General Care Discussion :: Citronella and reptiles?

[reptilegrrl]

Hi grey goose,

Actually, DNA testing of blood found inside trapped mosquitoes has shown that they do bite box turtles, as well as aquatic turtles (and other reptiles, including snakes.) I refer you to this abstract:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articl ... id=1351276

The abstract reveals that DNA from pond turtles, box turtles, and cottonmouth snakes were all found in mosquito blood meals. I'm sure you are aware that finding only one sort of snake DNA does not mean that only one sort of snake receives bites.

The turtle being threatened by mosquitoes in this case is a box turtle. The bugs over his pen are definitely mosquitoes, with which I am quite familiar. They are not midges; I am observing them at very close proximity. When I go out into my yard, they swam and bite me. I assure you, I can tell a mosquito from a midge or a crane fly!

In addition to specifically swarming over the turtle pen, the mosquitoes are biting the humans very badly. I can't step out into the yard without being swarmed, unless I go in the hottest part of the day and stay in full sun. I am safe in the yard if I frequently reapply repellent, but I hate having to spray myself down just to check the mail. My partner is severely allergic to mosquitoes and not only do repellents not keep them away from him, but his bites swell up and are huge and painful. Once he received several bad bites in one day and actually became feverish and sick

[DavidY]

Ugh, I hate mosquitos!

Hey GreyGoose, what do you think of the Skeeter Vacs by Blue Rhino? I've got two of them now and they've knocked my skeeter population down to "not bat at all" levels. This season though I've got one unit offline and am waiting for a replacement part and the other unit got clogged up by ants nesting in it so it was offline for about a month (didn't realize it for a couple of weeks then had to take it apart and clean it). So the bugs have got a bit of a head start this season. But for the past 3 years we have had very little problem with mosquitos or black flies. These machines only seem to target bugs that feed on humans too, sparing the beneficial insects. They're a bit expensive to buy and run but we used to have mosquito problems like Reptilegrrl as well as swarms of black flies in the spring (you couldn't even keep your eyes open they were so bad...and they are out in the sun too so there's no relief). So it's definitely been worth if for us.

[steve]

I believe any carbon dioxide trap only attracts certain types of mosquitoes, so it's probably best to find out which ones are in your area before getting a setup.

[reptilegrrl]

David you are definitely selling me on the Skeeter Vac

[DavidY]

I got mine at Sam's Club for $280 which is a lot less than what you can get it for even on ebay. It has worked great for me and one of my friends who also lives near a swamp and deeper in the woods than I do. I bought one for my parents but they never refill the tank when it runs out so I have to do it for them when I visit. It doesn't work as effectively if you don't keep up with it. The key is to take out all or the majority of the breeding females in the area. Each female lays thousands of eggs during her brief life span (a few weeks). And each of those eggs that hatches into a female will lay another several thousand eggs and so on. If you can kill most of the females in the beginning of the season and then continue to keep the population low, you will prevent them from ever getting to explosive numbers.

The Skeeter Vacs that are sold up here come with Octenol attractants. From what I understand, the Tiger Mosquitos down south are attracted to Lurex3.

[grey goose]

Don't get me wrong, I have alot of respect for the people who conduct research in this field but, from my own experience, these people will drive you nuts if you let them! They need to get out more.....
I believe Dyer came out with his first report in 1906, researchers have been arguing over mosquito biology ever since. Truth is, after all this time, there is still alot of unknowns when it comes to mosquito morphology.
In all of these studies, you will see words like "mostly", "comparatively", "possible", etc. which means they can't give a definitive answer. And that's the main problem with many species of mosquitoes. Cx. erraticus didn't get that name from being all warm and fuzzy.
I've been beating the bushes for a few years now, let me tell you what I know.
Most (there's that word again) Culex species are opportunistic biters, which means they will take their blood meal from mammals, avian or yes, even reptiles. Especially Cx. erraticus, I recall a report from an alligator farm down in Florida a few years back that stated Cx. erraticus were taking blood from gators! Most ( ) Culex have a short flight range, so the females have to get their blood fix where they can find it.
Here's a short paper on the erraticus, needles to say it's a mysterious little sucker:
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/sp17.htm
But I still think turtles would not be their first choice unless it is the only host around. Plus Culex are not considered to be aggressive biters, and I can't imagine them swarming your boxie.....but I suppose it's possible (one of those words again), considering the rain, heat and humidity in your region now.
The study only cites three blood meals from turts, that's kinda low....

I have no experience with Cx. peccator, they are mostly ( ) found in the southern tier. But I know their habitats are freshwater swamps, lakes, ponds, and drainage ditches. Same places that turts like to hang out in.
But table #4 in the study only cites the turts as "other" and again, the numbers are pretty low.

Ur. sapphirina (a "pretty" little mosquito) has been giving researchers who use the PCR method fits for years now....they can't seem to pin it down to any group or single host. Some say it's a reptile biter only, some say it will bite man if given the chance, the argument (or nerd fight, as I like to call it) will go on.....
http://www.mosquito-va.org/uranotaenia_sapphirina.htm

I noticed in their acknowledgments they thanked J. Camp for collecting and ID'ing the mosquitoes. See what I mean about getting out more? I also had to wonder about how and what kind of "reptilian and amphibian tissue samples" they got?........

