chinnybloke

Hi,

I'm getting eaten alive at night. We have insert grills on the windows - which are shut but I'm still eaten by mozzies at night. I am usually too hot so sleep without covers on me so I guess I am an easy target. When I go to bed I check and I'm sure there are none in the room. This morning I woke with 18 new bites around my ankles and arms!

What is best to kill the little gits? I want something that works all night.

Thanks,
CB

burton bunch

Hi CB

have you thought of using one of those sprays you can get for athletes that you get from Canadian Tire ? Phil gets eaten alive when he plays soccer and touch wood since he as used one of those he has been ok.

Apart from keeping all of your fly screens on your doors and windows shut at all times this is the only thing that I can think of.

Gay
x

Souvenir

DEET should do the trick. Otherwise there is a cosmetic oil (Avon Skin So Soft, I think). Mozzies don't like it at all.

burton bunch

Yeah Souv

My mom is prone to mozzie bites and since she has used the Avon stuff she hasnt been plagued quite as bad - couldnt remember what it was called in my other post - but it has to be the fern type smelling one I think the labelling over here is green.

Am pretty sure that I have seen Avon products on the self in drug stores out there - London Drugs, Shoppers drug mart and pharmasave.

Gay
x

Piff Poff

Blinking things seems especially vicious this year, I've got bites all over and can't sleep 'cause they itch when they get hot, so I really sympathise with you.

I went to Kenya a few years ago and was worried about mozzies there. I managed to get some 95% (or something like that) DEET. As it was so strong they recommended spraying the linens and clothes rather than actual bodies. Can't remember the catalogue I got it from, but it was one of these things for the adventure traveller, they did water purifiers and stuff as well.

Souvenir

Mozzies do seem to be a bit selective. Quebec separatist mozzies go after me big time but leave Souvette alone. Cuban mozzies give me a wide berth but take large chunks out of Souvette. Go figure.

Notiaink...honest

Hanging a mosquito net around/over the bed is the tried and tested colonial solution to the problem, but the best solution is really not to let them in in the first place. Deet (and only DEET) works, but it cant be healthy to sleep in it, and unless you are going to wake up and reapply every now and then its only going to offer partial relief,. Besides, it doesn't stop the annoying buggers buzzing around you and landing on you, it just confuses them into thinking you are not worth biting.

Check your screens, they are getting in somehow. Screen doors will help too.

Clean up standing water and reduce brush around your house. Spraying a soap solution on bushes near the house might help too, and our SkeeterVac did a good job while it still worked, good enough that we paid for a new replacement engine for it anyway which cant arrive soon enough.

My theory is that they bite everyone, but not everyone gets the big itchy lumps. Newbies lack the appropriate antibodies and come up worst. Ive got better in terms of my reaction over the years Ive been here...I guess that's the good news, if there is any.

hot wasabi peas

Are you sure it's mosquitos that are biting you at night? Could be mites, fleas, spiders or maybe even vampires!

Madmac

Or even the wife??

steve666

Or the kids?

hamshank

souvenir is spot on , oh so soft from avon works. ive seen scottish lumberjacks spraying it on , iasked em about it as they were taking bloody lumps outa me

Notiaink...honest

I'm so tired of the "skin so soft" pseudoscientific misinformation. IT DOES NOT WORK. It is 10 times less effective than 12.5% Deet. (although better than bounce sheets, which have no track record at all, and may actually attract the little buggers)


For those with faith in home remedies, next time you head into the woods at dusk, coat one arm in skin so soft or whatever else you want to try, and the other in a Deet containing repellent, roll your sleeves up and let us know how you get on. For me, I'll settle for the peer reviewed scientific literature.

Very few non Deet formulations have been scientifically proven to work for more than a few minutes. In the world of Mosquite repelants, DEET is the king.

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/128/11/931

http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/skeeters.asp

Permetherin works OK, but should not be applied to the body, and is unavailable in canada anyway, and a product called Bite Blocker is the only non DEET formulation thats seems to work pretty well in studies, although Ive never seen it in Canada either.

Further research finds its called Summer Survivor or something in Canada, and due to legal restrictions they cant sell it as a bug repellant?

http://www.biteblocker.ca/acatalog/O...urvivor_1.html

Anyway, with the exchange rate being what it is, its cheaper to order it from the states and hope it slips past customs.


The problem with deet is it tends to do nasty things to some plastics (like sunglasses for example)

Madmac

It's all about 'faith' mate. If you believe it works, then it works.

At least you will smell lovely when the rash appears.

hamshank

funny enough thats what happened to me,with sin so soft . never believe a bloody scttish lumber jack

nivlad

I have bought those electronic tennis rackets, they are great fun when you zap one of the little bastards. I go round the grass in the evening mozzi hunting. I try and attract them by wearing my cycling shorts.