How can mosquitoes bite me through clothes and bedding?

August 23, 2020 7:28 PM

I am creeping around my apartment like Elmer Fudd right now looking for the mosquitoes that have been eating me alive for the past few days. Earlier I realized I had some highly concentrated citrus oil in a toner I bought recently, so I've slathered that all over to ward off additional bites. The thing is that I have bites in places mosquitoes shouldn't be able to get to because they have been protected by clothing or bedding and even water. How is this possible???

I woke up Saturday morning with terrible bites and hives spreading up and down my calves. Said calves were under blankets for at least 7 hours straight. Then today more bites appeared, this time on my stomach and my butt -- again, two areas that were very clothed prior to being bitten. Worst of all is that just as I got out of the shower 15 minutes ago, I discovered a new bite on my waist! Which was covered in water! For 20 minutes because I take long showers!

Please help me understand what the hell is going on. These are definitely mosquito bites. I break out in hives almost immediately. How am I still being bitten if my skin is covered?

posted by Kitchen Witch to Science & Nature (37 answers total)

Have you been outside at all?

I have delayed reactions to mosquito bites. I've noticed that my friends are aware when they are being bitten. I won't notice and won't show the bites until perhaps the next day.

If you haven't been outside and aren't seeing any mosquitoes in your home, then I'm afraid you might need to consider the possibility that these could be bed bug or spider bites. Bed bug bites are often in rows or clusters of 2 or 3 - I also have a delayed reaction to those.
posted by bunderful at 7:32 PM on August 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Also, up until this year I have been completely immune to mosquito bites. 30+ years of immunity -- gone! No note! No explanation.

2020 has brought us all so many gifts.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 7:33 PM on August 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Sorry, I don’t know what’s happening with the mossies, but can recommend Bepanthen cream. It’s an antiseptic cream but takes the itch out right away. Put it on as soon as you see you’ve been bitten. If that brand isn’t available, have the pharmacist look up the ingredients.
Also, clear away any stagnant water - that can be a dish drainer or pot plants.
posted by BeBetter at 7:42 PM on August 23, 2020

I've been bitten by mosquitoes through sheets and through thin clothes, but they shouldn't be able to bite through a blanket. Are you 100% sure this isn't bed bugs or fleas?
posted by Dip Flash at 7:42 PM on August 23, 2020 [14 favorites]

I can't provide a "how," but as a point of reference I wear compression stockings--thick fabric that's skin-tight to my leg. I don't know how, but they can bite through the stockings. I even caught one in the act once and smacked it and got blood all over my stocking.

I also have a delayed reaction to bites--they show up starting in the next day or so, and new ones will show up for several days after that.

So, my guess is a combination of getting you through the clothes/bedding, and also getting them earlier and then not showing up until later.
posted by brook horse at 7:43 PM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I think your end-to-immunity brought a delayed reaction with it -- I've definitely taken a few hours to have a bite come up, especially when I was younger when it could take up to a day pretty easily.

(Also I am so so so sorry to have to echo everyone else suggesting possibly bed bugs. Carefully check over your bed and bedframe and look for them -- they showed up very similar to mosquito bites for me. I found one or two of the lil fuckers still on my sheets, and the rest living in various crevices on my bed.)
posted by kalimac at 7:49 PM on August 23, 2020

I really have to question your conclusion that they're definitely mosquito bites. If you haven't had a reaction to mosquito bites for 30 years, you probably have only a vague idea what a mosquito bite reaction is like. Why are you so sure that's what you're experiencing now? Other insects can give you itchy bites and other things can cause hives. Sometimes people get hives for no apparent reason. You don't normally react like this to mosquito bites and it would be very unusual, if not impossible, to get so many mosquito bites in areas covered by blankets or while you're in the shower. And it sounds like you haven't even seen any mosquitoes. All the evidence leads to the conclusion that something else is causing those itchy swellings.
posted by Redstart at 8:00 PM on August 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: They're mosquito bites for sure, and based on this image I appear to have lots of delayed bites and a few immediate ones. :( :( I also just caught and killed one of the mosquitos but I sense that there are more.

