Bites

could it be something else biting him? please use repellent on him also-they make some for children. dengue is no fun.

You might think about "sand fleas" or no-seeums. These almost invisible creatures can drive you crazy.

If there are gaps in the net, then the mosquitoes will probably find a way in. The same is true of window screens. The mosquitoes are attracted to the CO2 in your breath, and they will keep bouncing around the net until they find a gap.

They sell insecticide-treated netting, so the bugs die soon after they hit the net, rather than just being delaying until they can get it. You can also buy permethrin and spray it on the net. This approach will handle all bugs that touch the net, not just mosquitoes.

During waking hours, look for and kill any mosquitoes that are indoors. They love to follow you in the door, so look around you before you come in. You can also spray permethrin around the door frame as a repellant. Zero tolerance is the only policy that works, as mosquitoes WILL get you if they're in the house.

But is it really mosquitoes that are biting you? Are these mystery bites consistent with how your mosquito bites normally look and feel? Can you hear them buzzing around your ears at times? They make a distinctive sound vs. other biting insects. Also, are you getting bit only where your skin is exposed to the air? If so, it's probably mosquitoes or no-see-ums. If not, it's probably something else.

You might also consider BEDBUGS:(

Bed bugs or sand fleas would be my guess.
Time for a mattress inspection.

I DID find a rogue mosquito in the net after we got up this morning. Time for mosquito bombs and OFF candles everywhere! Lola

At least as of last year, bedbugs were almost unheard of on STX. But they travel easily in suitcases, etc, so that might not be the case now.

That's terrible. Poor little guy.
We have a house rule. If it goes to the beach, it doesn't come in the house. We rinse off out side. hang towels and beach bag and cover-ups outside. Plopping a sandy beach bag on the bed is sure way to invite an infestation of sand fleas.
I would suggest:
washing all rugs. bag and store no washable rugs.
strip all beding. wash and dry (in the dryer)
vaccuum (not sweep all floors) mop.
spray matress with pruple raid (hard to find-flee raid)
set off raid bombs in house. leave cloests open.
Go.
close up house for 4 hours.
Comeback . Air out for 2 hours.
mop again.wipe all surfaces. make beads. close closests.
Repet in 10 days. You may want to do this once month afterwards.
Vaccum your house 3-4x perweek. everyday if you have inside pets.
keep toiltet lid closed keep closets closed.
don't let laundry accumulate.
hang up all wet towels (good luck if you have teenagers!!)
spray for moscitos before leaving the house for the day (underbed, around ventanas, laundry room. behind toilet, etc)
NEVER EVERY LET baby comin contact with fuses or residue from spray.
ALWAYS COVER YOUR HEAD AND HOLD BREATH AND RINSE OFF IN COOL WATER.
It's the tropics baby.
Clear brush from around house.
Clear vines for around house.
Move potted plants away from house.
Set up an outdoor rinse-off (showersation) -- bonus saves on heating water.
I use a black coiled hose and concrete mixing pan and clothes line/hooks. keep a basket of shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap.
Car mats are famous for breading sandflees, too.
This becomes habit after awhile.

Nice Blu. great ideas, im gong to do an outside shower now too. If you have a shower curtians, ditch them! In STX I learned very quickly they looove hiding in shower curtains!

Just an FYI I've been doing a lot if reading on dengue and other bites as my BF is SEVERLY allergic to most bites. We had to hospitalize him for a spider bite last year when his throat swelled and he had golf ball size lumps all over his body within a hour of the bite.

The mosquitos that carry dengue is Aedes aegypti. It is the most common responsible for dengue transmission. Other mosquito species in the genus Aedes — including Aedes albopictus, Aedes polynesiensis, and Aedes scutellaris — have a limited ability to serve as dengue vectors. These types of Mosquitos are out in the DAY unlike most others that are dawn and dusk, they have the distinctive black and white striped legs. Deep woods off during the day will help, or something maybe safer for the little one. Skin so soft is supposed to be great but I hate the smell lol. Pure citronella oil can be ordered too and mixed with a high quality lotion. It's the oil, more so that the smell that they don't like.

Another thing I found out is that if you have a net it needs to be a minimum or 200 holes per inch for mozzys and 500 holes per inch for no see ums and of course have no gaps. I just ordered these : http://www.buyhammocks.com/sh4pobedca.html on sale for $25. The $99 no see um net may be what I would recommend to you. I ordered a cheapie from amazon and brought it with me only to realize that it's more for decoration as the holes are just too big. There's a big difference in "functional" mosquito net lol. Who knew! 😉

Are you new to the islands? The fresh blood for the first two weeks seems irresistible to the bugs here. I've seen and has less and less bites as the weeks go by. Still one or two extremely annoying bites a day. The first week I had 23 on one leg and was freaking out about dengue lol.

IMHO I would try to totally rule out bed bugs. Either do a thorough search with a flashlight, make sure to look behind the headboard and picture frames OR order a bed bug kit, get the kind with the blood feast. Gross lol. I really hope it's not bed bugs! I've never had them but a friend did and she went almost insane trying to get rid of them. Not always but most of the time they bite in 3s.

Ps: I just Miyagied a mozzy that was buzzing around my face. Lol!
I saw 2 huge wood slaves when we fist moved in and was excited to have them but haven't seen them since 🙁 hopefully their still around eatin up my nighttime bugs.

