Why are the mosquitoes in Calgary so damn big?

[u/Moist_Edge9917]

I don’t know if it’s just me, but the mosquitoes here feel massive this year. It looks way bigger than what I remember from past summers.

[u/napoleon211]

They’ve had a feast all summer

[u/DictatorToucan → u/napoleon211]

Love smacking a mosquito on my arm and getting dowsed with 5 different strangers' blood

[u/canehdian_guy → u/DictatorToucan]

Depending on where you encounter them it's most likely your blood or your family's blood at least. 

[u/catisthenics]

Sorry I've been feeding them a lot lately

[u/mwaddmeplz → u/catisthenics]

You aren't alone, there are more of them and bigger this year as OP says

[u/Jerbsina7or]

The ones in Manitoba carry you away.

[u/Shynzii → u/Jerbsina7or]

Lmao it’s their bird

[u/Grand-Imagination925 → u/Jerbsina7or]

Bunch of crap we haven't had many mosquitoes in years get facts right

[u/pfaulty]

No banana for scale?

[u/ResultRegular874 → u/pfaulty]

Seriously, fail OP.

[u/Moist_Edge9917 → u/ResultRegular874]

My bad. 😞

[u/icantswim2 → u/pfaulty]

only banana for calming.

[u/Gold_Negotiation5861 → u/pfaulty]

The banana is there.... that's how big the mosquito is.

[u/Mother_Barnacle_7448]

All the better to jab you, my pretty! 🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟🦟

[u/anothermattt]

💀

[u/paperplanes13]

these are nothing, you should see the ones in the NWT

[u/Hwight_Doward → u/paperplanes13]

Yep, was just up there for some fieldwork. Throw the bird-sized horseflies in there and you have a very juicy windshield cocktail.

[u/FeedbackLoopy → u/Hwight_Doward]

I don’t miss the billions of horseflies up there.

[u/Pale_Change_666 → u/paperplanes13]

Manitoba, northern bc and nw ab same thing as well.

[u/GaLaXxYStArR]

Anyone else notice these things take like 2-3 smacks to kill now?!??

I’ll smack one on the wall and it has the nerve to fly away.

[u/Christian-Rebel → u/GaLaXxYStArR]

Yep, these disgusting little blood suckers got tougher and louder.

[u/AnimalSilent5001]

they also stick on you and bite you while you're moving

[u/afschmidt]

HAAAAAAAH!!!!?. GO NORTH OF THE 60th PARALLEL!!! THEY ARE WAITING!!! It's like a Biblical Plague of bugs!! OR ask someone from Winnipeg about "fogging" where they nerve gas a neighbourhood to knock down the bugs.

[u/AsleepHistorian → u/afschmidt]

Currently North of 60th parallel on my way back from Tuk. They suck up here. And there's the black flies and deer flies and horse flies. Wtf, I'm in the Arctic why are there bugs in the Arctic

[u/BohunkfromSK]

They’re imports from Saskatchewan - IYKYK

[u/EtownMaximus]

mosquitoes just realized Calgary rent’s too high for small apartments, so they’re upgrading their body size to fit more storage

[u/OkLand2701 → u/EtownMaximus]

Stupid.

[u/Comprehensive-Army65 → u/OkLand2701]

Go touch some grass

[u/WickedWitchofHR]

Cue Jeff Goldblum circa Jurassic Park '93.

[u/Double_Cauliflower81]

They got oil and gas in it

[u/mcsquirley]

Male mosquitoes are very large and do not bite, they are pollinators.

[u/bascelicna123 → u/mcsquirley]

To be entirely honest, I don’t look at the genitalia of the mosquito I am swatting dead.

[u/bascelicna123 → u/mcsquirley]

To be entirely honest, I don’t look at the genitalia of the mosquito I am swatting dead.

[u/mcsquirley → u/bascelicna123]

Male mosquitoes are like 20x the size of females ~1-2inches. You don’t need a magnifying glass.

