Help! Mosquitos are attacking

mommydenise · #1 04/04/07, 07:04 AM

How do you keep mosquitos out of your house and from biting you? Is there anything natural we can use?

We moved to Southern Texas and found out me and 2 of the younger kids are allergic to mosquitos. Our bites swell up really huge (example: bit once on the ankle and couldn't wear shoes for 2 days). My older kids and hubby rarely ever get bit, but they love me and the other 2. Right now, I'm using the Avon Bug Guard which does help some, but I'd like something more natural as we have to wear it 24/7 and I can't use Bug Guard on our faces.

I'm really starting to hate Southern Texas because of this. I don't like wearing long sleeves in the heat, but right now, I have no choice. We can't even go outside and enjoy ourselves and this is one of my favorite times of year.

Any help is appreciated.

RachAnn in NW Okla · #2 04/04/07, 07:15 AM

they think that I am candy....if I am bitten it will stay swelled up until I open the bite site...either by scratching or a needle at last check I left one for 18 days before I couldnt take it anymore!!!!!

I usually use bug spray but the Avon SkinSoSoft works well too....if you put it on your hands first then you can rub your face and protect your face

I dont know about organic/natural protection....maybe a google search will lend some answers.

Rachel

perennial · #3 04/04/07, 07:47 AM

Benedryl works like a charm on the bites to take down the swelling. There is
a cream version and of course when we used to get eaten alive, sometimes
we would have to use the liquid benedryl at bedtime.

CraftyDiva · #4 04/04/07, 08:39 AM

Garlic will stop the sketters from bitting. Either eat a lot of garlic in your cooking, or take the garlic oil capsules, it may take a few days for the garlic to start working, meanwhile it's healthy for you.

Chewing a raw clove will work right away. The females are attracted to the
carbon monoxide in your breath, as you exhale. This is how they find living victims to draw blood to lay thier eggs. The garlic will cover that scent and you should be bite free.

.

fishhead · #5 04/04/07, 08:50 AM

I eat a lot of garlic and the skeets seem to leave me alone most of the time.

If you can encourage some insect eating birds to nest nearby that helps. Or bats.

I put up 50+ tree swallow nest boxes on my pond dikes and they seem to really help with the biting bugs.

crafty2002 · #6 04/04/07, 10:00 AM

I don't know all of them that work, but they said on the plants and probagation thread that marigolds helps.
You should go to this forum and ask, because there is a gold mind of knowledge about plants on that forum.
The cheapest way would be if you bought some seeds and planted them, but I goggled for you and found out that Michigan Bulb Co., sells Pelaronium Citroso plants for 3.99 each or 3 for 10.99. It looks like a little bush and grows 2 to 3 feet tall. I don't know what zone you are in, but it says zone 9 and 10 for these but you can grow them indoors year round. It says you can break up and mash the leaves to get a good smell released more so, so you could probably rub them on you skin and go outside and they would leave you alone. If they are that bad on you, I would call the company and try to get a deal on about a hundred dollars worth and plant them everywhere.
Someone else ask the same question on one of the other forums and many answers came up, but there are many plants you can keep on the porch, in the house, or plant around the home that reppels sketters.
The little devels tore my daughter up last year when she would go out to help me pick tomatoes and things from the garden of an evening so I have a 72 cell tray of the marigolds started and will plant them around the garden, in the garden and around the house also.
As I said, I would go to the plants forum on HT and ask. I am sure you will get plenty of answers in a few hours on which ones works best. I think I will follow that thread also. Matter of fact, I will start it for you so watch out for the answers.
God Bless
Dennis

crafty2002 · #7 04/04/07, 10:19 AM

I ma sorry Denise, the forum is "Gardening & plant Propagation" that I was telling you to look for instead of what ever it was I typed in.

I was just going to plant the marigolds this year but you got me to thinking about how bad they really got my daughter last year, which wasn't nearly as bad as what you described they did to you, but still bad enough I think I should do my best at keeping them at bay.
Some said to use garlic and I already do that. I put garlic powder on a lot of food, but my DD doesn't like it so there may be a lot of merit to what they said because I didn't get bite but a couple of times last year and poor little Stacey wanted to help me pick everything, but if we waited until the sun started going down they would bite her 5 or 10 times, and we counted 47 bites one night alone. After that she would put on a long sleeve shirt, long pants, and they would still get her on the face and hands.
Garlic may help as good as they say because I couldn't figure out why they left me alone and nailed her.
I will go ahead and start a thread and we can both get some answers.

sp

madness · #8 04/04/07, 11:05 AM

Welcome to Texas!

