Last night a mosquito in the bedroom caused a bad night's sleep for both of us. I couldn't find the bugger, and every time I started nodding off it came for more blood. I wonder what people have found is the best way of preventing this happening, given that locating them in the middle of the night ain't easy.

_________________
“We can confirm that the ferry has sunk."

Well obviously there are mosquito coils, mosquito sprays, mosquito nets, citronella etc etc etc. Using a net is about the only effective way of keeping them at bay without using poisons. Try using the breeze from a fan upon your prone bodies, mosquitoes like still air.
How long have you been in Asia?
My disciples and I have the same problem with mosquitoes in the caves of Afghanistan.

_________________
Age. Fac ut gaudeam

Ten years. Tks for the advice, but most of the stuff you recommend we wouldn't dream of using in the bedroom. Yes, the mosquito net wouldn't be a bad idea but I suspect we won't get round to it - I'm not very good at DIY! Although fans give them a bit of difficulty I find they don't really answer the problem. I was wondering if there's a non-poisonous gadget which we could use to eliminate any sneaky ones that have managed to get in, before we crash out. What are those small pads I've seen all about?

_________________
“We can confirm that the ferry has sunk."

a rolled up newspaper or a electric racket, if anything it will add to the fun before a nights sleep.

The pads are insecticide, poison. Everything that works is. Citronella is just a joke.

I put screens on all the windows and steel door in my place, took a few hours. The green plastic mesh costs about $1/foot, glue it on the frames with contact cement ($10/tube). This has lasted about 5 years so far. Total cost about $50.

I burn a mosquito coil outside the door in the evening and slam the door very quickly if I have to open it.

In an older farm house I lived in we used a bed net, hangs from a hook in the ceiling, tuck it under the mattress.

If your bedrom is bugproof, burn a coil in it for a few hours in the day to fumigate it to get the ones waiting under the bed and in odd corners. I used to do that in hotels in Thailand. Also kills centipedes and cockroaches.

Finally, when there is one buzzing you, you just have to be patient, let her find you and and swat when you feel her land.

Mosquitos are attracted to, among other things, carbon dioxide. The simple solution is to confuse them by saturating your bedroom with CO2. After a while you will seem to have blended in with the background and the mosquitos will lose interest. By that time you'll not likely be in any condition to worry about them anyway.

_________________
Lead me not into temptation;
I can find it myself, thank you.

After they land, wait until they bite before hitting them. Once they plug in, it takes them ages to pull out and get away.. sure shot. They also become quite slow at low temperatures, so turning on the aircon during a hunt gives you some advantage.

I use a fan in the bathroom window to keep them from flying in. Turned it off yesterday and spent the whole morning with the 20 or so who made it into the flat. They seem to be unnaturally greedy here, some where so full of blood that they could barely fly anymore.

A japanese electrical device for killing Mosquitos didn't work at all and was a waste of money. The only safe way to get rid of them seems to do the patient hunting which may well ruin your night. I always welcome any geckos in my flat.

_________________
This post has been electronically created and is valid without signature.

But imagine it's 3 in the morning and you want to sleep - waiting for the mossie to land and then whacking yourself hard in the hope that you might hit it - remember you probably can't actually see it - you're probably going to work up a sweat. Best if you can ensure there aren't any in the room - but that ain't easy at our place. As someone said, pre-bedtime vigilance is probably best, unless your happy to get a lungful of pesticide.

_________________
“We can confirm that the ferry has sunk."

I heard pregnant women do not get bitten. If this is true and you are female and are really, really pissed off at them little critters - get pregnant.
This is why we terrorists breed so much - living in caves in mosquito infested regions.

_________________
Age. Fac ut gaudeam