Effective Mosquito Repellant when eating outdoors

[lockwood74]

I am interested to know about effective methods of repelling mosquitos.
I have seen a wide variety of methods in use;

incense sticks
oil burners
coils
electrical zappers
candles

Any info on keeping them away whilst tucking into an evening meal

Regards John

[JimmyGreaves]

Cream yourself

[PeteC]

Rubbing on OFF spray is the best IMHO, followed by coils under your table if you can stand the fumes wafting up throughout your meal. Of course if you drink enough, you won't feel the bites anyway. Pete

[curber]

J received this email the other day ...not sure if it works ...too damned cold here for mosquitos now so will have to wait

Subject: Mosquitoes-interesting


The best way of getting rid of mosquitoes is Listerine, the original medicinal type. The Dollar Store-type works, too. I was at a deck party awhile back, and the bugs were having a ball biting everyone. A man at the party sprayed the lawn and deck floor with Listerine, and the little demons disappeared. The next year I filled a 4-ounce spray bottle and used it around my seat whenever I saw mosquitoes. And voila! That worked as well. It worked at a picnic where we sprayed the area around the food table, the children's swing area, and the standing water nearby. During the summer, I don't leave home without it.....Pass it on.
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OUR FRIEND'S COMMENTS:


I tried this on my deck and around all of my doors. It works - in fact, it killed them instantly. I bought my bottle from Target and it cost me $1.89. It really doesn't take much, and it is a big bottle, too; so it is not as expensive to use as the can of spray you buy that doesn't last 30 minutes. So, try this, please. It will last a couple of days. Don't spray directly on a wood door (like your front door), but spray around the frame. Spray around the window frames, and even inside the dog house if you have one.

[kendo]

I would like to ask,why is it after being in Thailand for about 2 days i get eaten alive by those bloody mosquitos especialy when i am up in our village, but the wife never seems to get bit she cant belive the amount that i get bitten and thinks i should eat even more spicy food.Any ideas why

[richard]

Thought Listerine was a mouth wash

[HHTel]

I'm told that mosquitos are not racist and do actually bite everyone, even the local Thai people. The reason that some people believe they're bitten more is that there reaction to the little blighters is greater than others. After people have been here a few years they don't seem to get bitten as much. Yes they do, but they build up an imunity.

People who react very badly to mossy bites should take anti-histamine tablets. They will reduce the reaction somewhat.

[Big Boy]

Don't worry guys, they'll be concentrating on me for the next month, giving everybody else a rest

[Super Joe]

ive studied and worked as a Culicidae scientist, the family of which mosquitos belong:

did you know (oi stop yawning):
no one has ever ever been bitten by a male mosquito
no one has ever ever been bitten by a non-pregnant female mosquito
only mossies up the duff bite humans or animals, as they need the blood for nutrients to facilitate the pregnancy process
now you feel guilty about all those mossies you've played electric tennis with right ? all they were trying to do was feed their un-born

upto 500 million people get ill from malaria each year and 1 million die from it

pregnant women are more likely to be bitten as they release more body chemicals and sweat when pregnant
the itchy lump we get is not a reaction to the bite wound but a reaction to the mosquitos saliva they inject to prevent our stolen blood from clotting when they suck it up, baby
they locate us by the co2 emitted in our breath, then land on us and decide to bite us or not based on the chemicals we emit - apparently Daniella Westbrooke was well popular, they smelt her, but she couldn't .............. ahem

HIV - mosquitos take on board HIV infected blood, but usually they digest it and destroy the virus, also they do not take on enough of the virus to transmit it. Phew

so to try and answer the OP:
the best non-spray repellent is the small units that omit frequencies that sound similar to male mossies, it makes the pregnant mossies fly away as they avoid males during pregnancy

those coils, black hole traps, electric plug-in things do not work well. spray is good though
.

[Big Boy]

OK Joe, so you think I may be pregnant

[Super Joe]

they don't call you big boy for nothing

tell me how many times you get bitten a night and i'll tell you how many months you're gone
.

[Big Boy]

At least I don't have to feel guilty - I must have helped facilitate Millions of little mossies

Every time you zap one with your electric tennis racket, you could be destroying a little bit of me

[Randy Cornhole]

When eating outdoors I usually wear my scuba dry-suit. I find this a very effective method in avoiding mosquito bites. The one drawback though is that you tend to sweat a lot, and will eventually start to boil...
Still you avoid those pesky itchy bites...

[johnnyk]

I seem to get bit on the feet... are they drawn by the toe-jam fragrance or the buffalo shit between my digits?

[migrant]

Best I've found is to eat the hottest Thai food around. That way the little buggers spontaneously combust with the first drop.

Second is to drink heavily, doesn't make the bites better, but fun to watch the mozzies bounce off the walls.