Mozzierid

Why do Mosquitoes bite me?

Mosquitoes, Sandflies and Midges all need the protein from blood for their eggs to develop.

Mosquitoes imbibe anywhere from 0.001 to 0.01 of a milliliter of blood with each bite.

Only the females bite.

Why are Mosquitoes attracted to me?

Mosquitoes, Sandflies and Midges are attracted to warm blooded mammals primarily by the carbon dioxide that all mammals breathe out. The secondary attractant is sweat and body odours. Blood seeking insects will bite humans, dogs, cats, horses in fact any mammal to get the blood protein they need for their eggs to develop.

How can Mosquitoes find me even in the dark?

Carbon dioxide is the most universally recognized mosquito attractant and draws mosquitoes from up to 35 metres away. We all breathe out carbon dioxide. When female mosquitoes sense carbon dioxide they usually adopt a zigzagging flight path within the plume of carbon dioxide to locate its source.

Once in the general vicinity of a potential host, other cues predominate, including body odours (sweat, lactic acid, etc.) and heat. Visual stimuli, such as movement, also factor into host seeking. Odours produced by skin micro flora also play a part in inducing the mosquito to land.

Bigger people are often more attractive to mosquitoes because they are larger targets and they produce more mosquito attractants, namely CO2 and lactic acid.

Where does the Mosquito that bites me come from?

Mosquitoes can only detect the carbon dioxide in your breath from a distance of 30 - 35 metres. Generally speaking the Mosquito that bites you wil have lived and bred within this range of where you were bitten. Other mosquitoes may have been blown into the area by strong winds.

Why are Mosquitoes most active at night?

Mosquitoes will rest in dark places under trees etc. as too much direct sunlight kills them.

When the sun goes down the mosquitoes will come out of these resting places searching for blood.