I live on a delta surrounded by swamp/ marsh and mosquitos are a big problem here (although i've been bitten so many times i'm quite immune). Mosquitos lay their eggs in small pools of stagnant water. It is impossible to irradicate all small pools of water as even leaves can hold larvae. This is my idea:
Create the perfect mosquito larvae incubator. Build a large, shallow, shaded stagnant pool of water in a non-windy environment and let the mosquitos lay their eggs there.
periodically, before larvae can develop into adults, empty the water onto the ground, killing the larvae. fill back up, hopefully you will get less mosquitos.-- twitch, Nov 11 2006 For [21Quest] and [MoreCowbell] http://education.ya...nary/entry/mongoose [jurist, Nov 12 2006] Copper in Car Tires Copper_20coated_20car_20tiresMosquito larvae & Copper by [bungston] [Zimmy, Nov 13 2006] Eastern Phoebe http://www.utahbird...sternPhoebeJBa1.jpgCapture some of these, then release in the area [phundug, Nov 13 2006] That is an option which has already happened. Tilopia was introduced to control a mosquito population, but was only effective in streams, not isolated pools. There have also been some tragic introductions here anyway. The mongoose was introduced to deal with a rat problem in sugarcane fields. apparantly, rats are nocturnal, and mongoose are not. instead, the mongoose's ate all the native birds.
ok, don't empty it onto the ground, maybe into a box of sand, porous to the water drain but keeps the larvae out to dry.-- twitch, Nov 11 2006 what does "sp: irradiate." mean?-- twitch, Nov 11 2006 i didn't mean to spell irradiate. i meant to spell eradicate. oh well, still wrong spelling. could have used a better word too, like "get rid of".-- twitch, Nov 11 2006 That is three words.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 11 2006 This brings to mind my uncle. He keeps turtles in a pond in the back yard. However, when he first dug the pond, he had a trememdous problem with mosquitoes. Being a naturalist, he added goldfish. The goldfish eat the mosquito larvae, the turtles eat the goldfish. problem solved.-- DrCurry, Nov 11 2006 I think Mr. Tindale blanked on "al".-- DrCurry, Nov 11 2006 but then you might have a gold fish or turtle problem after introduction. What eats the turtles? how do you expect to get rid of them?
i am just tempted to riddle my comments with typos.
am i really getting bones because of my poor english? Wat bra, nevah heard of da kine pidgin english. bra you lose money.-- twitch, Nov 11 2006 Sp: brae-- methinksnot, Nov 11 2006 // sp: mongooses // sp: mongeese-- MoreCowbell, Nov 11 2006 // Plural is mongoose as well as singular. // There you go confusing the HB with reality again..-- MoreCowbell, Nov 11 2006 This is a good idea. Consider: a female mosquito does not randomly lay her eggs. She wants a little pool of water - low flow, few predators, etc. Probably there are attributes of the perfect pool.
If one could mimic those attributes, you could lure the mosquito into wasting her eggs. It would be like the mosquito magnet, but for eggs.
I have given some thought about how this might be done. Mosquitoes are all about olfaction. I think mosquitoes probably detect anaerobic rotting materiea like leaves - an anaerobic pool is likely to have no flow, and be unable to support water breathing predators. If you could figure out the volatiles produced by leaves (it might be something as simple as methane or hydrogen) you could use this as your pool's attractant. The pool could contain a hormone briquet or copper or something similar so you would not have to visit it to tip it out.-- bungston, Nov 12 2006 thanx bunxton for not turning this into a grammar/spelling-fest. I wonder if mosquitoes are attracted to the rotting plant matter all around me. it makes sense. I'm sure there's a special blend of anaerobic bacteria in my backyard that i can sell on ebay.
bra = short for braddah
i don't know what brae is.
if i like spell da kine ah hammajang i going. (depending on where you live, this either makes complete sense, or no sense at all)-- twitch, Nov 12 2006 brae = short for braddae-- methinksnot, Nov 13 2006 I suppose presentation does make a large difference... Sorry people, I've honestly never recieved higher than a C in English, even in college.
I do now notice that people capitalize their sentences. I did catch some bad spelling, but under closer observation, it was my own comment that was in error.-- twitch, Nov 13 2006 Mosquitoes don't like snow. Neither do mongai. Cover them in snow. Job done. Snow is great.-- theleopard, Nov 13 2006 [twitch] sp: received. Sorry, I can't help it, I'm a pedant.-- jtp, Nov 13 2006 Presumably the mosquitos were resident in the area before the humans. Ergo, the humans are the invasive species that needs to be eradicated before they kill off all the native wildlife.-- DrBob, Nov 13 2006 Was it in HHGTTG where aliens were convinced not to invade due to the mosquito being an endangered species?-- Zimmy, Nov 13 2006 :}-- Zimmy, Nov 13 2006 Sounds like a plot-line that calum could work with.-- DrBob, Nov 13 2006 Humans brought the mosquitoes here.
