If you drink Beer......Mosquitoes love you!

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

This write up was in the S.C. Forestry Bulletin this week.

Why are some people mosquito magnets?

By Lisa Collier Cool—Yahoo Health

If you feel as if every mosquito in a 50-mile radius has you locked in its sights, while your friends are rarely bitten, you could be right. Up to 20 percent of us are highly alluring to mosquitoes—and scientists have discovered some surprising reasons.

"Both your metabolism and your unique body chemistry—which is as
distinctive as a fingerprint—play an important role in determining whether
or not you're a mosquito magnet," says University of Florida entomology professor Dr. Phil Koehler. "Also, there's evidence that your degree of attractiveness to mosquitoes can change over time."
Here are some intriguing discoveries about why some of us are particularly tasty targets for the tiny vampires:

Mosquitos prefer blood type O

In their quest for a meal, mosquitoes are nearly twice as likely to land on people with type 0 blood than those with type A, according to a Japanese study. Indeed, the biting pests consider type 0 more delectable than any other blood type, the researchers reported. Most people secrete substances that allow mosquitoes to identify blood type before they bite.

Beer drinkers beware

Swigging just one bottle of beer can significantly boost your risk of being bitten, according to a study published in Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. The researchers reported that, "Mosquito landing on volunteers significantly increased after beer ingestion compared with before ingestion."

Watch out for the full moon

The tiny bloodsuckers are 500 times more active when the moon is full, reports the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA). Overall, the highest risk times for mosquito bites are dusk and dawn, with the females of some species migrating up to 40 miles in pursuit of a meal. (Male mosquitoes don't bite.)

Keep your socks on

The pungent aroma of dirty feet is apparently irresistible to mosquitoes, as a brave scientist, Bart Knols, discovered when he sat in a lab in his underwear to find out which parts of the body the pests are most likely to target. He found that 75 percent of the bugs homed in on his feet, but
after he washed them with deodorant soap, the mosquitos bit randomly. His
team also reported that stinky cheeses, such as Limburger—which has the same odoriferous compound responsible for foot odor—also draws mosquitoes.

Running won't help you

Both the carbon dioxide we exhale and substances in sweat, such as lactic acid, help mosquitoes home in on their prey. As a result, Dr. Koehler reports. "You're more likely to be bitten if you're running or exercising than when you're at rest, since you're breathing harder and sweating more." In fact, physical activity ups risk for bites by as much as 50 percent, according to AMCA.

Like vampires, they prefer dark clothes

Dark-colored clothing can increase your risk of falling victim to the little bloodsuckers, compared to lighter-colored garments, says Dr. Koehler. In one study comparing the appeal of various hues to mosquitoes, the researchers reported the following results: black and dark blue (most attractive); red (very attractive); grey and blue (neutral); khaki, green, light khaki, and yellow (less attractive).


Fun Facts on Mosquitoes

ACMA (http://www.mosquito.org/fun-facts)
Mosquitoes are known from as far back as the Triassic Period – 400
million years ago. They are known from North America from the Cretaceous – 100 million years ago.
There are about 2,700 species of mosquito. There are 176 species in the United States. The average mosquito weighs about 2.5 milligrams.
The average mosquito takes in about 5-millionths of a liter of blood during feeding.
Mosquitoes find hosts by sight (they observe movement); by detecting infra-red radiation emitted by warm bodies; and by chemical signals (mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide and lactic acid, among other chemicals) at distances of 25 to 35 meters.
Mosquitoes fly an estimated 1 to 1.5 miles per hour.
Salt marsh mosquitoes can migrate up to 40 miles for a meal.
Bigger people are often more attractive to mosquitoes because they are larger targets and they produce more mosquito attractants, namely CO2 and lactic acid.
Active or fidgety people also produce more CO2 and lactic acid. Movement increased mosquito biting up to 50% in some research tests. A full moon increased mosquito activity 500% in one study

[beenthere]

Hunting partner of mine, years back, swore that eating garlic or taking garlic pills helped ward off mosquitoes. He didn't drink beer, so maybe it helped him. I never tried the garlic.

And maybe it has to do with just not being as "attractive" to mosquitoes as the person you are with.

I got my second mosquitoe bite for the summer this morning. A few around, but not many. 

[giant splinter]

Just wondering if there is something we can do to make ourselves less a target for them other than deet or any form of bug-juice.
Perhaps a natural repellant of some type,anyone have any old formulas?

[Ron Wenrich]

My uncle used to tell me that if you cut down on your sugar consumption, you'd be less of a target.  He said you had to cut back a couple of months before the skeeters came out.

