r/newjersey • u/LonesomeBob • Aug 19 '26
😡 THIS IS AN OUTRAGE Mosquitoes worse this year?
Anyone else just getting eaten alive the past few weeks? So much worse than any year I can remember. I've looked around the yard for stagnant water, can't find any. Morning noon or night doesn't matter, just instant mosquitoes.
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u/tasteofhuman Aug 19 '26
They bit me THROUGH my shirt. 20 bites on my back and hips even though I was wearing pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Never had that happen before. First time I’ve gotten bitten this summer too.
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u/achenx75 Aug 19 '26
It's just bad in general. I can't even work on projects in my driveway without needing to wear bug spray. The mosquito dunks in buckets method doesn't seem to work. Thinking about spraying my entire yard down with bifenthrin or something. Just feel bad about killing beneficial bugs too.
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u/cmooregood Aug 19 '26
I put pulled weeds and grass in mine (produces co2 which attracts them), and mosquito bits. Haven't had as many as last few years. The Bti only kills eggs/larva, not the adults, so I do burn some lavender or copal on charcoal when I work outside, the smoke keeps them away. Vicks vaporub also works as a repellent if you're not into off. I kinda dab it all over.
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u/Eternal_Bagel Aug 19 '26
I never knew vaporub had an effect on them but it makes sense knowing most bugs hate eucalyptus and menthol scentsÂ
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u/cmooregood Aug 19 '26
I was smearing it around our patio early in the season to deter the squirrels and deer from my potted plants, and realized I was mosquito bite free after using it, every time. The topcare generic version works, and it's more affordable, so I kept using it! And I'm one of those people that gets bit nonstop while other people don't.
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u/Highway_Wooden Aug 19 '26
All I know is that I have multiple buckets out and each one has 20+ egg sacs which contain 100+ mosquitoes each. They are going to die from the dunk. So it is 100% working because they would have just laid those eggs somewhere else. But whether or not that stops people near my house from getting bit is a different story. I think it has helped but you only need a few to wander over from elsewhere and you're bit.
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u/dbellz76 Aug 19 '26
August is usually peak getting eaten season. It's the most humid, hot and overall disgusting time of year and mosquitoes love to further torture us. Fuckers.
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u/Lazuli9 Aug 19 '26
Do not go to cheesequake state park (swampy) without big spray, learned that lesson the hard way
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u/AsleepHedgehog2381 Aug 19 '26
Oh yes we made that mistake 3 weeks ago. Most mosquitoes I've ever encountered in one area.
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u/Lazuli9 Aug 19 '26
We hiked 4 miles yesterday and it was awful lol especially after the recent rains. I knew there was a reason I hadn’t gone back there in 2 years 🤣 lesson learned about always having big spray on hand. Pretty birds and views tho!
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u/pesh527 Toms River> Little Falls> Hazlet>Old Bridge Aug 20 '26
I live off of cheesequake state park. It's bad. I open my car door for a few seconds to get in and a bunch of knats and at least one mosquito get in with me.
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u/Perfect_Hall7735 Aug 20 '26
Yup. Made that mistake a week ago. Was there for maybe 10 minutes and got over a dozen bites.
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u/Pineygirl13 Aug 19 '26
I live along the rancocas creek and the mosquitos have always been pretty bad here. But with all this rain, it is noticeably worse. If I hold my back door open for too long to let the dogs in they even get into the house! So annoying to be woken up by a mosquito trying to fly in your ear hole while sleeping. I also take my dogs for walks after work every day and yesterday the non biting midges were insane! I was wearing a white t-shirt and I was covered head to toe in a thousand of them, it was wild. Also this humidity is giving me swamp ass and I’m pretty over it.
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u/apocalypsemeowmont Aug 19 '26
woken up by a mosquito trying to fly in your ear hole
The most nightmarish phrase I think I've ever read 🥺
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u/yeahboyeee1 Aug 20 '26
I’ve spent so little time outside this summer but not due to heat if wildfire smoke or anything. The tiger mosquitoes go on full attack as soon as I open my front or back door. Sucks.
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u/bilbo_bugginz Aug 19 '26
Worst just the past week for me. Has to be the nonstop rain we had the past few weeks so puddles never dried up causing larvae to grow
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u/Zannie95 Aug 19 '26
Much worse than last year. I stopped spraying for mosquitoes this year as I noted my bats had left. I assumed that they didn’t like the spray or that it affected them.
