About those mosquito-eating bats…

So I’ve been complaining about these mosquitos and rightly so! They are EVERYWHERE this year. I itch in places I’ve never itched and my kid looks like he suffers from premature acne. Not only has it rained almost daily for three weeks, yum yum, but I have not seen ONE bat this season to come eat these suckers (nor any frogs, who eat their eggs). Whats up? Where are the bats? Bats might freak some people out, but they can eat up to 1000 mosquitos in an hour! I’m probably swatting that many off of myself and Will in an hour. That’s an hour of swat-free living pontentiality (not a word?)!  They make up a quarter of the earth’s mammal population but they are on the endangered list. In large part because of this new fungus disease we’ve been hearing about called white-nose syndrome, but we are also eating up their habitat faster than myself with a plate of sushi (why does sushi have to be so small and delicious? The whole experience is over in five minutes).

If you live in an area with bats (which almost all of you do) and you have a mosquito-palooza hosted on your property, then maybe you and the kids can work together to build your own bat house! We already live in a bat house ourselves, but I think the bats are put off by the volume of our tv so we have to build their own separate apartment. So here’s the thing; I have no patience for craftiness that takes longer than 30 minutes. It takes me a year to crotchet a dish towel because I’m not very fast and I get agitated then walk away from it for six months. So a bat house is out for me, but my father in law is a carpenter and loooves doing things extremely slow, so I might pass the torch to him. But YOU might care about the bats (aka mosquitos) and are patient enough to try out building a bat house for your family. At Batworld.org they have some great tips to help you build a bat nest , plus a kids page so you can make this an educational experience (throw in some math skills for measurements). And if you would rather just learn about bats while comfortably buying a cheap, pre-cut bat house that takes minutes to build you can do that too. Cause bats are cool and they eat annoying bugs. But if one ever got close enough to me I’m sure to scream like a child and run into the house.

Summer Bug Blues

We live in Upstate New York. This means that 5 months out of the year we look at the world from behind warm foggy glass, barely smelling fresh air and looking a healthy 10 lbs heavier from the layers. I spend 4 of those 5 months dreaming of summer. Oh summer, sigh, beautiful summer with its skirts, sprinklers, hammocks. I will totally be an awesome outdoors mom once summer gets here! Then summer got here…along with the bugs. Swarms! Invasion! Where are all the bats to come eats these things?! (see my post to learn more about this bat issue) An ethereal gnat-formed cloud gravitates around my head. I am the sun in my own solar system. Gnats in the eyes, up the nose, buzzing around the ears. Torture. My son, 2 year old Will, doesn’t seem to notice they exist and goes about playing. Then the rain came, weeks upon weeks of rain. Then the mosquitos came and keep coming. We look struck with the plague. A pack of cave people scratching their ears, legs and bellies like dogs. Why summer why?! Upstate New York is so beautiful behind glass.

So how to we beat it? Firstly, we drench ourselves in citronella-infused oil and it is a good thing that I like that smell. I have also heard they don’t care for the smell of dryer sheets. I chased after my running son all over the yard, dryer sheet in hand, rubbing his clothes in fury. I didn’t notice much difference, but maybe they like the smell of Gain? For the gnats I have to wear sunglasses, a hat, keep my mouth closed and stop breathing through my nose entirely. This is the most effective method as within a short time I pass out and thus am removed from the situation all together.

We also bought a children’s natural bug spray, All Terrian Kids Herbal Armor . That actually works pretty well! I use it on myself, though it of course takes a little more and you should just keep it around with you outside because you do need to reapply it often (they say every 2-3 hrs, but we do it every hour that we are out).

If it isn’t too wet, we have a fire going to help keep them at bay. We also don’t stop moving, if possible, so they have less landing opportunity. And it if is too wet, scout your property for potential mosquito breeding grounds. If you don’t know, pools of water are rampant with mosquito mating (gross), dump that out and keep any basin’s turned over unless you need them.

If you really want to protect your child’s skin from bites, then cover it as much as possible (though avoid heavy and dark material as mosquitos are attracted to warm bodies, not just “oh-so-sweet” little boys and girls. More like hot, sweaty, sticky kids). As much as I enjoy watching my toddler run naked in our yard, basking in the sunshine, I certainly don’t enjoy watching him digging his hand into his butt later, trying to scratch that itch.

Adorable but irritating. Mosquitos love this tush.

We also created “safe havens” throughout our property. A $10 children’s popup tent here, a mosquito net hanging from the tree over there. Somehow we deal. Plus, a lot of museums are free for 2 and under : )

If you have any tricks for beating the summer bug blues please comment and save us from this misery!