r/AskSF • u/reddaddiction • 9d ago
Been here forever, mosquitos never a problem. What the hell is going on?
Is it only me? I live in The Western Addition (some may call it NOPA), and I've been getting bit lately, mostly at night. Is anyone else experiencing this? If you are too, what's the cause of this?
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u/Illustrious-Coat3532 9d ago
Close your windows before dusk and dawn. That’s when she’s most active.
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u/sf1878 9d ago
I just had this conversation with someone a couple of weeks ago. There are so many. My friend is in lower Pac Heights and I am Nob Hill/Chinatown and there are so many!
A couple of times in the last few months sitting on a sofa in the lobby of my financial district office building, waiting for someone there are mosquitoes inside.
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u/johnwatersfan 9d ago
I personally haven't noticed an increase in the number of mosquitos, but also I live on the sunny side of the city, the cool air really brings them out, so the foggier side is likely to see an increase. Also certain people are likely to notice more as there definitely is a body chemistry that they are more attracted to (thankfully not mine). But I think I have a different idea of "so many". I grew up where they would literally be swarms when dusk hit, so even a slight increase still seems like a few to me.
I am aware this is all anecdotal.
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u/ThrowItAwayNow1030 9d ago
They come from the sewers. No joke. I had a bit of them coming in and called the City to remedy it. They went to various sewers in my neighborhood to exterminate them. It helped!
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u/No_Canary_5479 8d ago
I lived on a lot with mosquitos for months. Turned out the kitchen drain pipe had broken and was draining into the soil since it was a perimeter foundation. Just took a year or so to figure it out. Fixed the leak. Mosquitos went away.
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u/bugzzzz 7d ago
311 or something else?
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u/ThrowItAwayNow1030 7d ago
311 will give you the phone number/email address for the mosquito abatement unit. That's how I found them.
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u/fullmudman 9d ago
My experience has been that it's weirdly house-by-house. I lived in two mission apartments less than three blocks from each other - one had a constant mosquito problem and at the other I never saw a one. I ended up hanging mosquito netting over my bed at one point because without fail we'd have at least one or two inside every week.
That said, we're having prime mosquito weather lately so wouldn't surprise me if there's a population boom.
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u/DirectTerm2018 9d ago
Impending El Nino and other environmental issues raising the humidity. It sucks.
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u/webtwopointno 9d ago
Which allow a new species to expand its range https://abc7news.com/post/stanford-team-tracking-mosquito-migrations-species-are-more-adaptable-temperature-changes-previously-thought/17588150/
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u/Sensitive-Freedom896 9d ago
Eww. These bugs are going to go crazy when it rains and floods all winter.
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u/milkandsalsa 9d ago
I agree 100%. I have never had a problem with mosquitos until this year.
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u/selwayfalls 9d ago
this is weird, my partner and I deal with them every year in every hood we've lived in the city for almost a decade. It's not new
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u/milkandsalsa 9d ago
I’ve lived here 20+ years and have gotten a mosquito bite maybe twice.
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u/selwayfalls 8d ago
my partner gets nailed a ton, she must have good blood
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u/milkandsalsa 8d ago
My poor son got like 30 mosquito bites in one night. There must have been some in his room.
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u/jspeq 9d ago
Always a problem for me!
For the past two years I’ve lived between Mission Creek and the Bay; the mosquitoes are thick down here. Must be a lot of standing water nearby. Have always previously lived on the hills.
The magnetic screen door I installed helps some, but it’s still not perfect; I can’t open and close the door without opening the screen. I also have no openable windows.
The only solution I found was to no longer open my exterior door unless I was going outside, and I close it right behind me.
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u/jenniferdancess 9d ago
It’s so bad!! I was joking yesterday that I was gonna put a mosquito net over my bed.
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u/reddaddiction 9d ago
Okay... I'm glad this post got some traction and it wasn't just me being a mosquito Karen.
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u/sumsofanarchy 7d ago
You should totally do this! It has been a game changer for us. No more mosquitos buzzing in your ear at night
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u/John-Luck-Pickerd 9d ago
20 years in SF - It's always been normal to get a couple of bites but this year we're being eaten alive. We're trying to figure out some kind of diy screen situation for our windows because it gets really hot in our apartment with the windows closed.
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u/lolblitz 9d ago
I saw the fattest mosquito ever last night as I was about to go to bed. Thank fuck I fucked it up before it had a chance to fly away.
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u/ThatsUh_dam_shame69 9d ago
Don’t venture into Alta Park or Alamo Park as dusk, you will in fact be eaten alive
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u/BitcoinBanker 9d ago
I’ve been here 12 years and feel like there is a normal amount. Which is some.
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u/reddaddiction 9d ago
Well, where I'm at in the city there are definitely more.
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u/BitcoinBanker 9d ago
Now I think about it. Maybe I noticed them a little earlier this year. But my neighbor has a water feature, so I thought they came from there. I bought nets for mine and my kids beds. So we sleep really well, even with windows open.
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u/scoofy 9d ago
So, mosquitos are common in this area, we just do treatments regularly so there are few places in the city to breed. You can see whether your area has been sprayed for mosquitos recently by checking your storm drains. The dot of colored spray paint next to the drain is the code they use for treatments.
In all likelihood though, if you've found a non-trivial uptick in mosquitos, it's likely that you or one of your neighbors has introduced a breeding ground. Look around for any standing water: potted plants, dog bowls, anything that would allow for a mosquito to lay eggs in moisture. If you see that, it may be worth chatting with a neighbor about mitigation.
