWMCD was going to test. I never heard if the conducted the test, and if so, whether the garlic product was effective.

I can say with absolute certainy, however, that I used a similar product some years ago (bought it at WalMart, I think it was a Martha Stewart product) in my completely wild, never-cut (hundreds-of-years-old oaks etc.) acre yard in Pt. Washington, full of decades of vines and understory growth. I don't know how or why it worked, but it got rid of mosquitos and they stayed away for weeks, maybe a couple of months. There was a faint garlic scent in the yard for about a day or so, then no scent. The mosquitos stayed away even after several rains. I really don't know how it workd but it did, and that was the buggiest place I ever lived.

On the page I linked above, they give a recipe for bug repellant that I think I'll have to try. Soybean oil and Palmolive liquid soap. Hmmm.
 
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