2023-04-25 18:32:54
They have not arrived yet. Well, not all of them. So, in anticipation of the invasion, this Bordeaux family prepares its weapons against the enemy of its summers: the tiger mosquito. “Every year, it’s hell”, exposes the father. For his daughter Annabelle, 12, the case even turns into a nightmare. “To psychosis”, supports his brother Anatole, 19 years old. The little opinion of the chef. However, the parents have equipped the house, and sharpened their knowledge of Aedes albopictus. They have also become experts in insecticides of all kinds. Alas, they continue to suffer… and to scratch…
Everything starts…
They have not arrived yet. Well, not all of them. So, in anticipation of the invasion, this Bordeaux family prepares its weapons against the enemy of its summers: the tiger mosquito. “Every year, it’s hell”, exposes the father. For his daughter Annabelle, 12, the case even turns into a nightmare. “To psychosis”, supports his brother Anatole, 19 years old. The little opinion of the chef. However, the parents have equipped the house, and sharpened their knowledge of Aedes albopictus. They have also become experts in insecticides of all kinds. Alas, they continue to suffer… and to scratch…
It all starts when they arrive in the Bordeaux Bastide district. First rue Galin, in a first house. “It was total infestation,” recalls the father, Pierre. “Impossible to hang up the laundry in the garden without being devoured”, supports his daughter Alice. “Instantly, our ankles were black with mosquitoes,” recalls Anatole. To the point, some summers, of giving up going out.
“War of Nerves”
“At our friend Noah’s in Cenon, the terrace is absolutely protected by a giant mosquito net,” says Amna, 19. So when they arrived in rue Flammarion, a few streets further on, they weren’t surprised to find… mosquitoes! Especially since the neighbor Ginette has gone on a trip, leaving her turtle pond fallow. Not better on the left side of the fence, where a pipe drips. “At the time, our garden was denser, planted with arums, with waterlogged leaves,” adds Soisik, the mother of the family.
To limit proliferation, the new occupants do not skimp on their efforts: the garden is domesticated; the neighbours’ pipe is repaired, and, Ginette, returned to the bedside of the turtles. And ? “That wasn’t enough! smiles Peter. “It’s getting worse and worse, even,” says his son. “In any case, we are embarrassed all day, from 9 a.m. in the morning,” engages the father. “You don’t hear them, you don’t see them, and the sting isn’t bad if you don’t scratch, but it’s a war of nerves. Getting worse and worse, yes, that is indeed what the official figures prove. D‘after the regional health agency, 49% of the population of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region is now affected by the tiger mosquito. Worse, it adapts to everything. “And if we don’t act right away, it comes back ten times the following year. »
From citronella to larval traps
From year to year, the family has refined its equipment. Level one, in “natural and smells good” mode: lemongrass essential oil, and other plantations supposed to repel the intruder, such as rose geranium or lavender. “It smells good but it doesn’t work”, concludes Pierre, who goes on to “stink stuff” (and is expensive). This is phase two. In this case, a device that traps both mosquitoes and larvae using an attractant reproducing human perspiration. “Effective but insufficient”, grimaces Pierre. During the sales, he therefore invested in a second trap. He also ordered a mosquito net for the bay window. A real headache: not easy to adapt the device to old joinery. For the windows that are opened less often, he tinkered with an artisanal system himself with cleats and an anti-mosquito fabric.
Mosquito repellent lotions as an aperitif
“In addition, all the tricks are combined”, continues Soisik. “Mosquito plugs everywhere, fan in the room and even under the table when eating to keep insects away.” And too bad if you can’t hear your table neighbor! And above all, essential spraying of a “special Tropics” lotion on the body before going to the garden.
This arsenal of war gives a funny atmosphere at home, but Soisik prefers to laugh about it. “When we invite the neighbors to dinner, at the start of the meal, everyone puts their mosquito repellent in the middle of the table. And we share them, for those who have forgotten theirs! “Except that with all these products on the skin, we will end up catching diseases”, worries Pierre.
Yes, but how to do it ? To imitate Annabelle, perhaps. Even in 40°C, the young girl no longer goes outside without having covered her legs with trousers, which she tops with high socks, and locks everything with a hair elastic… while her bed sits enthroned under a mosquito net. “Not mine”, regrets Anatole. “It gives quite funny nocturnal sequences, I see myself last summer half naked on my bed trying to kill mosquitoes with an electric racket. “As long as Aedes albopictus doesn’t have a sense of humor…
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