Something's been Bugging me at night

October 18, 2007 4:46 PM

When I go to bed at night, as soon as I shut the light off, I hear this loud buzzing around my face, which is a bug trying to get at me in some way. What is it and how do I get rid of it?

I don't see anything when I am getting ready for bed, or reading, what have you. But as soon as I turn the light out, the buzzing starts. I don't THINK it's biting me, but it disrupts my sleep and is damn annoying. It seems to like my face. Last night I tried an experiment. I threw the whole comforter over my face. Buzzing stopped. I put a few fingers out. Nothing. Both hands. Still nothing. Finally I pulled my face out, and my bug friend was back. I know a mosquito is the most likely candidate, but I don't wake up with bites, so I'm not sure. I haven't been sleeping well overall for the last few months, and I sometimes wonder if I'm having some kind of surreal Kafkaesque nightmare, in which my worries of the day literally "bug" me at night. I'm mostly kidding about that one. My question: What is this thing, and how can I get rid of it when I can't even see it? I sprayed OFF! all over myself, last night, but that's a pungent solution. If it helps, I live in Brooklyn and don't share my bed.

posted by sweetkid to Science & Nature (9 answers total)

You know, I live in Queens and I've had the exact same thing happen over the past week or so (didn't see anything hanging out in my room in the evening, but heard a buzzing and I've been waking up with a few mosquito bites) for the past week or so. I found a mosquito on on the wall one night when I woke up at 3am to use the bathroom and I killed it, but I still had a new bites on my arm this morning, several days later. So there is definitely more than one. Also, my roommate said that a mosquito kept buzzing in her face while she was studying in the living room late the other night. A co-worker from Brooklyn also mentioned having a lot of mosquito bites lately too, and she mentioned she sleeps with her windows open.

My theory? It's too warm and humid too late in the season, but it's cool enough for us to sleep with our windows open, so while there's mosquitoes around, they're feasting before their imminent demise. Also, the bees lately are crazy. I had two literally chase me today (I'm not kidding).

I swear, I haven't wished for winter this bad, like, EVER. Unfortunately, I think cold weather is the only real answer. I can't believe I haven't thought of OFF! I shower in the morning, so I'm totally gonna douse myself in it now.

Oh, and here's something that'll totally freak you out - the reason mosquitoes are attracted to your face? They are attracted to and fly up the stream of carbon dioxide you exhale. That's how they find humans to feed off of.

(I am overthinking this mosquito thing, but I can't help it, I hate bugs with a passion.)
posted by AlisonM at 5:14 PM on October 18, 2007

Oooh, I just noticed you don't have any bites. Consider yourself lucky!
posted by AlisonM at 5:16 PM on October 18, 2007

some insects are attracted to the CO2 we exhale, which might explain why you're only hearing/sensing it when your face is exposed...

a possible expensive solution might be:

http://www.mosquitoboss.com/

or, keep your head under the covers until the weather gets a few degrees colder...
posted by HuronBob at 5:16 PM on October 18, 2007

beginning stages of astral projection ?
posted by dawdle at 5:27 PM on October 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

Bugs are attracted to light and CO2. There isn't much you can do about CO2 but for the light you can try keeping a light on as far away from your bed as possible and leave the one near your bed off. It should keep the bug away from your bed, at least as long as needed to determine if it's really a bug.
posted by jwells at 5:55 PM on October 18, 2007

Yeah, what you might do is leave a light on in another room, and hopefully the bug will fly towards it. You could even try one of these.
posted by delmoi at 6:02 PM on October 18, 2007

Have you always wanted a cat? Because I get mosquitos and other tiny bugs coming in through holes in the bathroom window screen and one of my cats will always eat them before I can be bothered.
posted by found dog one eye at 8:45 PM on October 18, 2007

Mosquito netting. You can't stop the CO2, but you can stop the bugger from getting close enough to be annoying.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 8:51 PM on October 18, 2007

I would just observe that all insects seem to go nuts in the dying days of the season.
posted by yclipse at 4:59 AM on October 19, 2007