Everything on this site about mosquitoes, arranged by what people actually arrive asking. There are 57 guides below, from reading a bite to emptying the water they breed in.

Start here

Bites, reactions and treatment

The largest group of questions arriving here is some version of is this bite normal? Start with what the bite looks like, then what to do about it.

• Swelling, blisters, rash, hives — and the point where a reaction stops being normal
• Allergic reactions and Skeeter syndrome — when a bite warrants a doctor
• How to stop the itch — treatment, start to finish
• Should you pop, scratch or cover a bite? — the four impulses, answered
• What actually relieves a bite — remedies compared against the products
• Bite relief products — what is worth buying and what is not
• Mosquito, bed bug, flea, spider or tick? — telling bites apart
• No-see-um, mosquito or gnat? — reading the welt and the setting
• How many times one mosquito bites — more than most people assume

Keeping them off you

Repellents do most of the work, but only if the active ingredient and the concentration match the situation. Clothing and nets cover what a repellent cannot.

• The repellent guide — what works, plus safety for children and pregnancy
• DEET, picaridin and plant-based compared — picking by situation
• DEET vs picaridin vs lemon eucalyptus — head to head
• Natural repellents that hold up — and the ones that do not
• Repellent for babies and children — age limits and safe actives
• Protecting a baby from bites — cots, prams and skin
• Repellent for dogs and pets — vet-backed options, and what poisons a dog
• Can they bite through clothes? — fabric, fit, jeans and leggings
• Nets for beds, travel and camping — the barrier that never wears off
• Head nets for hiking and gardening — mesh, fit and visibility
• Repellent plants — what a planted border really does
• Candles and coils — area protection and its limits
• Repellent bracelets — whether they do anything at all

Getting rid of them

Every reliable method comes back to the same lever: the water they breed in. Kill the larvae and the adult problem shrinks on its own.

• Mosquito-proofing a backyard — the standing-water playbook
• Killing larvae in standing water — the five methods that work
• Dunks and larvicides — matching the format to the water
• Mosquitoes inside the house — finding them and clearing them
• Living near water — why it concentrates them, and what helps
• Fogger, spray or trap? — what each one is actually for
• Traps for yards and patios — by type
• Misting systems — the expensive option, assessed
• Do bug zappers work on mosquitoes? — what the zapper actually electrocutes
• Bug zappers — if you want one anyway

How mosquitoes work

The second-largest group of arriving questions is curiosity rather than complaint: how a mosquito finds a person, why it picks one person over another, and how it is built.

• How they find, bite and feed on you — detection, landing, feeding
• Why some people get bitten more — odour, carbon dioxide, genetics
• Mosquito anatomy — from wings to proboscis
• The life cycle — egg to adult, and where to break it
• What mosquitoes eat — blood is only half the story
• How far they can fly — range and travel distance
• Do mosquitoes sleep? — day, dusk and night biters
• Why they buzz in your ear — the science of the sound
• Are they attracted to light? — the myth and what replaces it

Identification

Two questions cover most of it: which species is biting, and whether the large long-legged insect on the wall is a mosquito at all.

• US species that bite — and what each one carries
• Mosquito hawks and crane flies — they neither bite nor eat mosquitoes

Season, place and range

Mosquito season is set by temperature and rain, not by the calendar. In warm conditions a mosquito can go from egg to biting adult in about a week.

• Season by state — when mosquitoes peak where you are
• How they survive winter — hibernation, eggs and spring emergence
• Where mosquitoes are found — global distribution and US hotspots

Disease risk

Mosquitoes are efficient vectors for some pathogens and cannot carry others at all. Prevention is the same either way: fewer bites.

• Mosquito-borne diseases — what they carry, and what they cannot
• How mosquitoes get malaria — the parasite's journey
• Mosquitoes and dogs — heartworm risk and prevention

History, ethics and odd questions

A surprising share of the traffic reaching this section arrives asking about dinosaurs. These are the questions with no practical use and a lot of interest.

• The history of mosquitoes — evolution, dinosaurs, and human history
• Did they spread the Black Death? — what history and science say
• Did they cause yellow fever? — the discovery that changed medicine
• Are mosquitoes useful? — their role in food webs
• Should you kill mosquitoes? — ethics, ecology and control
• Are mosquitoes parasites? — the scientific classification
• Are mosquitoes animals? — yes, and here is the taxonomy
• What if you swallow one? — the honest answer