what makes mosquitoes like certain people?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

I can go outside for 5 minutes, even when sprayed with horrible OFF, and get 30 bites.

[Wait Wut]

1. You and my kid.

We could stand right next to each other, I'd get not one bite...he'd get 100.

Is it cruel that I find enjoyment in my son's misfortune?

[elleng]

7. You and me, Wut,

but I DON'T find enjoyment in my daughter's misfortune!

[HereSince1628]

2. Apparently you are a great CO2 source, try not breathing while outside!!!!!

That will reduce your CO2 emissions, and greatly limit the amount of time you can spend outdoors exposed to those blood-sucking females.

[pipi_k]

5. That's what I've heard too

People who give off a lot of carbon dioxide are very attractive to mosquitoes.

I'm one of them. Ten people can be standing nearby but the little shits always bite me.

One year before we got the bat houses (and were inundated with mosquitoes) I used a lavender spray cologne to disguise my smell while outside. It worked for a while although I had to keep spraying every ten minutes or so. But better than more harmful chemicals, is what I say...

[surrealAmerican]

3. I've wondered that myself.

I read somewhere that diet could help: supposedly if you eat a lot of garlic, they should find you less attractive. This has never worked for me or my son, though. We're both mosquito magnets.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

4. My take...

zzz-appeal

[elleng]

6. My daughter too.

Its your sweetness!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. Oh ya. Do you know your daughter's blood type? I am O neg and

just read we are more likely to get bit.

Blood-type markers are chemicals released by people of a specific blood type – so if someone with AB blood emitted a marker, it would be different than that released by B. One study found persons with Type O blood suffered more mosquito landings because of the odorant markers they emit than any other blood type, making their juices a hot commodity for blood banks, as well as Asian Tiger Mosquitoes, which carry West Nile Virus. Not only were Type O’s more likely to be landed on, but the study found that for any blood type, people who secreted a chemical marker about their blood type through their skin (both blood type and secretor status are determined by genes) were bitten much more than non-secretors; 24 percent in the case of the Type O’s. Other researchers estimate about 15 percent of the population, based on their genes, don’t emit chemical markers of their blood type through their skin and saliva, so something else has to be calling the mosquitoes to them.
http://scienceline.org/2007/09/ask-knight-mosquitoes/

[cbrer]

9. Quantity of salt in your diet

Is what I was told by my Floridian neighbors.

Our mosquitos are so big, they sit on your bed post to decide whether to eat you there, or take you to go!

[distantearlywarning]

10. I am a salt addict

And I am one of those lucky people who never gets bitten by the mosquitos.

[cbrer]

11. So much for theories...

Some of the mosquito catcher machines I've seen mimic a large mammal. Evidently there's a combination you have to hit to be susceptible.

You're lucky.

[HopeHoops]

12. Try pennyroyal. It grows like a groundcover and everything seems to hate it.

We just rub crushed leaves on us, but my wife is trying an infusion to see if it works even better.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

13. thanks for tip ! nt

[GeorgeGist]

14. It's mostly genetic ...

Although researchers have yet to pinpoint what mosquitoes consider an ideal hunk of human flesh, the hunt is on. "There's a tremendous amount of research being conducted on what compounds and odors people exude that might be attractive to mosquitoes," says Joe Conlon, PhD, technical advisor to the American Mosquito Control Association. With 400 different compounds to examine, it's an extremely laborious process. "Researchers are just beginning to scratch the surface," he says.

Scientists do know that genetics account for a whopping 85% of our susceptibility to mosquito bites. They've also identified certain elements of our body chemistry that, when found in excess on the skin's surface, make mosquitoes swarm closer.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/are-you-mosquito-magnet

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. Haha..Pun: "Researchers are just beginning to scratch the surface," he says nt

[Arugula Latte]

15. My daughter is a mosquito banquet, and my son is apparently not tasty to the buggies

Don't know why.

[Neoma]

16. Lack of B-12 in your system.

Seriously. (My doctor said that.)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

18. Wow...B12 foods not very common..raw chicken and beef ??

Sources of Vitamin B12

Panfried beef liver 83.1
Simmered turkey giblets 33.2
Braunschweiger pork liver sausage 20.1
Raw Pacific oysters 16.0
Cooked Alaska king crab 11.5
Raw clams 11.3
Simmered chicken giblets 9.4
Cheese 3.3
Beef (uncooked sirloin) 1.15
Egg (raw, whole chicken's egg) 0.89
Whole cow's milk 0.45
Raw chicken breast (see Salmonellosis) .20

[Neoma]

19. I have to have B-12 shots every month or week.

Depending on how low it is. I recommend everyone to get that checked out.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. So, you just ask your doctor to check your B12 levels and then

give you a shot? I ask because I haven't had a good doctor in so many
years. And, I would suspect my HMO that sucks wouldn't pay a dime

[Neoma]

21. I was highly B-12 deficient.

My levels were at the bottom, and maybe even past the bottom sometimes. She wouldn't let me out of the building without a shot. It quite possibly even gave me brain damage, but who knows? Ugh. (Around a 10% chance.)

I get shots because she believes my digestive system doesn't absorb B-12.

Also, I might want to note that I have to have blood tests on a regular basis, so checking one more thing wasn't a big deal.

[pink-o]

23. Wheatgrass juice. Loaded with B12

Ask a vegan (or a former one, in my case) they all know it's the only botanical source of it. It's only a matter of if you can stand to drink it!

[a kennedy]

22. ha ha, don't mean to laugh, but that's my husband too....

we'll be out in the yard, and I'm just fine, he's covered with with em. Interesting about the B-12 vitamin...might have to try that....he hates putting any bug spray on.