Can I put mosquito zappers inside??
posted by Kitchen Witch at 8:01 PM on August 23, 2020

Response by poster: No, truly, the bites I have do not look like spider, flea, or bed bug bites. I know what each of those look like because I have either had them myself or seen them in person on someone else.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 8:02 PM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm still skeptical. But have you moved recently, by any chance? If you're suddenly living in a different place from where you've lived for the past 30 years you could be getting bitten by a different species of mosquito that you haven't developed immunity to.
posted by Redstart at 8:04 PM on August 23, 2020 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: I have neither moved nor traveled recently. As we are in quarantine where I live, I don't go outside much, so I occasionally open my screen door, which is likely how the latest lot got in. Thankfully I just smooshed another! Seeing as they've been having a field day with me since April, I've gotten pretty familiar with what it looks and feels like to have a mosquito bite. I'm just not as familiar with the concept of immediate vs delayed reactions.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 8:22 PM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yeah, clothing is really NO protection from mosquito bites, as my arse could tell you.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:57 PM on August 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

Chiming in to say, clothing will not protect you from mosquito bites. I’ve had those little jerks bite me through jeans. JEANS! I ask you.

I live somewhere with lots of mosquitoes in the places I like to hike, so I take a non drowsy OTC oral antihistamine (generic cetirizine). It can work preventatively as well as retroactively (?), so during heavy mosquito days you may just want to take one in the morning whether you’ve got any bites yet or not.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:07 PM on August 23, 2020

My son used to get bitten by mosquitoes while he slept, even under covers. I suspect that during the night he might have kicked the covers off. I bought a mosquito net and hung it from the ceiling and now he sleeps in a mosquito-proof tent.
posted by mezzanayne at 9:23 PM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

They're either breeding in standing water inside (plants are a common culprit) or doing so outside (and then sneaking in). You can buy little tablets at the hardware store to drop into puddles that will kill them. If you're getting that many bites chances are they are breeding nearby. You may also need to talk to your neighbors.
posted by emjaybee at 9:30 PM on August 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

Were you taking Vitamin B Complex and then quit taking Vitamin B Complex?

I was never immune to mosquitoes until I started taking Vitamin B Complex. Which I didn't take as a bug repellent, I just started taking it because my sister told me to do so, and if you knew Judith you'd trust her too.

But even still I didn't realize that I'd now had this magic immunity until one night standing outdoors talking to a neighbor, he was getting eaten alive and i was not being bothered at all. And even then I'd not have put it together except soon after that I want onto Amazon (I think Amazon) and idly read a few reviews, one of the first was from a woman in Louisiana who said she'd just noticed that she was almost out of Vit B Complex and just would *not* deal with the hell coming her way without it.

And so I got to looking around online, and it's maybe 50-50, half of the ppl saying it's just an old wives tale, the other half swearing by the stuff. Due to my experience, I fall into that latter camp. I live on a river, I can go down night or day and not get even one bite. Other ppl are getting chewed to bits but not I.

Long-winded reply -- sorry. But shove some Vitamin B Complex into your head and see what happens.
posted by dancestoblue at 9:34 PM on August 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Seconding that they bite through clothing, can wiggle in through gaps in covers, and bite you quickly when you change for a shower.

As for what to do next: I react horribly to mosquito bites and what has helped me with the pain and itching the most is applying heat as soon as I notice the bite with a Therapik Mosquito Bite Reliever, it has been the only thing that helps.This sort of reads like an ad but I was getting bit so much when I did field work that I was trying everything, and that tool worked so well I bought extra because I didn’t want to go back to painful itching.

This is the first summer I haven’t had any bites and we’re giving credit to the giant citronella plant centrally located in the yard, if you can get one by the screen they are coming through it might help.
posted by lepus at 9:44 PM on August 23, 2020

Mosquitoes have mouthparts that are adopted to make them very good at biting - even through quite thick clothes. They have a proboscis that contains the various structures that are used to execute the bite in a long, thin flexible tube called the labium. Within the labium there are mandibles and maxillae that are used together to cut through clothes, skin or whatever else is necessary to get to an accessible blood vessel. The insect then uses its anticoagulant saliva to make it easier to get at the blood and hoover it out of you. Any tightly worn clothing - like jeans or socks - will provide some protection - but it will not be enough to stop you getting bitten. Looser clothing that is not so much in contact with the skin is more effective. Finally mosquitoes have no problem landing and crawling about to get to their prey - so they can sometimes find their way under blankets.
posted by rongorongo at 11:31 PM on August 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Delayed biting is a thing, as is all your bites reacting if you scratch just one of them, in my experience, and that mean in turn that anywhere you've been bitten in the last five days will remind you.