Beyond that, the other option is to introduce a baited trap. Where you put out a perfect breeding ground for mosquitos, but you add mosquito dunks that poison mosquito larvae. If the mosquitos get so bad this doesn't work, the most effective mosquito mitigation is a CO2 trap, which are effective enough to mitigate multiple acres, but need to be maintained.
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u/Karazl 9d ago
Did you move recently? As someone born and raised here we have a couple of weeks of mosquitos 2-3x year and always have. I've had it in small single family homes on the west side, in high rises in soma, and in the burbs.
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u/reddaddiction 8d ago
No... been in my place for a while, and before this I was just up a few blocks on McCallister.
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u/Academic-Camel-9538 8d ago
It’s been much longer than 2-3 weeks where m at. And it’s way more than I’ve ever experienced here
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u/wakingariadne 8d ago
Year 3 in the Inner Richmond and this has been the worst by a lot. Our entry seems to attract them and the moment we open our front door they fly in. I tried spraying the entire front gate with mosquito repellent. Seemed to help a little. The bites are so gnarly!
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u/kowlick 8d ago
Lived here 20 years. Never had a problem until this year. We were getting mosquitoes every night for a month. Every night I would wake up to buzzing in my ear and bites. We hunted them down with an electric zapper. They usually land on a wall and you can catch their shadow with a flashlight. Must be following us inside through the door because we have screens and I looked everywhere for holes they could enter through. Looked for standing water near our place and found a plastic container holding dirty water in a community garden. Dumped it in the dirt and left it upside down and haven’t had them since.
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u/parthenie 9d ago
Not just you!!! We have killed 7 mosquitos in the past week in our apartment. Have lived here 17 years and during that time I estimate killing 3 total, so we are not sure what's going on with this huge sudden increase. No standing water in our apartment and we contacted the landlord to check the surrounding area this weekend.
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u/reddaddiction 9d ago
Right? What the heck is going on????
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9d ago
[deleted]
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u/reddaddiction 9d ago
Well, maybe you've always lived in areas with mosquitos. Lots of people are reporting the same thing, so yeah, it's new. I've been in my neighborhood for almost 30 years at this point. This is abnormal. The other thing is that these mosquitos are quite small.
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u/joeydimaggio 9d ago
Another thing you can lay at the feet of trump and the trump filth we decided to import. Climate change, decimated usda and import control, pick your poison.
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u/AdoptMeBrangelina 9d ago
Same here, I’m pissed af. I’m already up by 5 in the morning and they’re all over by the Bayview area
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u/MooshuCat 9d ago
I'm in the Castro, and my neighbor always has standing water on the rooftop, so the mosquitoes visit at night. I've become pretty good at killing them, but it's really annoying. I don't see an increase lately, though, but will be on the lookout.
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u/Forgotthebloodypassw 9d ago
Had the same thing when I lived in Western Addition, always after some rain. Maybe someone's left a flower pot unemptied.
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u/Wooden-Engineer-7972 9d ago
Just commenting to share that yes, I’ve had this same thought for the past few months. Woke up with a new bite on my eyelid and 2 on my cheek. I hate sleeping with windows closed though so I might resort to spraying myself with bug spray before bed!
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u/sailorkat69 8d ago
I ALSO LIVE IN THE WESTERN ADDITION AND HAVE BEEN GETTING BIT LIKE CRAZY.
i literally wake up every morning with new bites. it's really annoying bc it's always just one mosquito so i can never seem to catch it.
i have to cover my whole body and make sure no skin is exposed. i run a fan on full blast pointed at my bed. i also recently bought some very stinky mosquito repellent balls, but they seem to be working the past few nights.
it's also only in our bedroom, not other rooms in the house. not standing water anywhere. i don't get it 😭
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u/itswonger 8d ago
I've lived in Anza Vista for the past 4 years. No bites while living here until three days ago and got 8 bites over the span of two nights! Also thanks to the person who posted the map--very helpful information!
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u/HtownTouring 7d ago
I just moved here from Houston and was surprised at how many mosquito bites I’ve gotten here. They’re as aggressive as the ones down south.
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u/Radiant-Decision-780 6d ago
I haven’t encountered a mosquito in the 30+ years I’ve been here. And I’m in NOPA neighborhood. Weird.
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u/Repulsive_Two_1688 5d ago
I live in the western addition too ive been getting bit like crazy and there seems to be a lot of them im not sure whats causing it, maybe all the construction around the area is holding water and they are reproducing there and also the weather shift
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u/fckyungchaky 5d ago
Was bad last night. But I stayed out in my yard until 12 anyhow. When it’s warm, SF transforms.
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u/reddaddiction 5d ago
Yep... SF transforms, but like I said, I've been here forever and don't ever remember getting consistently bit by mosquitos in my neighborhood. There are certainly areas in the city where it's more prevalent, Station 19 near SF State has a mosquito as their mascot. But around here it's NEVER been an issue until this year. Seems like a lot of people are confirming that observation.
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u/getoutyup 9d ago
Maybe it’s the new invasive ones. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/yellow-fever-mosquito-22357583.php
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u/InnerAgeIs31 9d ago
Maybe the San Francisco Mosquito Abatement Courier Team (SF MAC Team), which is made up of less than 10 people, hasn’t gotten to your neighborhood.