[DanG]

I have heard for many years that eating lots of garlic and onions will keep them away.  Works on friends and lovers too.  Could be an old wives tale, but it was told to me by an old husband. ;D

[Raider Bill]

Just wondering if there is something we can do to make ourselves less a target for them other than deet or any form of bug-juice.
Perhaps a natural repellant of some type,anyone have any old formulas?

Drink Natty Light :D

[grweldon]

You call that beer? 

[Delawhere Jack]

Depends what kind of beer you drink. I can't say whether commercially made beer will make you more or less of a target, but homebrewed beer will DEFINITELY act as a repellent.

How so? Asks the Most Interesting Man in the World?

Yeast.  ;)

Homebrew generally contains a fair amount of yeast in the finished beer. Commercial brewers go to great lengths to remove all traces of it for better shelf life and taste.

Most vitamin B pills will provide the same effect as they are largely made from brewers yeast. Something about the yeast in your system makes the little suckers move on in search of a more "attractive" target.

materhead

Alas, this protection afforded by the brewers best friend does come at a price. More than a couple homebrews will often give you gas the next day that will clear a room in seconds... :-[

PS. The yeast in homebrew also helps replenish b vitamins that the consumption of alcohol will strip from your system. The loss of vit b and dehydration are two of the root causes of hangovers.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

We try to sit outside some in the evenings. We burn those special candles to keep the Skeeters away but they seem not to work. Them little suckers are buzzing every where.
I'm gonna hate Dove season coming this year. Skeeters are always bad and will be worse this year!  >:(

[WmFritz]

X3 on the garlic. I  was told this by my grandmother almost 50 years ago. We were sitting in a row boat near some lily pads one evening on a quiet northern lake. We were fishing for smallmouth and I was being eaten alive. She sat there in the center seat and wasn't bitten at all. She told me it was because of the garlic pills she takes.  She was a huge believer in Prevention Magazine and read that garlic was good for many things including warding off mosquitos.

Maybe a garlic flavored beer is the answer. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

                             


                                 I don't always drink beer but when I do......

                                            I make it Garlic Beer. 

                                       Stay Mosquito free my friend.

[Raider Bill]

You call that beer?

Nope, not unless Dangs Buying ;) But it is a good repellant keeps people out of your cooler. :D

I'd quit drinking beer if all I had was garlic flavored. A local micro-brew had some. Might work in a spaghetti sauce but sure didn't work in a beer glass.  I remember it was high AC and came in 3 or 4 oz glasses.

[Jeff]

We try to sit outside some in the evenings. We burn those special candles to keep the Skeeters away but they seem not to work. Them little suckers are buzzing every where.
I'm gonna hate Dove season coming this year. Skeeters are always bad and will be worse this year!  >:(

They have been bad here all year, but staring about Tuesday of next week, I'm declaring war on them until after the pigroast with a regimen of yard spraying, foggings, and torches wiuth bug repellant oils lit during the evenings for the pigroast. Some nights it is not bad, but others it has been horrible.

[Al_Smith]

If beer had anything to do with it I'd have been gobbled up years ago .

My wife doesn't drink beer has baby soft skin and smells good .I try to keep Budweiser in business ,have the skin of a boar hog and probabley smell like one too .They don't bother me .

Now wasps terrorize my wife .I swat them with my hat,use my pocket knife to prune off their stinger and half of one wing .Now whatya going do bad boy? They are scared to death of me .

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Hey....where's AL? He's on the porch whittling a wasp!  :D :D :D

[Al_Smith]

Ah but my favotite is to blow them out of a nest with a water hose .A wasp can't fly with wet wings .You can get a whole bunch of them in one fell swoop .Gotta be quick on the trigger though .


Say I have this contraption that uses propane to give off co2 that attracts mosquitoes .It works .Supposed to clear a half an acre .

A good high voltage bug zapper works too .Lawdy will that thing fry a June bug .Sounds like bacon frying smoke just rolls .

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Say I have this contraption that uses propane to give off co2 that attracts mosquitoes .It works .Supposed to clear a half an acre .

:D :D :D I guarantee AL, if you use propane Right, you CAN clear half an acre.  :D :D :D

[thecfarm]

Most nights there is no sitting around here. I usually work right up until dark, some nights they drive me inside.

[Al_Smith]

Actually until this little cool down period last week they weren't bad .I noticed the pesky rascals as I was weeding my garden last night .So It's time to get out the profane --er propane gas gizmo .

I worked 15 years on the afternoon shift before I could hold days .Sitting on my patio in the afternoon relaxing ,drinking beer and watching the squirrels I really enjoy .I'll me danged if some pesky little flying gnat is going to run me inside .

I tried swatting them with my greasy old hat .They aren't as tough as a wasp ,mosquitoe puree .I couldn't dewing and destinger them ,just a little blob of goo .