How to get rid of mosquitos
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A community initiative.
My home in Washington, D.C., seems perfectly designed to be a mosquito breeding ground.
Between the high humidity and my water-trapping, shady garden, in warmer months we spend about five buggy minutes outside before we inevitably give up and pack it in, covered in bites.
I didn’t want to spray insecticide because it can also harm mosquitoes’ natural predators like dragonflies, spiders and birds, but none of the natural repellents I tried worked. I began to think mosquitoes were simply an unpleasant but inevitable part of life, like waiting in line at the DMV or paying taxes.
Then a few months ago, I found out about a group in my neighborhood called the Itty Bitty Mosquito Population Committee, which is trying to use the same techniques to fight the swarming hordes that scientists have used to all but eradicate mosquitoes on an island in the Philippines.
I had to find out who was behind this effort, what they were doing and how I could take steps to prevent my family from being eaten alive.
The Itty Bitty Mosquito Population Committee:
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They come in here because I leave the doors open to get air flow; without doing this I would be roasted alive. It's the start of the rainy season but there's been no rain to speak of yet. And, so, there's been few mosquitoes yet. I had mosquito bites all over me last summer to the point my skin itched and burned all day and night. I'll be moving in maybe less than a week, so, I don't have to experience that again. I tried mosquito spray but had an allergic reaction. I tried a mosquito net over my bed but it wouldn't stay in place. I tried fly paper but it didn't get many of them. I have a chemical free spray (eucalyptus based) but I don't like it. I'm to the point where I want the mosquitos to just get it over with, draw blood, and leave.
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