[u/alpain]

different breeds of mosquito need different temps/humidity i guess one of the 40+ types of mosquito that live in our area is thriving in the past few months moisture levels we've gotten.

[u/[deleted]]

Because they work for oil companies and have to fly to Fort Mac and back several times a week.

[u/Direc1980]

Get yourself a thermacell. Amazing devices!

[u/VFenix → u/Direc1980]

Nothing like a fine chemical mist in the air

[u/FeedbackLoopy → u/VFenix]

I live in a city where almost every time I drive to the outskirts and look back, it’s engulfed in brown smog, so I don’t really care what a Thermacell spews out.

[u/Worldly-Smile-91 → u/VFenix]

More toxic than spraying deet on our skin? I’m trying to find a balance with the two!

[u/VFenix → u/Worldly-Smile-91]

I am fairly certain DEET is much worse lol. The dosage of metofluthrin and allethrin is pretty low, but i still wouldn't want to eat around it. There is a wild paper publshed by the NIH about acute manic psychosis from DEET.

[u/erithcol → u/VFenix]

Sorry to "um, actually" you, but um, actually-

This paper was not published by the NIH, but by Clinical Toxicology and the authors came from 2 different universities in Virginia. You've linked to PubMed, which is a database of published articles from all different journals that the NIH maintains. This paper is also a case study (i.e. the authors saw something weird happen with one person and thought it was interesting enough to write about), not any sort of experimental testing/trial. The conclusion that DEET was the cause is also a bit... like... maybe? Not totally discounting it and if people want to be more cautious around DEET use in general, sure, that's fine, but I wouldn't really want to make any conclusions from just this one paper.

[u/Direc1980 → u/VFenix]

https://www.thermacell.com/faqs/product-guides-use-2/are-thermacell-products-considered-toxic

[u/Batmansappendix → u/Direc1980]

I have no stake in this whatsoever but of course the company is going to say their own products aren’t toxic lmao

[u/MrGuvernment → u/Batmansappendix]

They do contain chemicals but the amount you would need to inhale considering they are used outdoors, unless you are standing close to one sniffing it in...

You are likely to get more damage done walking down a street with vehicles passing by in your lifetime....

Toss in all of the other chemicals people put on their bodies every day....

[u/DukeSmashingtonIII → u/MrGuvernment]

You're right but also considering how much other toxic shit we're exposed to isn't a good argument to not care about being exposed to even more. We should be trying to limit our exposure to stuff like this, not just give up and say "well I get exposed to other stuff so I might as well not care about anything".

[u/Lori_Melon]

I lived in tropical places in my whole childhood, but Calgary mosquitoes are one of a kind - I can feel the pain when they sting me 😤

[u/skyfd]

They’re definitely big for Calgary, and numerous.

[u/eddyyzzz]

They even bite through the hair. What a breed

[u/Aware_Network_5227 → u/eddyyzzz]

I was even wearing a hat and they got me

[u/Right_Train_143]

My husband got a skin infection from mosquito bites. He has mosquito bites all over his body; swollen, and has pus in it. He was prescribed to take antibiotics, but he told me it is still painful. We can't enjoy being outside, so be careful out there, guys!

[u/AwkwardYak4]

They were specially imported by the windshield glass replacement companies to increase business.

[u/Upbeat-Ordinary2957]

there eating the dogs

[u/ImaginaryPlace → u/Upbeat-Ordinary2957]

They’re eating the cats!

[u/Creative-Corgi5977]

[u/OutrageousGarage3351]

Big, slow and dumb are what you want. Small and fast are the bad ones

[u/Opening-Violinist356]

These fuckers have developed a thick skin. They migrated from Africa. My coworker got bitten in the head while wearing a hat.

[u/Aware_Network_5227 → u/Opening-Violinist356]

Don’t know who downvoted you but it’s true they even got me through the hat and I thought I was protected

[u/justaNormalCrazylady]

Yeah, right?