This is a non-chemical solution (like DEET).
Humans as invasive species? One difference between us and invasive animals and plants: We choose how we live and what resources we use. If we chose to live being more environmentally conscious, that is also our choice.-- twitch, Nov 13 2006 Just as it is may be possible to bait a pond with attractants to make it appealing to gravid mosquitoes, it may be possible to lace a nondeadly pond with a repellant - making the mosquitoes more likely to choose your deadly pond. Dragonflies can detect the chemical signatures of bluegill, and avoid laying eggs in those ponds. I bet mosquito moms have means of predator detection as well.-- bungston, Nov 13 2006 Genius.-- twitch, Nov 13 2006 Some farmers buy bags of eastern phoebes and set them loose in the farm and around ponds. Helps control the bug population.-- phundug, Nov 13 2006 < 6:50 am and my first laugh/smirk of the day > that is quite ironic yes it is.-- twitch, Nov 14 2006 No need to dump out the water, just spray a little WD-40 on it. A thin film of oil suffocates the larva.-- ldischler, Nov 14 2006 [ldishler], this idea was meant to be used over and over again. using WD-40 would then discourage them to come back.
maybe i could use a screen sunk into the water. when the larvae are laid and ready to be killed, just lift the screen up and let them dry, then put it back in, leaving them to rot and attract more mosquitoes (oh great, mosquitoes eating mosquitoes).-- twitch, Nov 14 2006 Mad Mosquito Disease. Not good.-- jtp, Nov 14 2006 Here is an experiment for you, [twitch]. Or for you to farm out to any handy middle school students. Buckets of water: some with dead leaves and some without. Peridodically dump onto mosquito netting and count larvae. Are there more when there are dead leaves?-- bungston, Nov 14 2006 that does sound like a decent idea: will something on HB finally come to fruition?!-- twitch, Nov 14 2006 Many engineers, political theorists, public health officials and corporate schemers lurk silently on the HB, making off with the wonderful ideas here and parlaying them into fabulous wealth. I am certain of it.-- bungston, Nov 14 2006 Are there stats about how many users are guests? have there been actual cases of an idea here being used?-- twitch, Nov 15 2006 I can think of at least a couple. A good example is the litter box ramp. (unless you mean mass produced, then there might have been some sort of light idea that went into production, but I can't find it).
[bungston], political theorists? Oh my.-- Zimmy, Nov 15 2006 It was mentioned in the Fish Matrix idea that mosquitoes live everywhere on the planet, except Antartica. Thus bringing me back to my earlier suggestion; cover the bastards in snow.
Snow solves everything.-- theleopard, Nov 16 2006 [ian]
sp: inuit-- theleopard, Nov 16 2006 Yes thanks.-- theleopard, Nov 17 2006 Irradicate is a real word, just maybe not the one intended:
ir`rad´i`cate v. t. 1. To root deeply.-- webfishrune, Nov 17 2006 This is quite effective in the form of a goldfish pond; you have to change the water from time to time by hand, instead of using a pump (so that the stillness of the water attracts a higher proportion of the mozzies). You don't have to feed the goldfish.-- pertinax, May 15 2007 you still have to check back every now and then to make sure they're still allive. And i'm not adding another foreign species to hawaii anyway.-- twitch, May 15 2007 Fair enough, but aren't there any little native Hawaiian fish that could do the job?-- pertinax, May 16 2007 No, because mosquitoes aren't native here, they have no efficient native predators. There's tilapia, but they were introduced to control the invasive mosquitoes. This is a mosquito control solution that does not introduce anothere species of fish or anything.-- twitch, May 16 2007 Hawaii has Koi. They'll eat anything.
// It was mentioned in the Fish Matrix idea that mosquitoes live everywhere on the planet, except Antartica. Thus bringing me back to my earlier suggestion; cover the bastards in snow.
Snow solves everything.
The eskimos must have no words for mosquito, then. Innit?//
Unfortunately, there are no eskimos in antarctica. Wrong pole.
Eskimos, Polar Bears, reindeer moss, and Santa's Reindeer are all on the north Pole, in the Arctic.
Penguins, Wingless flies, snow algae, and a bunch of explorers frozen toes are all on the South Pole, in the Antarctic.-- ye_river_xiv, Jun 16 2008 do you think they have a "famous toes" museum ?-- FlyingToaster, Jun 16 2008 random, halfbakery