I've heard that eating bananas makes you especially yummy, so cut those out of your diet for awhile. Also, the garlic advice already stated really does work. I use Off Botanicals on my skin when it's really bad around here.

Citronella oil repels them. You can burn it in teaky torches on your deck or oil lamps inside or try window boxes of the plant if the skeeters are getting in through them. We also have a mosquito trap (EXPENSIVE) that seems to cut down on them in the yard. In Texas, we have the Asian Tiger mosquito though, and the attractant in the trap doesn't work so you have to buy a special kind. We are trying a new kind of trap (CHEAP) right now, but I can't say if it works yet.

Eliminate as many breeding grounds around your house as possible. Old buckets, tires, anything with even a teeny amount of water in it. Even dead leaves under a deck can hold enough water for them to lay eggs in. If you do have open water that you can't get rid of, put tablets in it that are meant to kill the larvae (or if it's a pond, make sure you have gambusia - aka mosquito fish).

Put up bat houses! They really do eat a lot of skeeters! Whenever we can hear bats over head, we know it's safe to sit out on the deck without being bothered.

And you will eventually stop reacting quite so strongly to them. Taking an anithistamine when you are bit really helps.

Good luck!

mommydenise · #9 04/04/07, 03:41 PM

thank you guys for the advice. It's kind of a touchy situation because I have 2 kids that are allergic to antihistamines. So I can't use Benadryl on them. I've been using ammonia or a baking soda paste to help with itching. I didn't know that Garlic was good for repelling them. Will try that. Will quit buying bananas too. My kids eat alot of them. Didn't know those pesky mosquitos liked them. I will also look at getting some marigolds. I like them, but just hadn't started landscaping the yard since we moved in last year (well I did buy 3 rosebushes if that counts).

Denise

Jim S. · #10 04/04/07, 03:49 PM

Backwoods OFF is the best stuff I have found to prevent bites from either skeeters or chiggers, and also protects against ticks. We got chiggers early this year.

I have heard some claim that drinking vinegar and water every morning has a cumulative effect against skeeters.

If you want natural, get yourself 6 guineas and let them have free roam of the place once they bond to it. Build a bat nesting box, and get a purple martin house. Put a few bluebird houses around. ALL will eat your skeeters and ticks, and lots of other bugs.

Keep every single standing water pool emptied, or apply a larvitacide to it.

culpeper · #11 04/04/07, 04:55 PM

Mosquitoes like 'sweet', so they prefer to attack women and children, and people who eat a lot of sweet stuff. They also don't like light, bright colours, so wear these colours when outdoors.

Plants such as basil, feverfew, fennel, garlic, lavender, calendula, tea-tree, spearmint, pennyroyal, lemon scented geranium, neem, rosemary, southernwood or yarrow, or their essential oils, will help deter mosquitoes. Put them in your garden, or rub them over exposed skin. If in the garden, it helps tremendously to keep crushing or rubbing against the plants to release the natural oils. In outdoor entertaining areas, plant these herbs where people will brush against them, even tread on them as they walk about.

Citronella is brilliant for deterring mosquitoes. You can grow it (it's a close relative of Lemongrass, and looks very similar), or you can burn the essential oil. Pennyroyal can be used in the same way, but I always urge extreme caution with pennyroyal. Pregnant women are very susceptible to even the smell of it, and it can cause fits and abortion. It can cause fits in dogs, too.

Go for the stongest-smelling herbs, but also go for the lemon-scented herbs, like lemon balm or lemon-scented geranium (pelargonium).

MOSQUITO REPELLENT:
Rub the skin with vinegar. Add a little baby oil and lavender and/or eucalyptus oil if liked.
OR
Rub chamomile onto the skin, or drink chamomile tea.

Leave rags soaked in creosote (from hardware stores) wherever mosquitoes are a problem.

Self-evident, perhaps, but a lot of people forget the following advice!

DON'T PROVIDE BREEDING AREAS. RID GARDEN AND ENTERTAINING AREA OF WATER-COLLECTING ITEMS LIKE POTS OR OLD TYRES, OR KEEP EMPTY OF STAGNANT WATER. A little kerosene poured on top of water (breeding areas) will kill the larvae (and also any fish you might have in the water!).

**Shrek** · #12 04/04/07, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mommydenise

How do you keep mosquitos out of your house and from biting you? Is there anything natural we can use?

We moved to Southern Texas and found out me and 2 of the younger kids are allergic to mosquitos. Our bites swell up really huge (example: bit once on the ankle and couldn't wear shoes for 2 days). My older kids and hubby rarely ever get bit, but they love me and the other 2. Right now, I'm using the Avon Bug Guard which does help some, but I'd like something more natural as we have to wear it 24/7 and I can't use Bug Guard on our faces.