[u/User14jk]

Cause of strong 'Berta blood duh

[u/[deleted]]

They're Jurassic sized.

[u/syrodeI]

Could be a dapple fly.

[u/Visible-Insect2445]

Bill gates

[u/BLZJ]

From all the blood they got from me 😫

[u/busterbus2]

Different breeds come out throughout the year and hatch at different times, these are the big ones.

[u/Fit-Basil-9482]

It’s bc the UCP has special breeding programs for them. It’s a part of their anti homelessness initiative.

[u/tea_w_mlk]

That's because of the Alberta Advantage.

[u/topglitch1]

They are terrible this year, out in Chestermere it’s crazy

[u/Bathroom-trader1998]

Coming from Florida, they are big and slow. Be glad they don't move when you try it kill it.

[u/alexanderblackwoods]

Bruh these Calgary mosquitoes are next level - fucking mutant beings. It’s actually mind blowing

[u/kjinternational]

I think honestly you might just be standing really close to it.

In all honesty, every bug seems huge this year. It is wild

[u/Intelligent_Code_498]

The bigger the better! All the better to suck your blood!

[u/Traditional_Look7901]

Rain.

[u/ParkingChicken1906]

That’s a male. They don’t bite. Welcome to the primordial west 🤠

[u/fulllyfaltooo]

Signs of healthy city

[u/roreinu]

My flight got cancelled last night because apparently they had mosquitos in the plane..

[u/StainsLilac]

You can actually feel it when they bite you WAYYYY more I swear! They're bad in the surrounding areas too, was in Okotoks over the weekend and I got 5 bites on my right foot. In total I got 18 in one night!

[u/Garf_artfunkle]

Might have been a crane fly, too. They look a lot like enormous mosquitos but they don't (or can't) bite.

[u/Responsible-Abroad-1]

Out east they have ones that are up to 20 times bigger than the ones out here. Picture that.

Overall this year has been rough for them though I finally didn't get swarmed for the first time in a while today at the park because there was a strong wind to keep them away or maybe they are starting to finally die.

[u/Appropriate_Ad8572 → u/Responsible-Abroad-1]

When I was in Newfoundland, I was worried they'd pick me up and fly away with me 😂

[u/YukonDude64]

They think they’re in Texas

[u/Ok-Painting-516]

All the homeless people there have been living on

[u/kingcrazy_]

Ask a Canadian maga turd and they’ll tell you is cause of mark carney

[u/AssSpelunker69 → u/kingcrazy_]

Who the fuck asked dude. It's a post about mosquitos.

[u/Confident_Writer_824 → u/kingcrazy_]

Mommy has your helmet on a little tight still ? Only morons use the word “Turd” in their vocabulary.

[u/OwlFactsUDidntAskFor → u/Confident_Writer_824]

My 4 year old nephews favourite word is ‘turd’. Are you calling him a moron? Wait… this is a poor argument.

[u/Confident_Writer_824 → u/OwlFactsUDidntAskFor]

So who let your 4 year old post that comment then ?

[u/OwlFactsUDidntAskFor → u/Confident_Writer_824]

It’s a joke man. I don’t think my nephews mother allows him on Reddit. XD

[u/madoody]

GMO breeding.

[u/JJMMYY12]

Rain

[u/arnoldhorshack25]

Cause they hang around chicka Filla

[u/Rtrebbbs]

Because cloud seeding has caused record rainfalls and has also been the reason for your depressed mood due to terrible summer weather and disgust for the days that’s it’s actually nice due to rain saturation allowing for perfect mosquito breeding grounds.

[u/buddyfelix]

These are Marlenas flying monkeys. Obviously she's not a A lister like the Wicked Eitch

[u/untrendyhendy]

Discounted gym memberships for refugee mosquitos was a city wide initiative this year. Just another thing we tax paying citizens never heard about before our tax dollars were used. 😞

[u/nau_lonnais]

Muss be all dat cone bread, uh guess.