Why do mosquitoes like me so much and not my fiancee?!
Question:
Why do mosquitoes like me so much and not my fiancee?
Two nights ago, I got 7 mosquito bites. Last night, I got 5 more. My fiancee hasn't got any. My mom always told me that mosquitoes liked my sweet blood, but I researched it and found this.
Why do mosquitoes bite? Actually, it is only the females that bite and they do so out of necessity ratther than pleasure. Female mosquitoes seek blood when they are preparing to lay eggs as they need the nourishment to produce healthy offspring. The mosquito's normal diet of plant juices contains none of the proteins a female needs in order to produce her eggs. For that, she needs a concentrated source of protein, which, unfortunately for us, is blood.
If this is true, why do the mosquitoes only bite me?
Also, some of them have started to turn purple. It's acting like a spider bite, and I've never had bites do this.
This is the irritated one
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/s...
and the normal
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b358/s...
Answers:
I'm impressed with the homework you've already done. One way to look at mosquitoes is little sensory organs with wings. They are attracted by three things, dark colors (the color tone of most large animals), carbon dioxide, something every breathing creature produces, and skin odors that all mammals have. Many males produce more skin odor (not always perceptible to us) than females because of higher muscular metabolism. I know that going outside right after a shower draws far fewer mosquitoes than if I were to go out, say two hours later, because my personal skin odor is nearly gone. Mosquitoes can sense what is in the air with their antenna. I've heard wearing light colored clothing helps too. Good luck.