I'm really starting to hate Southern Texas because of this. I don't like wearing long sleeves in the heat, but right now, I have no choice. We can't even go outside and enjoy ourselves and this is one of my favorite times of year.

Any help is appreciated.

I use a benedryl applicator pen for my quarter sized welts. I also plant citronella around the house and hang martin gourd bird houses.

eating garlic or taking garlic supplements helps also.

Here a decent Q & A on it

http://www.thefrugallife.com/mosquitoes.html

Jenn · #13 04/04/07, 08:07 PM

I got some whining solar mosquito repellers from http://www.gaiam.com/retail/product/17-0329

and feel they work. Cats do not like them though. And you might n ot inside all the time, but useful for evening outside work.

praise4him · #14 04/04/07, 11:44 PM

Catnip Repels Mosquitoes More Effectively Than DEET
Science Daily — CHICAGO, August 27 Researchers report that nepetalactone, the essential oil in catnip that gives the plant its characteristic odor, is about ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET the compound used in most commercial insect repellents.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The finding was reported today at the 222nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, by the same Iowa State University research group that two years ago discovered that catnip also repels cockroaches.

Entomologist Chris Peterson, Ph.D., with Joel Coats, Ph.D., chair of the university's entomology department, led the effort to test catnip's ability to repel mosquitoes. Peterson, a former post-doctoral research associate at the school, is now with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Wood Products Insects Research Unit, in Starkville, Miss.

While they used so-called yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) one of several species of mosquitoes found in the United States Peterson says catnip should work against all types of mosquitoes.

Aedes aegypti, which can carry the yellow fever virus from one host to another, is found in most parts of the United States. Yellow fever itself, however, only occurs in Africa and South America, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Vaccines and mosquito control programs have essentially wiped out the disease in the United States, although there have been isolated reports of unvaccinated travelers returning with the disease. The last reported outbreak in this country was in 1905.

Peterson put groups of 20 mosquitoes in a two-foot glass tube, half of which was treated with nepetalactone. After 10 minutes, only an average of 20 percent about four mosquitoes remained on the side of the tube treated with a high dose (1.0 percent) of the oil. In the low-dose test (0.1 percent) with nepetalactone, an average of 25 percent five mosquitoes stayed on the treated side. The same tests with DEET (diethyl-m-toluamide) resulted in approximately 40 percent to 45 percent eight-nine mosquitoes remaining on the treated side.

In the laboratory, repellency is measured on a scale ranging from +100 percent, considered highly repellent, to 100 percent, considered a strong attractant. A compound with a +100 percent repellency rating would repel all mosquitoes, while 100 percent would attract them all. A rating of zero means half of the insects would stay on the treated side and half on the untreated side. In Peterson's tests, catnip ranged from +49 percent to +59 percent at high doses, and +39 percent to +53 percent at low doses. By comparison, at the same doses, DEET's repellency was only about +10 percent in this bioassay, he notes.

Peterson says nepetalactone is about 10 times more effective than DEET because it takes about one-tenth as much nepetalactone as DEET to have the same effect. Most commercial insect repellents contain about 5 percent to 25 percent DEET. Presumably, much less catnip oil would be needed in a formulation to have the same level of repellency as a DEET-based repellent.

Why catnip repels mosquitoes is still a mystery, says Peterson. "It might simply be acting as an irritant or they don't like the smell. But nobody really knows why insect repellents work."

No animal or human tests are yet scheduled for nepetalactone, although Peterson is hopeful that will take place in the future.

If subsequent testing shows nepetalactone is safe for people, Peterson thinks it would not be too difficult to commercialize it as an insect repellent. Extracting nepetalactone oil from catnip is fairly easily, he says. "Any high school science lab would have the equipment to distill this, and on the industrial scale it's quite easy."

Catnip is a perennial herb belonging to the mint family and grows wild in most parts of the United States, although it also is cultivated for commercial use. Catnip is native to Europe and was introduced to this country in the late 18th century. It is primarily known for the stimulating effect it has on cats, although some people use the leaves in tea, as a meat tenderizer and even as a folk treatment for fevers, colds, cramps and migraines.

A patent application for the use of catnip compounds as insect repellents was submitted last year by the Iowa State University Research Foundation. Funding for the research was from the Iowa Agriculture Experiment Station.

Chris Peterson, Ph.D., is a former post-doctoral research associate at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and is now a Research Entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Wood Products Insect Research Service, in Starkville, Miss.

