Caladryl (calamine with benadryl) works for ant and mosquito bites.

Keep Neosporin on hand for bites that might get infected -- DON'T scratch, keep nails short; you can slap your bite vs scratch it and less chance of infection.

As to keeping them away -- prevent them biting you by not going out in the evenings.

Toon has had some problems but I think is gradually getting eaten less. I guess the local mosquitoes have all sampled European blood enough to go back to being less choosy.

Last summer I saw 1" carpenter ants walking across my deck and disappearing under the siding of the house. I called Terminex and have them come around every couple of months and spray a barrier around the house. Not seen the buggers since. The guy sorted out my carpenter bee problem too a few weeks ago that were nesting in the fence around the pool. God I hate bugs.......I think I need therapy. Seriously there's no way I could live in Florida, I would go off my head completely. :scared: :scared:

It doesn't matter where in the world I am.....I am always eaten alive by bugs. As a child we used to go on family picnics...I used to stay in the car with the windows up. The next morning I would be covered in bites (I am fair skinned), my mother, father and sister wouldn't have one (they are olive skinned).

DEET is really the only repellent that works well. The 90%+ stuff will definitely melt plastic and gives you a very icky feeling. Most of the time you can get away with the ~30% stuff in creams which also doesn't get absorbed by your body as much. But if you ever visit Crater Lake in June, just take the 99% DEET and deal.

There are propane-powered mosquito traps that will allegedly cover a whole yard. Can't vouch for them myself but some people swear by them. EDIT: http://www.mosquitomagnet.com/ If anyone ever pays the big bucks I'd be curious to hear if it worked.

Or just do what I did and move to New Mexico.

Oh right and then deal with roaches all of the time (they don't bite I know, but they are huge and everywhere and do not respect personal space.) Lived in ABQ for six months and became completely neurotic about them...

Serves you right for living in ABQ. No roaches up here, except for the Best Western up on the hill - a curious hot bed of roach activity.

That Deep Woods off stuff never worked that great for me. Tried a natural lavender oil and something else remedy and that didn't work too good either.

Our neighbour is a lovely old vegetarian hippy and hasn't been bitten by a mosquito in his life, and he constantly stinks of garlic, maybe thats why?

I am as fair as fair can be (friends in jest have called me transparent) and I have never reacted to bugs. Never even had a bee sting (wasp sting, mosquito bite, sand-flea bite, etc...) Doesn't cause me to despise them none the less

Who knows? Does make an excellent SO repellent.

Oh heavens, in ABQ they were unavoidable. I lived with two NM natives as room-mates and they had great fun seeing me out with the broom, smashing bugs. Honestly, they were EVERYWHERE!! Houses, schools, restaurants, sidewalks, UGH!!

On your recommendation, and after reading reviews plus trawling the internet to get a good deal (coz I am such a tight wad), I have gone and spent hubby's well earned pennies on this gadget. I will admit to being a complete gadget freak and have purchased my fair share of useless crap . But as I get older and wiser I have learned to research the stuff I plan to spend hubby's dosh on.

If this works for me then I shall be sending you heaps of karma

Otherwise I shall continue to wear my bubble suit and be Michelin Man's clone!

You could have been bitten by bugs but you may not react to their bite. Undoubtly some people are more attractive to bug bites and these people generaly react badly too. I think its fair to say that generally fair skinned people get bitten/react badly to bug bites than their darker skinned counterparts......although there are exceptions.

I use Avon Skin-so-soft,seems to work for me,I carry some with me and keep reapplying it....I'm another one who, it seems, every biting bug waits outside the door for!....and in my case, having already had brainstem encephilitis,apparently courtesy of a mossie,to say I'm obsessed about not being biten would be an understatement!,I used to get huge welts the size of an old British penny,when I first came over here,but they aren't so bad now,if one does manage to get a nibble!...I think the citroenella stuff seems to attract the bugs!
The thing that does drive me nuts is having all those bugs buzzing around me just waiting for the Avon stuff to wear off a bit. I hardly ever got bitten by anything in the UK,and I always had a nice tan,here I look like a ghost!
My husband cleans the birdbath out regularly and always puts some bleach in it,that seems to stop the mossies hatching but doesn't seem to affect the birds,he also makes sure there's no standing water around the garden,but,of course, the neighbours are not so fussy.
There has already been one case of West Nile Fever in our county(McLean County,IL) this year...it has a very similar effect to encephilitis....just want to say,if anyone you know gets bitten then has flu-like symptoms....get it checked out ASP....better to be safe than sorry,it's definately a life-changing illness!,IF you survive!!!...Good luck to you all....Sophia

I would start by lowering the number of Mosquitos around my house.

The range of the Mosquito is small. I would start in the yard and make sure there is no standing water. I had a gutter that held water and was the purfect breeding ground for them. Also Outside Flower pots that have the water tray on the bottom. That tray will hold water for a long time.

Scott

Ditto to that! YUCK!!!