Why No Window Screens?

[Davidglen77]

For those who rent, it's worth a shot to ask the owner about installing a screen. I actually had good luck with this once. When I lived in San Telmo in a really old building with only planta baja units, I had one of those slatted windows way up high near the ceiling in my bedroom that I could open and close by pulling a string on a pulley. The window looked out onto this little upstairs patio we had, but it was at the floor level of the patio. Even when the window was closed, there was enough room between the slats for bugs to come in. After I witnessed a cockroach fall through the slats one night, I called the owner and between the roach and the severe mosquito problem we'd been having even though it was winter, he agreed to put in a screen and it was done in two days.

That took care of the roaches and other bugs, but not the mosquitos. At any given point, I could look around and see five or more mosquitos flying around my bedroom. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from, and a lot of them appeared to be newly hatched. I finally came to the conclusion that there must be warm standing water under the pasta shop right next door, perhaps due to a leak near the heat given off by all their equipment, and the newly hatched mosquitos were somehow coming through the pipes in our bathroom to avoid the cold outside, since there were often mosquitos in the bathroom as well. Those suckers were hungry, too. My boyfriend and I would kill as many as we could before going to sleep, but we'd get eaten alive anyway. We called our nightly killing spree la guerra, because inevitably we'd wind up with blood all over the walls. The owner had our pipes checked just in case and they weren't leaking, so I tried all sorts of things, like spraying bug spray down the bathroom and kitchen drains right before everyone went to sleep, but nothing helped. Apparently, other people in the building had the same problem, but no one wanted to confront the pasta shop. I was living there month-to-month, so I moved out. Couldn't take it anymore.

My point is, if anyone happens to find themselves with a severe mosquito problem this winter, not just the odd few survivors flying through a window every now and then, try to figure out where there could be warmth and standing water near your unit and see if you can do anything to get rid of that water.

You need garlic in your life.....

 

[estebandepraga]

They dont exist in central Europe either I had them made for my flat in Prague over $200usd each! OUCH! it hurt more than the mosquito bites!
but they're so hard to take out when I need to do something sometimes that I leave them in all year round which is a problem, too, because we have many flies and once they are in the room there's not an open window for them to exit! so I have kamakazee fkighters buzzig above my head while in bed!
I tried to have them made for my flat here but it ws impossible and I had two guys out! so now I live with noth mosquitos and flies in both places!

 

[germano]

Almost everybody has window screens here (small town in Mendoza).

 

[TomAtAlki]

They dont exist in central Europe either I had them made for my flat in Prague over $200usd each! OUCH! it hurt more than the mosquito bites!
but they're so hard to take out when I need to do something sometimes that I leave them in all year round which is a problem, too, because we have many flies and once they are in the room there's not an open window for them to exit! so I have kamakazee fkighters buzzig above my head while in bed!
I tried to have them made for my flat here but it ws impossible and I had two guys out! so now I live with noth mosquitos and flies in both places!

The glass store on Araoz and (I think) Charcas (it's on the corner) makes and installs screens at a reasonable price.

Tom

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Mosquitoes will enter your house and usually head for the nearest dark, hidden area. Usually into the closet or under the bed where the females lay their eggs. At night they come out like vampires.

I tried the raw garlic trick. It worked! There have been no mosquitoes near the couch in the living room where I am now sleeping.

 

[DontMindMe]

You need garlic in your life.....

I did, and I had no idea! That was a few years ago now. Had I known at the time, I would have been devouring garlic and making garlands to hang around my room!!

 

[Noruega]

This is not particularly an Argentine thing. No screens in Costa Rica or Romania either. Egypt no screens and sometimes no roof, but the mosquitoes didn't bother me there.

That's interesting, I lived for about 3-4 years in Panama and Nicaragua and lots of places have screens, not all, but many. I did live for six months in an apartment in Panama City with no AC and no screens; that was horrible... I was covered in bites all the time. I actually never had AC in either of those countries (and Panama, especially, is HOT!) but the lack of screens was worse.

Here in Argentina, there were screens all over when I lived in the campo, but my current rental in BsAs does not have them.

 

[ghost]

I did live for six months in an apartment in Panama City with no AC and no screens; that was horrible... I was covered in bites all the time. I actually never had AC in either of those countries (and Panama, especially, is HOT!) but the lack of screens was worse.

Why?

 

[Noruega]

Why?

I was either young and on a budget, or living with a host family, or in volunteer housing.

 

[PhilinBSAS]

Garlic yes works to a point also ?light coloured clothing apparently but that has never worked for me.

http://www.mosquitnoband.com/what-color-clothes-repel-mosquitoes/

It must be my blood group or skin type but I always seem to be the first to be attacked and how! :angry:

Seriously I'm going to invest in a mosquito net bought in London and bring out to sleep under

and keep buying the anti-mosquito clothing (hahaha!) which is even sold in M&S ^_^

http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/travel/clothing/anti-mosquito/