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Mosquito Larvae

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foster

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I was very surprised to discover a small infestation of mosquito larvae in a 10 gallon tank that I have housing six C. pyrroghaster juveniles. The tank is approximately 1/4 full of water, has a sand substrate, java moss, and a sponge filter. The tank has only been setup for about a month now and the water is crystal clear. I have kept many aquaria over the years and this is a first for me. I decided to leave them in as a potential snack for the salamanders. I have yet to actually witness an individual eating one but I returned last night after being out of town for the weekend and most were gone. Some may have been eaten but I suspect that many may have morphed out. Has anyone else ever had a similar experience?
Chip
 
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dawn

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I never had them appear unexpectedly, but I purposely "grow" them outdoors in the summer because my newts go NUTS over them. When I harvest them and put them in the tank they disappear in an hour. Different newt though, notos. How you got the mosquitos is a question though; is it an indoor or outdoor? Outdoor I could understand, but I guess if one got in your house...I think you should consider yourself lucky!
 
F

foster

Guest
The tank is indoors. We had some unseasonably warm weather a while back so I suspect a few slipped in while the windows were open one day. I appreciate your enthusiastic response but I do not consider myself lucky. I hate mosquitos because they like me way too much. Also, this is just my opinion but you may want to think twice about intentionally culturing them outdoors. The threat of the west nile virus is not something to be taken lightly.
Chip
 
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dawn

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I do think about that; I didn't mean to sound flippant. When they start, I'm out there netting them up constantly. It's only a very small garden pond made out of an old bathtub. I also never seem to get bit, they must not like me. You must be sweeter than I am!

(Message edited by otterwoman on April 17, 2007)
 
P

peter

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If you harvest the eggs you can avoid the risk of increasing local mosqioto populations.

Here's how I do it:
 

kapo

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Thanks so much, I did find these in my buckets of daphnia a few days ago and stuck them in a jar of tankwater hoping they would hatch into something edible for my axie larvae but had no idea till now what they were!
 

Mark

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Just a reminder to all who live in the northern hemisphere and are raising newt or salamander larvae. Now that it's getting warmer it's a great time to put out tubs of water with potato peelings (yes, potato peelings, trust me it works). See further up this thread for a link to the method.

I did this for the first time last year and it saved me a lots of time and money. Just remember to have a mosquito proof lid/cover on the larvae tank for those that don't get eaten.
 

Daniel

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Thanks for awaking this thread, Mark! I will give this a try the next days, it just comes in handy.
 

Daniel

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This way of "culturing" really pays off! I have 3 tubs running right now and every size of mosquito larvae in them. The hardest thing is to get them out of these tubs without the rotting potato peelings.

file_1545.jpg
 

Ralf

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AW: Mosquito Larvae

You can put the potato peel in a mesh bag or something similar. Just like a giant tea-bag.
 

oregon newt

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Just a reminder to all who live in the northern hemisphere and are raising newt or salamander larvae. Now that it's getting warmer it's a great time to put out tubs of water with potato peelings (yes, potato peelings, trust me it works). See further up this thread for a link to the method.

I did this for the first time last year and it saved me a lots of time and money. Just remember to have a mosquito proof lid/cover on the larvae tank for those that don't get eaten.
I'm confused. Why would you do this?
 

Kaysie

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Have a mosquito-proof lid? Why on earth would you want to breed mosquitoes for the adults? Having a lid keeps the adults from using you as food.
 

Daniel

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I'm confused. Why would you do this?

I do not understand the question - why you do this is the topic of this thread; to get some mosquito larvae as food for newts larvae (have a look at the link some post prior to this and the picture I attached - that is the result as to why I did it).

bellabelloo: I tried different things and it also worked well with banana peelings (make sure they are without pesticides), grass, nettles and other plants/ parts. The water gets murky after some time and starts to smell. This attracts the mosquitos.
 

fishkeeper

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plant material works great, but if you are really in a hurry soup or the liquid from certain canned foods(I've done tuna and a few other fish) works well. Check the ingredients of what you use and use common sense! IME mosquitoes will lay eggs in it within 1-2 days compare to a potential 3 day to week wait using vegetable matter. You also get alot more.

Boiling hot water can be used to restart a culture anew if you cannot harvest all the larvae.

Ralf's suggestion is good. I use a tied off stocking in a similar manner for banana peels or watermelon rinds.
 

oregon newt

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I do not understand the question - why you do this is the topic of this thread; to get some mosquito larvae as food for newts larvae (have a look at the link some post prior to this and the picture I attached - that is the result as to why I did it).

bellabelloo: I tried different things and it also worked well with banana peelings (make sure they are without pesticides), grass, nettles and other plants/ parts. The water gets murky after some time and starts to smell. This attracts the mosquitos.
Sorry, I understand it now, but I have a couple of questions. How would you keep the larvae in one place when you feed it to your animals so they can catch it? And couldn't some escape and grow into adults? What would you do about that?
 

Daniel

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How would you keep the larvae in one place when you feed it to your animals so they can catch it?
I can not keep them in one place, but the newt larvae go hunting. Whenever there is a disturbance in the water / a change of light or shadow, the mosquito larvae move to the ground. I think the newt larvae have to hunt them down in the wild, too. By the way this is very interesting to see how the different types of newts have different hunting "strategies".

And couldn't some escape and grow into adults? What would you do about that?

They very well could. One solution is: get some kind of lid / cover / net above the tank, as already said by Mark. The second option is to net the mosquito larvae out of the tank as soon as they reach the pupa or nymph stadium. The larvae, however, can not escape from the tank before they grow into adults since they are water bound.

I hope this answers your questions - for me this is well worth a try if you have some kind of garden or some other place for tubs (do not let your neighbors see it, it is hard to explain why you try to lure mosquitoes to your tubs ;) )
 
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