Antihistamines are like magic for me - I take the modern non drowsy sort like Loratidine or Cetrizine and the itch stops after about 15 minutes and the swelling goes down along with it. The effect lasts the day, so if you keep up on the daily dose it should keep the itching under control.

I've done the bed mosquito net thing and I would recommend it. It might not be the only time you're being bitten, but if one bite doesn't wake you up you're a sitting target for the night so it should reduce the number.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 11:39 PM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

They can definitely bite through clothing, when I lived in Spain I woke up one morning to find one had bitten me through my pyjama trousers and died in the process of doing so, I had to pick its body off my clothing and the stinger had gone all the way through the fabric of my pyjamas and into my leg.
posted by terretu at 1:14 AM on August 24, 2020

Just chiming to confirm I once watched as a mosquito bit me through a pair of jeans - this was old school 90s denim. Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 1:22 AM on August 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

Re the shower, if I have a mosquito bite that hasn't yet activated (from barely visible pinprick to itchy red welt), taking a bath or shower will trigger it to do so. I hope this isn't unique to me.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:10 AM on August 24, 2020 [6 favorites]

Mosquitoes definitely bite me through jeans, sheets are no obstacle whatsoever. But also, bites take about a day to show up for me and actually itch and swell. I’ll get bitten, smack the offending skeeter, and then get a raised bump 24+ hours or so later.
posted by lydhre at 3:55 AM on August 24, 2020

Mozzies are arseholes. I'll cover myself with a sheet despite the heat and the bastards still get me.
posted by kitten magic at 3:57 AM on August 24, 2020

I routinely get mosquito bites on my butt cheeks, arguably the best covered part of my body, despite waving naked arms and legs about all night.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:12 AM on August 24, 2020

Mosquitos have to be able to bite animals that have thick hair protecting them, so it isn't that unusual that our thin layers of clothing aren't that protective.

If they're getting you in the night, try using a fan to help keep them away. Mosquitos can't fly in winds over 1.5 mph, so it doesn't take much of a breeze to mess up their devious plans!

While it won't stop the desperate ones from trying to take a bite, permethrin laced clothing do an excellent job overall of deterring insects from wanting to hang out for long with you. You can spray it on to clothing or sheets and blankets to help repel them as well, though the effect isn't as long lasting as when it is pre-baked into cloth. (Seeing that you probably have a cat, when the spray hasn't dried it isn't safe for them to be exposed to, but once dry it is okay.) You can also get sheets and blankets that are mosquito unfriendly as well. Living in tick country has permanently put me on wearing anti-insect clothing, pretty much the only time I have bug problems is in early spring when I'm still delusional and not wearing protective gear.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 5:50 AM on August 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I'm guessing it's a case of kicking the sheets/blankets off during the night and not noticing. They are sneaky.

I've had pretty good luck sleeping with a fan directed at me all night. Mosquitoes are bad at flying, and even a light fan can help keep them away. Sleeping under a net is also a good option.

If they're already itching and welting, keeping an ice pack on the bites as long as possible helps me a lot. Whatever you do, don't scratch it!!
posted by LeeLanded at 6:31 AM on August 24, 2020

A friend just bought this bug zapper for the teeny tiny mosquitos that have been getting into her house and so far has been happy with it. She’s gone from more than half-a-dozen or more bites every night to one.
posted by elphaba at 6:44 AM on August 24, 2020

2nding taking an antihistamine daily - I've always been super attractive to mosquitoes, but since I started taking Allegra for allergies I have very mild reactions that I can ignore and never feel the need to scratch versus huge welts that last for days. Eliminate all standing water, check all entrances into home, and then mosquito net, fan running, and a few citronella plants in your bedroom.
posted by autolykos at 7:23 AM on August 24, 2020

