A doctor explained why you may not feel a mosquito bite at that time.
In a TikTok posted in JuneDr. London’s Sermed Mezher said the way mosquitoes sting you is “so high-tech” that most of the time you can’t feel it.
Only female mosquitoes will bite you, he explained, because “they need extra food to care for their young.”
The reason you don’t feel anything, or perhaps a slight sting, is because the saliva of female mosquitoes has a similar quality to anesthesia.
The bugs “start by injecting ‘a local anesthetic on the skin so you can’t feel any of the six needles going in,'” Dr Mezher said.
Only female mosquitoes will bite you, he explained, because “they need extra food to care for their young”
He said, “The two outer ones you see here are saws for cutting through the skin, and the others are for locating and absorbing blood from the blood vessels.”
It can take hours to days for someone to feel a mosquito bite. Dr. Mezher said the process “is so efficient that by the time you actually feel the mosquito biting you, it’s already gone.”
In the caption, he added that mosquitoes have evolved and have an “extraordinary ability to find blood vessels and suck blood without causing significant damage or discomfort.”
He added: “Their feeding technique involves a combination of chemical signals, sensory perception and a complex proboscis structure, all of which work in harmony to facilitate their meal.”
Research has shown that female mosquitoes follow plumes rich in carbon dioxide, the gas we exhale.
They detect who to bite based on how much carbon dioxide they exhale, as well as the type and amount of sweat we produce.
Warmth was also found to be important, with body-heated objects appearing to be of more interest to mosquitoes than room-temperature objects.