Really interesting read: even thou they are annoying they are pretty amazing little suckers.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/dengue-transmission-22399758

FYI - there is more than 1 "type" of mosquito that carries the Dengue virus 🙁

Pia

Remind me to ask what type of mosquito he/she is before it bites me.:S

Only the females bite.

Alana33,
I didn't know that. Thanks!

Since I don't have a way of securing a mosquito net in my concrete ceiling, I keep the mosquitoes away by sleeping under a thick quilt/blanket with a fan aimed at my face to keeping them from buzzing in my ear. The quilt/blanket is thick enough to prevent bites. Whenever mosquitoes are fierce, I take cover under my fan and quilt. If I stay covered, no bites.

U

Are you new to the islands? The fresh blood for the first two weeks seems irresistible to the bugs here. I've seen and has less and less bites as the weeks go by. Still one or two extremely annoying bites a day. The first week I had 23 on one leg and was freaking out about dengue lol.

I found this to be true, and it took months for me.

i agree with the fan idea. we do that and they cant land as easily. blows them away.

i found a good spray at gallows bay hardware that has lemon grass oil and eucalypus (sp) oil. natural and works great.

could try the bombs but i found that the mos. come right back.

So, update. Changed beds (moved one from extra bedroom into main bedroom. fresh clean sheets). Mosquito coils from Pueblos. Secured my mosquito net. No new bites this AM until we got out of the mosquito netting. Lit another mosquito coil (did not sleep with one-they are stinky and bad for lungs). So far, two new bites on the little one. This is better than any morning so far. Spraying down with mosquito repel every few hours. First night since we got here that I did not have to apply itch cream at night or give Benadryl. I think when he would get bit at night it would irritate all the other bites. Anyway, decided against the bombs, since they are super expensive and I don't have faith that they would help that much. I appreciate all the great advice. I plan on using most of it!!! Hopefully we have turned a corner to at least managing the problem!

You might try spraying the room(s) with mosquito spray an hour or so before bedtime to kill the little buggers that are lurking unseen.
Close the doors and windows and give your bedrooms a good spray.
Then leave room for 10-15 min. before opening windows. I'd leave the door closed so no new ones can fly in.
I do that when the mosquito count gets too high at my home, especially after a period of heavy rains.
They drop like flies and I get a good nights sleep without being feasted on.
You can also spray (Off) body parts that stick out from under the covers at night like hands, feet, arms and that will help.
Eventually, you'll gain a tolorance and the reactions to bites shall lessen.

Don't forget to treat your mattress if you think the sand fleas or bedbugs have infected it as they can multiply rapidly, then you have to treat your whole house and everything in it! Good luck and welcome to the some of the charms of living in the tropics.

I use a mosquito net, but I found if my arm or leg rests against the net the bite me. Fans blow them away. Lemon grass seems to work for me.

Where are they coming from? Check outside for water breeding areas. Mosquitos generally stay within a 50 yard area of origin. You can purchase mosquito pellets available at Home Depot to put in small ponds or small water collection areas. The pellets kill the larvae and will not harm other animals or birds.
Also poor bleach in sink drains and toilets where breeding can occur.
Good luck!

Exterminator confirmed some pretty bad cases of bed bugs on STX (one of the big hotels had a pretty good infestation) , so they are here. One very inexpensive way to kill them, and many other creepy crawlers, is to use 20 mule team Borax. Sprinkle all over mattress and leave it for a few hours and then vacuum.
White box in laundry section, Plaza carries it. It is cheap too! Under $7 a box down here. Gets laundry much cleaner too as a bonus.
I put it under the crawl space of the house, in the attic crawl space, under cabinets, basically any space bugs come into your home through. My favorite way to get it in those hard to reach places is to fill the shop vac hose with it and then stuff the end under the crawl space, or up into the attic hatch, and turn it on blow. lol It gets the job done! I put some in the mop water for the critters that come in from untreated areas.
Mix it 50/50 with powdered sugar and put it by all the any trails and hills, they will swarm out and grab it all up to take back to their queen. 🙂 Been using it for years and have never had a problem with the cats going under the house where it is. Kills ants, roaches, moths, centipedes, crickets (huge issue in NJ), and many other undesirable critters. Goggle it for bait recipes for different situations.

Bed bugs don't just live in the bed. They get into ANY crevice including between the wooden rails of the box-springs, headboards, picture frames, couches, literally anywhere an apple seed can fit, they can fit. Only way to really get rid of them is heating the house up to 118 for at least 90 minutes to kill the bugs AND the eggs. Sprays and powders will deter them but they can live for 8 MONTHS without food. My friend who had them finally did a heat treatment on her house, using space heaters and fans. I think she said it took her a couple trys but managed to get rid of them after nearly loosing her sanity. They are horrible.

Easiest way to see if you have them is to look for their poop. Its like tiny red dark brown spots (blood) on the corners, under folds and behind the bed frame. They like tight spaces to hide in the daytime. Ugh im all itchy now thinking abut them.

Careful with mosquito nets & little ones! Our baby girl managed to pull hers off the ceiling and get tangled in it in her crib.
Needless to say, she's been sleeping in "footie" pajamas ever since (no net).