Yes, you can use a bug zapper in the house. Be careful if you have pets who might be interested in knocking it over, they can be a little fragile. If you have pets, I recommend hanging it from the ceiling on a plant hook, far away from your bedroom if possible. Don't forget to sweep up below it every morning as the little bug carcasses sometimes create a fine dust.
posted by juniperesque at 7:25 AM on August 24, 2020

I get an immediate severe reactions to mozzie bites. To lure a mosquito that I know is in the room. I try to blow my breath in a specific direction; they home in on exhaled carbon dioxide and sometimes the skeeter will come to try to get me and I can kill it. Lemon eucalyptus oil is now recognized as effective, and I use it with pretty good results. Link is an example, have not used that brand. A fan really discourages them, and I use one on the deck in the evening with good results.

Afterbite is ammonia and baking soda in an applicator. I keep a little bottle of ammonia and baking soda to swab on bug bites with a little paint brush for prompt relief that lasts hours.
posted by theora55 at 8:08 AM on August 24, 2020

You may have standing water in the house, which is all they need to breed and spread. If there is a toilet you don't use, a sump pump, maybe some water in potted plants, sinks you haven't used, air conditioner drain area.. anywhere it just sits for long periods.

You can get tablets to put in those standing water places. Plus, outside you might have a lot of standing water, as well. But since you seem to have an 'inside' problem, that is something to check. We had fruit flies massing all over and couldn't figure it out.. turned out in the basement there was a tote that somehow got water in it.
posted by rich at 8:09 AM on August 24, 2020

In the UK and Europe we can buy plug-in mosquito killers that look like air fresheners or Feliway (with a heating element and a small bottle of liquid) which last for 30 days or a 'tablet' type which has a small heating element into which a tablet is slotted, changed every night (I have one which plugs into the wall and a USB version for travel). They are safe for humans, babies and pets but doom to mozzies. Are those not available in the USA?
posted by essexjan at 10:24 AM on August 24, 2020

You need to cover all your drains or they can live and breed inside indefinitely. I also recommend hanging a bednet. That worked for me when I had indoor mosquitoes
posted by Jacqueline at 3:00 PM on August 24, 2020

Sorry, but bug zappers don't work against mosquitoes. They use light to attract bugs, which gets moths and many larger bugs, but mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide from your exhaling, not light.
posted by hydropsyche at 3:35 PM on August 24, 2020

As for why mosquitoes bother you now when they didn't before... Were they always a thing in your area? I've lived in CA my whole life and mosquitoes were never a problem, but just in the last few years the little bastards have shown up here thanks to climate change. In my entire life I'd had, like, two mosquito bites, and now it's a big problem. Winters are OK but every time it warms up even a little the damn mosquitoes come back and drive me crazy.

And yes, the little monsters do find a way to bite me through my clothes. When the itching gets really bad I'll cover my bites with these band-aid things I make by cutting up pain relief patches. You could probably get a couple dozen bandage-y things off each patch and the minty burning feeling will cool the itch for a few hours. Icy Hot is probably the best-known brand but cheap knockoffs can work just as well.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:10 PM on August 24, 2020

Per the recommendation for a "Therapik Mosquito Bite Reliever" . . . I do not have one but I do have a hair dryer.
Skeeters get me bad and leave my wife alone.
For me, socks, pants, it doesn't matter. They bite through them. For years, my ankles were bloody, scabby messes. Then I learned that blow dryers were my salvation.

When I have been working in the garden, I come inside and immediately blow dry my ankles. I usually announce that I am going to do so because I am a dad and being a dumbass is my bread and butter.
I hold the dryer pointed at my ankle as long as I can. I do this until every inch of likely bit skin has been treated. Then I treat any obvious other bites.
As the heat is on it, the bites itch to an insane and mind-scrubbingly-intense level. I cannot think of anything else. Then the heat comes to a pain point, I remove the heat, and the pain subsides, taking the itch with it.
My ankles have scars from years past, but nothing from the past five years.
A godsend.
posted by Seamus at 1:58 PM on August 28, 2020