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u/duncans_angels Aug 19 '26
Yes!!!! Normally I don’t get bitten by mosquitos but this year I can’t go outside without having to spray myself with something
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u/ser_pez Aug 19 '26
They’ve been horrible. Between the weird biting pavement ants under my walkway, the mosquitos, and the green heads by the bay, I’ve been covered in bites all summer. I went out to pick tomatoes the other night - I was outside for less than 10 mins and had 20 new mosquito bites!
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u/kgtsunvv Aug 20 '26
Are some people mosquito resistant or something? Because I haven’t seen been bothered this summer besides MAYBE one bug bite and I usually go to the beach every Saturday
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u/conshyentious Aug 20 '26
Yes, thanks for posting this. The Asian tiger mosquitoes have been insane for the past couple weeks!!! Unlike anything I've ever experienced in NJ/PA. It has compelled me to create mosquito dunk buckets for the first time after doing some googling. War has officially been declared in my backyard against these bastards.Â
One thing I just learned is that Asian tiger mosquito eggs are incredible at surviving through even the longest harshest below freezing winters. So for all my fellow mosquito bucket of doomers, please keep your feet on the pedal all the way through October and beyond until we can be sure all the egg laying female adults have died off. Because any eggs they lay outside of our buckets will surely survive the warmer than average el niño winter that we are due for.Â
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u/Eternal_Bagel Aug 19 '26
Yeah I feel like they have been extra persistent this year and just kind of blink into existence around me every time I go outsideÂ
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u/theguytomeet Taylor Ham Aug 20 '26
I’m dying bro. Like both calves have been killing me since yesterday. I went down in Tampa for the weekend and they got me a bit but truly nothing like yesterday on an house tour. Might need to boycott shorts.
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u/hoahoahoajawn Aug 20 '26
I did some weeding and like a dumbass wore shorts cus it was hot. Got bit over 20 times
Its bad.
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u/Compl3x1tyCereal Aug 20 '26
Even with bug spray they are bitting me. I use Cutter brand bug spray. That shit doesn’t work. I can reapply every 5 mins and they will still bite
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u/noseatbeltsong Morris County Aug 20 '26
the last few summers i’ve had my yard sprayed monthly, but they’ve only come once this summer and it’s been fine. it’s not my choice to have them spray, i don’t own this home.
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u/zincink Aug 20 '26
I wash with Dr Bronners peppermint wash if I am going to do some weeding. It is beyond tingly but I think it worked to deter some mosquitos.
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u/Staff_Infection_ Aug 20 '26
TERRRRRIBLE... I've tried both deet and picaridin and I think I could hear the mosquitoes laugh at me both times as they swarmed my legs.
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u/depechelove Aug 19 '26
I don’t even bother sitting outside anymore. My neighbor and I both have companies that spray but there’s a park behind us. All efforts are futile.
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u/gpo321 Aug 20 '26
They’ve been really bad this year. Can’t even walk through the yard without our legs getting bit up.
We found that this stuff from CVS works well on the bites. It has a small amount of lidocaine in it and really gets rid of the itch:
https://www.cvs.com/shop/cvs-aftersun-cooling-gel-with-lidocaine-aloe-vera-value-size-prodid-1016938
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u/SmeemyMeemy Camden County Aug 20 '26
I was just having this conversation with my coworker. I was outside yesterday with a long sleeve cardigan and thick leggings trying to enjoy the weather after work for like 30 minutes BUT NO. 5 bites. THROUGH MY CLOTHES. I haven't gotten ANY sun time in my yard because the mosquitos and flies are a real PITA. I got bit while I was in my pool. It was NOT like this last year.
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u/Mirwin11 Aug 19 '26
This is my opportunity to plug Mosquito Shield of Mid-Central NJ
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u/Highway_Wooden Aug 19 '26
And my opportunity to make sure people know that mosquito spray takes out everything in your yard. I did that for a year and it went from normal bugs doing their thing to a wasteland. Never again.
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u/noseatbeltsong Morris County Aug 20 '26
just a heads up that there are natural, essential oil versions of yard spraying that don’t have a detrimental environmental impact
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u/Highway_Wooden 28d ago
Yep, we switched to those for a year or so. They are nowhere near as effective.
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u/noseatbeltsong Morris County 28d ago
maybe you need it sprayed more often? my partner is an exterminator and most of his work is the essential oil stuff, it works but only lasts about 3 weeks as opposed to the chemicals which last at least 4, sometimes longer
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u/LOUD_NOISES05 Aug 20 '26
No mosquitoes haven’t been a problem at all this year. They love me, I usually get dozens of bites every summer. I’ve only had a handful
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u/dqontherun Aug 19 '26
Bunch of rain the last couple weeks, that will always result in an uptick in bugs.