Ask HN: Effective way to deal with mosquitoes?

It's the year 2025. We have crispr-cas9, chatgpt, new missions to the Moon and maybe Mars... and yet, it feels like there's no great solution to deal with mosquitoes. Lasers to fry them? magnetic waves to repel them? What's our there that I don't know?

Wicher · a month ago

Use fans. They don't like flying around in wind and they don't know where to fly to anymore because the fan disperses the CO2 you produce so quickly that there's no gradient for them to follow to the source (you).

farseer · a month ago

The fan has to be very fast for this to work, otherwise the little buggers find pockets and crevasses around you to shelter from the air and then eventually bite.

carlosjobim · a month ago

Get a mosquito net for your bed. Costs nothing and gives you 100% protection when you sleep. No noise or chemical smells. Mosquitos are worst at night, and just one can destroy a full night's sleep. With a net, you won't even mind hearing them buzzing around outside of it.

cpach · a month ago

There’s actually a YC startup that tries to address this question: https://tornyol.com/

waonderer · a month ago

The coverage area it promises is up to 5 acres. But with only five minutes of flight time and 30 minutes for every recharge, I don't know how long will it take it to actually do the work it promises.

The solution is definitely cool though. I could pay another small drone to track the movement of tornyol's drone and show me how it tracks and kills the mosquitoes.

greazy · a month ago

We have effect mosquito control and have had for decades.

We have genetically engineered mosquitoes that breed with wild types that reduce the life span of adult mosquitoes to reduce the spread of disease. We have biological agents that do the same. We have chemicals that stop the larva from developing into adult mosquitos. We have chemicals that can be vaporised to deter mosquitoes. We also have chemicals that you can apply that will stop mosquitoes from biting you (and will melt plastic).

Or just use a fly screen. I built one recently for my awning style window.

Look up thermacell devices and methoprene pelletes

downrightmike · a month ago

I am seeing a huge increase in flies this year following the stoppage of the efforts we normally did south of the border. My god the flies. I have fly bags up, they are working, but there are way more flies.

RiverCrochet · a month ago

Definitely address any standing water on your property, make sure anything that can collect rain is turned over, covered, or dumped.

I haven't tried this yet, but will next summer:

https://www.northcarolinacharm.com/how-to-kill-mosquito-larv...

phainopepla2 · a month ago

I tried this "bucket of doom" approach last summer and if anything it made the problem worse. I was told by someone that at least one of the mosquito species in my area (Southern California) are immune to the mosquito dunks, though I don't know if that's true.

idontwantthis · a month ago

Does the dunk not need to be dissolved in the water to work?

tstrimple · a month ago

Our mosquito problem wasn't severe, but we had a lot of luck with a simple outdoor plug-in unit. It runs an IR light source to attract them and uses a fan to capture them in a basket. Some more expensive models also use CO2 to attract mosquitos, but I didn't want to deal with bottle replacement. I just plug it in during the spring and put it away once the temp drops below freezing on a regular basis.

We set it up on the opposite side of our yard from where we gather. Even if it's not catching all the mosquitos, it gives them another area to congregate. It seems to work well for our yard and scenario.

gethly · a month ago

Raid or whatever your local product name is that you plug into the electric socket and it evaporates poison which is harmless to you as there is very little of it but it kills them. Some have formulas against flies as well.

Also, if you are in ketosis, your blood is acidic and they hate it as they are attracted mostly to sweet blood. So they won't bite.

But I would definitely pay good money for some laser Tourette system to have in my room that would track movement in infrared with high definition camera and fry those ***. I saw some home made attempts but nothing commercially available - yet.

tim333 · a month ago

Yeah I was going to say as someone who has spent a while in mosquito prone tropics, a plug in killer indoors - you can turn it off if there are none and windows are closed, and long loose clothes for outside.

dysoco · a month ago

Are those pluggeable things safe with cats around?

easytiger · a month ago

For rooms with closed windows this stuff has in my experience a 100% success rate. (they always manage to get in somehow). Spray the room an hour before bedtime and it eradicates them. Guess it's similar to that stuff they spray on airlines.

It is not a repellent but seems to actively kill them/render them unable to fly [Metofluthrin (Pyrethroid)]

https://www.peacefulsleepsa.co.za/products/in-room-solutions...

simonebrunozzi · a month ago

Is there any known adverse effect for human health?

easytiger · a month ago

I researched that before and I think it's considered generally safe. Toxicity required huge doses.

Though the instructions recommend ventilating the room a little after letting it settle, and I don't use it every night. Also I like to cover pillows before spraying.

It's very similar to the WHO recommended stuff used before and during flights - https://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc243.pdf