Mosquito Control

[dave1949]

Used to have a few bats around, but this year I haven't seen any. I am guessing the white nose virus got them. Bats feed each other in their roosts they say. A bat that didn't get full will be given regurgitated meals by other bats in the colony. This makes the spread of white nose very easy within the colony.

20_20 - Not sure about the idea that if an area were natural enough, the mosquito population would be tolerable. I don't think that's really true. I wish it were Native Americans and early settlers were deviled by mosquitos pre-chemical and before large scale alterations of the natural environment.

I am all in agreement that chemicals are not to be used until natural methods have been tried. The weather plays a big part in how well mosquitos fare in any given year. Normally around here, they can keep you inventing new dances this time of year. This year with the early warm Spring which dried out the woods, and continuing low rainfall, hardly any.

Since we are surrounded by miles and miles of woodland, I personally wouldn't start spraying, that would be like spitting in the ocean. There are probably conditions and areas where knocking down the population at key times is the safer thing to do in the long run. Somewhat depends on how prevalent some of the nasty mosquito transmitted diseases are in a given area.
Dave.

 

[dstig1]

here are a couple of pictures of my bat house it has a divider inside to give them 2 rooms

So does that make it a 2 Batroom Bungalow? :laughing::cool2:

Seriously what about that bacteria that you put into the water that kills off the larvae? I forget what it's called, but I recall it comes in cakes that dissolve in water. Totally organic, if that's your thing - no chemicals - a "natural" solution.

-Dave

 

[Eagleview]

And you would know this how, exactly ?

Because it is in my tanks as I type .

 

[Doloe]

Here's another resourse for bat info.

Bat Conservation International, Inc.

 

[teg]

Smaller fogger??? or just cheap foreign junk?

PROPANE FOGGER WITH FOG - Agri Supply

would be interested in exactly what "insecticide" it uses...

.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Smaller fogger??? or just cheap foreign junk?

PROPANE FOGGER WITH FOG - Agri Supply

would be interested in exactly what "insecticide" it uses...

.

I think the "fog" from my last dog would be a good insecticide.:confused2:

 

[20 20]

Used to have a few bats around, but this year I haven't seen any. I am guessing the white nose virus got them. Bats feed each other in their roosts they say. A bat that didn't get full will be given regurgitated meals by other bats in the colony. This makes the spread of white nose very easy within the colony.

I believe you're correct Dave they live in close quarters and it seems the disease spreads during there hibernation time.

20_20 - Not sure about the idea that if an area were natural enough, the mosquito population would be tolerable. I don't think that's really true. I wish it were Native Americans and early settlers were deviled by mosquitos pre-chemical and before large scale alterations of the natural environment.

My suggestion was about helping the good{natural} cut down on the bad. I'm sure there were natives that liked living next to bat caves just for the purpose of no mosquitos . As you know we have had some VERY wet summers for the past few years{2006, I believe was the start, atleast here}, and the wet makes great skeeter breeding. We had issue's with skeeters when we 1st came here and started rearranging our land {15+yrs ago}. I'm not big on chemicals so I built the bat house and within the 1st year there was a huge improvement. It stayed that way up untill this year, we have only noticed 2-3 bats in our area, where as before we had over 25-30. We could sit out by our ponds at night and might get skeetered once, now we run for the indoors. My other concern with all the chemicals we keep dumping is, could it be screwing up the bats???? Some researches think it might be??? These little flying bug zappers are fragile and I doubt it would take much to mess up there immune systems. I'm not just crasping for straws here either, as you know I am into the bee thing now and there is proof that all the chemicals that have been used on/for/etc.. in bee areas is taking it's toll on there immune system. Just a thought, maybe I'm wrong but, something sure is making a hit on these little guys{bats}

I am all in agreement that chemicals are not to be used until natural methods have been tried. The weather plays a big part in how well mosquitos fare in any given year. Normally around here, they can keep you inventing new dances this time of year. This year with the early warm Spring which dried out the woods, and continuing low rainfall, hardly any.

Since we are surrounded by miles and miles of woodland, I personally wouldn't start spraying, that would be like spitting in the ocean. There are probably conditions and areas where knocking down the population at key times is the safer thing to do in the long run. Somewhat depends on how prevalent some of the nasty mosquito transmitted diseases are in a given area.
Dave.

Agreed, I just wonder if folks got over their false fears of bats and, if every house{atleast in the country} had a few bats kicking around if there would be such a skeeter issue? I have noticed old homes and places with bat familys living close by will allmost have no skeeters or very few.

 

[graemeian]

If your pond is healthy, it should actually reduce the mosquito population. The water should have the brown tint. There should not be any parts that are so shallow as to not ripple when the wind blows. The predator fish and their spawn should be able to access all regions of the pond. Hence the smaller spawns will eat the larvae. etc. Good luck.

 

[HCJtractor]

I think the "fog" from my last dog would be a good insecticide.:confused2:

these are worthless. I had one and it is really ineffective, especially for an area of several acres.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

Where I grew up, my grandparent's house had mosquitos that would eat you alive:licking:

Where I have lived for the past 13 years wasn't bad at all, I rarely got bit. We recently moved and I have never seen anything like it. They are off the charts bad.

So, I remembered this thread and about the fogger that post #4 uses. I'm gonna go this route. It was like winter time, we couldn't even go outside last summer and the whole reason we moved there was so the kids could ride their bikes and play outside.

I called the website listed and yes, they were VERY helpful and friendly.

Stihl makes a sr450 fogger just like the solo 450 refered to in post 4 but the stihl has a little better specs and local support (plus everything I own practically is stihl). Also, stihl's backpack blower 420 is the same as the fogger sr420. So, I could buy a used 420 blower and buy the conversion kit through stihl and save a little money. I may, however, I might just buy a new sr450 from stihl. This is something I can see using a lot on the garden, pests, and just as a plain leaf blower.

So, I'll post back my results as I look for a fogger and then order the chemicals