[x1798DE]

I used to get mosquito bites but I stopped getting them as an adult. I realized after a while that my skin stopped reacting to them even though the mosquitos were still biting me.

I recently managed to coax one into biting me to test my hypothesis. I felt it go into my skin and watched it suck for a bit, but it didn't get particularly engorged on it. No mark the next day. My son had a bitemark from a non-deliberate bite, though.

It seems to be a known phenomenon (though I have no idea why it happened to me): https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/4310/is-it-poss...

[emerged]

I think for some of us they literally don’t even bite anymore. They certainly have preferences in blood type. I also have super visible veins as a relatively thin athletic person, yet they just seem to have no interest in what’s on the menu.

It’s quite a luxury as someone who spends lots of time on trails. But I also feel somehow offended. What’s so bad about MY blood?

[vmception]

I believe they all follow trails of your breath, which is why they can be reliably found above your bed when inside

So its likely about how that smells

Or other trails toward you, while they probably would enjoy your blood in actuality even if they think they’re detecting something related to how the meal would taste or its nutrition levels by proxy

Let me know what you all know!

[ashtonkem]

> So its likely about how that smells

I thought the theory was that they follow the CO2 we exhale.

[vmception]

Yes thats the one, what word would you like to use for that sensory molecule detection

There is still some difference in who they choose to follow or act upon so I’m grasping for where that difference is. Could be something alongside the CO2

[ashtonkem]

Humans exhale all kinds of stuff aside from just CO2, including moisture and other metabolic byproducts depending on what you’re eating. Probably some bacterial metabolic products from our mouths too.

I guess I’m less into the semantic difference between “smell” and “detect” and more whether it’s the CO2 they’re following or something else we exhale regularly.

[vmception]

Yeah I’m curious too, I think thats the right direction to research

[ashtonkem]

Oh, that’s an interesting observation I’ve never realized until you pointed it out. I’ve always been the target of mosquitos more than anyone else I know, but it seems to get worse the fitter I am. Now that I’m a bit pudgy and out of shape, I haven’t had anywhere near as many bites.

But, to be fair for me being fit and being in the regions where mosquitos exist en masse is a related phenomenon. Out of shape me spends less time on trails than fit me.

[refurb]

They certainly have preferences in blood type.

How would they know your blood type before biting you?

[samizdat311]

The idea one of the preceding comments seemed to imply was that they sample a bit first.

> I felt it go into my skin and watched it suck for a bit, but it didn't get particularly engorged on it. No mark the next day.

So it might follow that with one resistant (R) and one non-resistant person (NR) exposed to a few dozen mosquitoes, NR will end up with lots of visible bites while R will be relatively unscathed - even though the mosquitoes might have sampled them each equally.

I know too that some mammals (e.g. mice) will sample a small amount of food (e.g. rodent poison), and then return later to try more if the food hasn't had ill effects.

I'm not sure that mosquitoes have anything like a memory capacity for this, but maybe something similar mediated via pheromones could be happening. (And something like pheromones could also signal to other mosquitoes that there's good eatin' to be had).

[hackernewds]

It's possible you're getting bit but not seeing the symptoms afterwards