Hi Friends! Suddenly summer is here in the East! And we are noticing mosquitos already. We have a very buggy backyard. Lots of trees. And DH and one of the gals appear to be allergic to mosquito bites. Aside from repellent, what do you use to keep the bugs away? Citronella Candles? Spray? A bug catcher? I would love to hear what works for you and your family! Thanks in Advance! Lisa
Seriously, best remedy are BATS.. yes the flying rats! Get a bat box and they will stay away from your yard completely.
My situation is a little different because mosquito bites here bring the risk (though slight) of malaria or dengue. But having said that, we are advised that only Deet is a true preventive measure. If your daughter is allergic, I thing that going with Deet is unfortunately the answer. To help make your yard less attractive, make sure there is no standing water anywhere. No bird bath, kiddie pool, water in the gutter drains, etc. Good luck.
I bought some bug repellent spray from California Baby - all natural with essential oils. Haven't really got to try it out yet, but it smells great! Hopefully it works. The bat idea is great, BTW. I love bats! We didn't have much luck attracting them at our old house (must have had the bat house in the wrong location). But we are going to try again at our new house. Michelle
The Tiki torches seem to work here, I know you said besides repellent but we always use repellent as well!
We use the Mosquito Magnet. We bought off ebay, but can get at home Depot/Lowes/BJ's. It is the best thing around. We have a catch basin for the development next door and have mosquitos running us in the house at noon. But now with this machine we only see 1-2 mosquitoes a day instead of literally 100's. It is a machine that used propane and a 'scent' thing. I recommend it to anyone with a problem. It does cost around $250, but it is so worth every penny. We are getting ready to set it up this week.
To the far back and off to the side of of yard, we have constant standing water - mosquito heaven! We use the Mosquito Deleto (something like that - the same thing described by the pp) & it really seems to work great. We also have a couple of citronella tiki torches set up on the deck. I have to say, the thing I swear by most is the repellent we use - Bioganic ShooBug. It is deet free, non-greasy & smells just like toothpaste. Since Justin is allergic to mosquitos, I always know if he's been bitten and I can tell you - he rarely gets bitten with this stuff (even when we are not at home with the rest of the mosquito stuff) - it's awesome! I get it at Target or Walmart in the camping section.
We use these elastic bracelets which contain nontoxic bug repellents. Here is a link to something similar to what we use. Since my babies don't really walk outside, yet. I hang them on their stroller out of their reach.
We cover all skin (this is what we do when we pick berries) with as much clothing as possible (also takes care of wood-ticks) and cover the exposed skin with REAL vanilla. Not had any problems, and you smell good too
Here's a suggestion..... I have a friend in Texas, and a couple of years ago her husband & her dad were installing misting units (like the misters you put on the patio to cool off) but they were designed to keep mosquitos away. It was a kid friendly repellent, so perfect. I don't know if they are still doing it, but you might be able to find someone inyour area with the systems. Around here our cities & neighborhoods spracy, so we usually only have to worry about it camping.
I don't know about where you live, but our county has something called Vector Control. We can call them & they'll come out to spray for mosquitos......I don't remember what they use, but it isn't supposed to harm kids or pets. Also, some trees will have hollow spots in them (collecting rain) which can be huge mosquito breeding grounds! Our Vector Control also provides special mosquito-eating fish and fly traps.....free of charge. (Well, if you're not counting your tax dollars )
I'm surprised no one has posted this but: Avon Skin So Soft. Original formula body oil spray or whatever. It has oil of citronella in it. (No I'm not an avon lady I don't even particularly love the smell but wow does it work) Apparently they even give this to our military it keeps bugs away so well. Btw it doesn't smell bad just not my favorite scent.
Another one for Avon Skin So Soft. It is wonderful. I am allergic, as well as my dd, Alivea. They swell up to the size of a quarter, itch and hurt for a week, then bruise. Absolutely miserable...The Skin So Soft is the only thing I have found that truly keeps them off without the potential harm of deet. (and I am not an Avon person either)
Royce has these massive quarter size lumps from when the mosquitos get in our house (we live in Florida, so it happens every friggin day!) and one of the girls at the dog park said to try putting dryer sheets in his crib. It's been since Sunday and surprisingly no new bites. Now I'm not sure if it's a coincidence (replenished the outside citronella stuff recently) or if it really works, but it's worth a shot.
i have never tried this but i got an email one time and it said to put some fabric softener dryer sheets in your pocket and it will keep them away.
I didn't think u were supposed to put any spray with deet on kids? We use the kids mosquito spray and the yellow bracelets (think they are citronella), We used muskol deet spray
Place a dryer sheet around the area you plan on being in. If you are walking around alot stick one in your paocket. I know this sounds crazy, but it really works!!! April
I read in an e-mail to spray Listerine on where you are going to be sitting and guess what it works very well.
QUOTE(Angie26 @ Aug 21 2008, 08:25 PM) [snapback]941750[/snapback] I read in an e-mail to spray Listerine on where you are going to be sitting and guess what it works very well. I have also heard this too. I haven't tried it yet. We don't go out much. The dryer sheets sounds like a great idea.
Update on the dryer sheets. . .Royce still has not gotten a mosquito bite in bed. So I'm going to say, "YAY! They work!"
We use a product from avon that has a bug repellent and sunscreen combined. I alsoput a few dots of vicks vapor rub on their face to keep the mosquitos from biting their face, it has worked good so far. I'm going to try the dryer sheet, does it matter if it's unscented?
QUOTE(2Sweeties2005 @ Aug 22 2008, 08:20 PM) [snapback]943247[/snapback] I'm going to try the dryer sheet, does it matter if it's unscented? I don't know. Ours are scented. But they are the generic ones. Maybe you can go to one of the manufacturer websites and see if they'll give you a sample?
Well tonight I put an unscented dryer sheet in dh's pocket and he put on off with deet on him and the boys and DH got quite a few bites. It makes me think that the avon stuff works better. Its called SKIN SO SOFT BUG GUARD PLUS IR3535® Gentle Breeze SPF 30 Sunscreen Lotion I will try the scented dryer sheets soon
We just went camping this weekend & I found some stick type things at Walmart that worked really well! Can't remember the brand, but dh called them "mosquito incense" ......they're on sticks & you light them on fire but the fire goes out & they keep smoking; it's the smoke that keeps them away. I burned 2 at a time every night & none of us got bit.