Joel R. Coats, Ph.D., is professor of entomology and toxicology and Chair of the Department of Entomology at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Chemical Society.

I have tried it and it works. We live in North Idaho and go camping on the Coeur d'Alene River where the mosquitos are huge. You can get catnip essential oil at Brambleberry.com and I would mix it with water in a spray bottle as it is pretty spendy.
blessings,
Jennifer

crafty2002 · #15 04/05/07, 05:39 AM

Jim S said to put up some purple martin boxes but he didn't say it strong enough. Sorry Jim, lol.
Purple Martins will eat more than thier own weight of skeeters every day and they are a beautiful bird to watch also.
I didn't even think of that earlier.
I realize this won't help until next year, but you can plant different types of gourds and when grown let then dry and cut the right size hole in them and walla, a cheap bird house they love.
They need a long straight clear path to get to them because of the way they fly and they need to be right high. I forget how high but it is higher than most bird houses are. You can set two post with a cable streched between them and hang the houses about 5 feet apart and after you get one family in, the rest will come, lol.
They eat something in the hundreds of thousands of skeeters a day along with other bugs also.
From every thing that has been said so far, I am going to do the above plus plant catnip, and a few of the other plants that has been mentioned and and cut the leaves from some of them, put them in the blender with some water and a little oil and maybe even a lemon, and make a tea to spray from a water bottle and see how it works.
I will probably boil some and try that also.

Stacey loved getting out in the garden with me, and while they aren't nearly as bad on her as they are with you, she scratches sometimes until she brings the blood out so I am going to try and see what we can do about it.
Until now, we just sprayed a little OFF on her and bundled her up like it was winter.
I am sorry for your predicament with this, but I am glad you brought the subject up. This is the learningest forum I have ever seen.
You get answers to questions you didn't even know you wanted or needed to ask.

I had no idea how easy it could be to get rid of the little devels.
I'll put you on my friends list and if I get something worked out as a spray, which I will give a good try at, I will get back to you and let you know what I figured out.
Good luck and God Bless
Dennis.

The Biss · #16 04/05/07, 08:28 AM

What to do when you ARE bitten... get the anticoagulent out of your skin QUICK! A company called Sawyer makes a deal called The Extractor that will suck the mosquito saliva out the hole it came in through. While this won't completely eliminate a reaction, I'll bet that it will majorly lessen the effects... you might still be able to wear shoes.

Quote:

For Removal of Poisons from snake bites, bee and wasp stings, mosquito bites & more. The Extractor® Vacuum Pump was designed specifically to provide the most powerful suction available for the safe extraction of venoms and poisons.
Because its Double Chamber Pump action is so powerful you will not need to use the dangerous scalpel blades or knives associated with less effective bite kits. Because it's a Pump and not a Syringe, it's easy to use with one hand.

Simply select which of the four plastic cups best covers the bitten area, attach it to the pump, then a simple push of the plunger with your thumb and the Extractor® Pump will quickly and effectively remove venoms and poisons from below your skin. By simply cleaning the cups after each use you may safely reuse the pump over and over again.

Help! Mosquitos are attacking - Homesteading Questions

Thoughthound · #17 04/05/07, 08:36 AM

Get some ducks and guinea hens.

fishhead · #18 04/05/07, 10:26 AM

Mosquitos spend the day in tall grass so the ground birds should help with that but they also fly up to 5 miles to feed!

madness · #19 04/05/07, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Biss

What to do when you ARE bitten... get the anticoagulent out of your skin QUICK! A company called Sawyer makes a deal called The Extractor that will suck the mosquito saliva out the hole it came in through. While this won't completely eliminate a reaction, I'll bet that it will majorly lessen the effects... you might still be able to wear shoes.

Have you tried that? I always thought it was a gimmick. First hand knowledge that it works would be great!

The Biss · #20 04/05/07, 08:10 PM

I've used it for bee stings specifically. Several years ago, I was hiking with a group of people when someone stirred up a yellow jacket nest. Several of us, myself included, were stung. One of the people stung was highly allergic to bee stings. I pulled out the ol Sawyer Extractor and used it on him first, then gave him some ibuprofen and helped escort him back to the trail head in case we needed to get him to the hospital. You see, he had forgotten his bee sting kit.

When we got to the trail head, he said he was feeling fine, and that if he were going to have a reaction, it would have happened an hour ago. We waited a while onger just to make sure, then hiked back to the campsite.

I think if we had not had the Extractor that day, we would have had major problems. I can only assume it works as well for mosquito bites.