DavidY, I'm not a big fan of devices that use attractants to control mosquitoes, they can be expensive and must be strategically placed, but in your case, being in the woods and all, it's probably a good choice for control.

As far as natural control like garlic and lemon well......some swear by it, some say it's just an old wives tale. One plant that can give some control in your yard, if the soil and climate are OK, is chrysanthemums. It contains a natural pyrethrin, which mosquitoes and other pesky bugs don't care to be around.
Here's a site that has alot of close-up pictures of different mosquitoes, but not much else:
http://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/Key/atlas.pdf

[grey goose]

After looking around a bit, I found out that Houston has Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus, both are very aggressive "day biters". It's certainly possible that these two are the ones that are attacking you, your husband, neighbors and maybe even your turtles. Both are very nasty biters both day and night.
I also located the Harris Co. Mosquito Control website.
http://www.hcphes.org/hcmosquitoctrl/default.htm
It has info on spraying schedules, contact #'s etc.

[SpotsMama]

Now that's good to know! I'm going to look to see if there's a site like that for Dallas County!

[grey goose]

I think it's a federal law that each county must maintain a mosquito control program......

[SpotsMama]

Well, I found out what Dallas County is doing and that is not anything but monitoring. They won't spray until there's an upsurge in West Nile infected mosquitoes and they say that the rain, while it has produced a lot of big, aggresive, biting mosquitoes, has actually supressed the West Nile carrier, so they aren't planning to spray in the near future.

I'm not too keen on widespread spraying unless it's absolutely necessary so I guess it's ok with me what they're doing. I do wonder about other diseases though. For instance, encephalitis. Is it carried by the same mosquito as west nile?

[grey goose]

Actually, WNV, EEE, Jamestown Canyon, St. Louis, Cache Valley, La Crosse, WEE, are all encephalitic diseases.
Then there's Flavivirus dengue. Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium vivax (Malaria).
And of course, Microfilaria (Dog Heartworm).
All of these (I may be missing a few) are spread by mosquitoes.........

[reptilegrrl]

Down here they only spray in areas where there have been confirmed cases of WNV.

I know their habitats are freshwater swamps, lakes, ponds, and drainage ditches.

I don't think you understand that Houston is a freshwater swamp with a lot of concrete added. In my neighborhood, the drainage ditches are open, and there are two bayous within a stone's throw.

We have more species of mosquito than any other state in the union.

[grey goose]

I'm old enough to remember when large trucks would run up and down the streets spraying huge plumes of god knows what all over the neighborhood. Now they have to justify any large scale adulticiding thru surveillance. Light traps, gravid traps, specialized EVS traps, all are utilized to get the "big picture" of what exactly is going on out there. Using the number and species, you can then form a strategy on how to handle it, hopefully while they are still in the larval stage. But when Mother Nature strikes in the form of heavy and prolonged rain, it all goes down the tubes.....
Houston has a good drainage system considering it's so close to sea level. I believe there are four major canals that carry the water to the main channel and they are controlled by tidal gates and pumps. With nominal rainfall this is a good system. But large, continuous rainfall will cause the water to stop flowing when the gates and pumps cannot keep up. And when the main canals stop, everything behind it stops. Hurricane Allison turned Houston into a soupbowl......and the mosquitoes turned that town into a hellish nightmare!

[reptilegrrl]

Houston has a good drainage system considering it's so close to sea level. I believe there are four major canals that carry the water to the main channel and they are controlled by tidal gates and pumps. With nominal rainfall this is a good system. But large, continuous rainfall will cause the water to stop flowing when the gates and pumps cannot keep up. And when the main canals stop, everything behind it stops. Hurricane Allison turned Houston into a soupbowl......and the mosquitoes turned that town into a hellish nightmare!

We call them "bayous" down here, Grey Goose That's why Houston is the Bayou City.

There are four main bayous (Buffalo Bayou, Brays Bayou, White Oak Bayou, and Sims Bayou.) But there are also many other smaller bayous and creeks- we have about 2,500 miles of waterways in the city.

The real problem with drainage is not the bayous. The problem is that Houston if flat. Flat as a pancake. Our hills are man-made. If water can get to the bayous and creeks and sewers, it drains just fine. Sometimes, though, the water can't get there. Houston's soil is very clay, it soaks up as much as it can and then stops. In the case of my yard, it can soak up a light rain or even a heavy rain. But after days and days of heavy rain, the ground is full of water and it starts to pool.

The concretization of Houston is a major problem, imo. Houston was largely conretized with no thought for drainage. So the water often pools on streets, unable to get to a waterway, and unable to soak into any ground. There are low underpasses in some areas that ALWAYS flood. And just a few years ago the city did a big renovation on one of the freeways to push a large stretch of it below ground level. Well, guess what happened? It flooded during Alison, before it was even completed. But since the adjacent neighborhood was being gentrified by suburbanites, the noise and appearance of the freeway was more important than the flooding.

If the water can get to the waterways, then it drains fine, even if the bayous are very high. But when it can't get there, we're in trouble.

I live in the highest-elevated area of Houston, called "The Heights." The flooding here is unprecedented, but with climate change and thoughtless construction, it's only going to get worse.