Mosquitoes Are Not My Favorite

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive a small commission when you purchase an item using my links.

I never thought there would come a day where I would devote an entire post to mosquitoes, but, here I am! I hate mosquitoes. I understand they are essential to the environment, no matter what some scientists hypothesize. Male mosquitoes are pollinators, and all mosquitoes serve as nourishment to countless species of birds, fish, insects, and even bats. I get that we need them, but I still don’t like them. I am always the first one bit, and the bite seems to affect me more than anyone else. A couple of weeks ago, I had six bites, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but they became so inflamed that I couldn’t concentrate during the day or sleep at night. I was determined to eradicate them from my property. They can serve critical ecological functions elsewhere. Here is what I discovered.

• An allergy to mosquito bites is real and goes by the ridiculous name Skeeter Syndrome.
• Running fans helps, as they don’t like to fly in the wind.
• Planting herbs around the perimeter of your home is a good idea.
• Diffusing essential oils helps. I diffused essential oils at work, but since we have dogs and a bird, I can’t at home.
• There are a lot of indoor repellent options.

There are so many indoor repellent options that I didn’t know where to start. I decided to go as cheap as possible since I wanted a device in every room. Zappers sound cruel (literally), so I skipped over them for now. I didn’t want to hear bugs pop or clean them up later. But, everyone has a limit. If what I bought fails to work, I’m frying every last mosquito.

I ended up buying this ultrasonic pest repeller on Amazon. I posted a picture of it on Instagram, and enough people asked for a review to justify spending a night writing about mosquitoes. I have had the units installed for a week. So far, so good.

Pros

• Quiet
• Less violent than an electric zapper
• No fumes, no chemicals
• Inexpensive ($35 for six units)

My top needs were no fumes/chemicals (we have pets) and price.

Cons

I have two cons and one warning. First, the blue light you see in the first picture is very bright in our bedroom at night. On day 5, I decided to cover it with a pillow, and the following morning I woke up with two bites. On day 6, I told myself to get over it and slept with the blue light. No bites. If you need to sleep in a dark room (I usually do), consider other options.

Second, if you look at the product picture directly above, you’ll see that the units repel mosquitoes best when placed in outlets over 30″ high. I have that in my kitchen and bathroom, but not in the bedrooms. I took a gamble and so far, so good.

Now, onto the warning. An Instagram follower has these same units, and by the 4-year mark, they stopped working for her. Keep that in mind since the units are plastic. They may sit in a landfill longer than they will repel mosquitoes.

Now that I know ultrasonic pest control works, I may one day replace what I have with several expensive units. For now, this works as a low-budget option.

And thus concludes my foray into dipteran fly writing. 2020, you never let me down.

(Links above