The mosquitos are coming! Any ideas for relief? (Cary, Washington: homes, camp)

[north_raleigh_spa_mom]

I'm from CA. One year we had a great device for mosquitos. It hasn't worked since then. I'm told there are different kinds of mosquitos. I'd like to have a plan before the mosquitos strike. Any ideas?

Thanks

[mommiewrites]

Run, Run for the hills!

Our man eating mosquitoes will fly in like a Biblical swarm of locusts! They will make Huge SUV's look like half corroded Yugo's! Their pincher claws will cut glass like a diamond saw and they will suck our blood as we sleep peacefully in our air conditioned homes!



Wear light colored clothing, don't let any standing water sit in your yard (mosquitoes lay their eggs in them)- so make sure you check kids toys and planters and such to make sure there is good drainage. And DEET (oh my I can hear the gasps of opposition now) it works better than any other product I've found in my lifetime of living here. mosquito's are most common near sundown and after sunset.

Maybe I'm just used to them, but I don't think its something to 'prepare' for. Now 'no see 'ums' are a WHOLE other battle!

[CitrusFruit]

Well, not that this one will matter much right now, but...remove ANY areas of standing water. They LOVE to breed there. If you find an area of standing water (puddle, bucket, etc.), dump some bleach into it, let it sit for a bit, then dump it out. The bleach kills the larvae.

Personal protection-wise, I've always had good luck with the original Skin-So-Soft. Hit up your local Avon lady for that. Some people say rubbing yourself down with a dryer sheet helps as well. Avoid eating bananas before going out. For some reason that really seems to attract them. Also, citronella candles do help, but don't make the mistake my dad's girlfriend did once...light one and then set it right beside you.

[MrsSteel]

Last year I read that if you take B Complex vitamins, then you'll be less attractive to mosquitoes. Ordinarily those little suckers LOVE me so I decided to try this trick and it worked! I got a few bites last year, but not nearly as many as usual. When I wore insect repellant, I didn't get any bites at all.

[PDXmom]

We have to have water for mosquitoes... so the drought does have one benefit. We moved here in early July last summer. I was not biten once by a mosquitoe in the Triangle. But I was practically eatten a live by fire ants.

[saturnfan]

Fire ants are awful. I once got eaten up mowing an ant mound when we lived in New Orleans.

One poor soul was killed in a hospital when he was swarmed by them and couldn't talk to alert the nurse.

Hope they don't get too common here.

[VickiR]

As sweet as I am...the mosquitoes do not bite me! However, they love my daughters and especially behind their knees.

When my 14 year old goes to camp in the summer, she takes BOUNCE dryer sheets with her and ties them onto her shorts and she gets no bites! This is something I read once about the many ways to use BOUNCE!

Vicki

[jln69]

I shall have to try the Bounce thing. I will basically try anything until I find something that really works.

[findinghope]

original "skin so soft" bath OIL from avon. works like a charm. just smooth it on your skin and they wont come anywhere near you. i would only use it when there is no chance of sunburn though. i always think the oil might fry my skin

[alice_61]

The nuisance I find here is the Asian Tiger mosquito. They weren't a problem in the early 1980's in Cary but were definitely a problem when we moved back to NC in 1998. Here is some information about them

Asian tiger mosquito - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Washingtonpost.com: Asian Tiger Mosquito Spreads Trouble

Asian Tiger Mosquito FS 845

Asian Tiger Mosquito, HYG-2148-98

Asian Mosquito Seen as Health Peril - New York Times