Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Hutch on July 08, 2010, 09:47:03 AM
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We've talked about efforts to eradicate mosquitoes around the home, but I attract them wherever I go. Sprayed with OFF. In the company of others, who went untreated. Got eaten alive. Rinse, repeat. I have no fewer than 25 bites, right now. Iirc, there are products one can take internally to try to make oneself less palatable. I'll go research. And scratch.
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I'm the same, something about the way I smell. DEET works fairly well, but is not foolproof either. And I'll still get bit when slathered in 25% DEET, and others who have no repellent on still get bit.
Keeping quiet, wearing lighter colored clothing etc. does no good.
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Fire, and lots of it.
We've been having a nice wet summer so far. Good for the water bill, but even better for mosquito production.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwY89YLZPko&feature=related%20#t=5m15s
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Anything with fragrances (cologne, deodorant, perfumes, etc) will attract mosquitoes. IIRC, sweat does as well. Then there's a natural body odor which some people have and some don't that attracts them. For the most part I don't have it, so I don't get bit often. My wife gets bit all the time.
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My fishing buddy is diabetic and they swarm him in the front of the boat and leave me alone. I also eat plenty of garlic if I'm going to be outside much.
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My wife gets bit on a 10 to 1 scale compared to me. Something got in the house yesterday and went to town on her feet, she has about 6 bites. She also has two nasty but healing spider bites right now.
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Use enough DEET. (http://www.long-grass.com/products/detail/bens_100_insect/)
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You guys aren't eating enough garlic (& onions & celery)! I've had2 bites this year, both while mowing in shorts, the same day. Probably deer flies. Been years since I've had much in the way of bug bites. Oh, yeah! Hornets nailed me twice last week after I disturbed their nest while cutting brush. Doesn't count.
Stay safe. Eat garlic.
Bob
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Use enough DEET. (http://www.long-grass.com/products/detail/bens_100_insect/)
i have/use that but its a mite unnerving to use a product that makes your skin feel warm
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i have/use that but its a mite unnerving to use a product that makes your skin feel warm
LOL... this.
And a lot of synthetics/plastics don't like DEET much at all. When stuff on your belt starts melting you tend to worry.
My other problem is that DEET isn't really a "repellent". My understanding is that it makes the insect's receptors in their antennae that they "smell" with go numb. It's not actually painful or revolting to them. So in theory they just can't find you.
However, if they bump into you and find you with other senses they can still bite you anyway. It's not as if DEET makes the skeeter buzz "ZOMG! Zee goggles... they do NOTHINK! AIEEEEEEEE" if they get lucky and still land on you.
EDIT:
Apparently the common wisdom that DEET "jams" mosquitos senses was wrong. They actively hate the stuff. http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/news/DEETresearch.html
Well dammit... NOT ENOUGH. :mad:
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Funny Deet story.. we had just finished installing a new door at the cabin that had a plexiglass window in it. My Dad was in a bad mood already because it was a PITA to get set right. Not even an hour goes by and he refreshed his mosquito spray right by the new door. The overspray etched the window.
We were all REALLY glad he was the one that did that.
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They hardly ever bite me but when they try its always in the same spot--the "fat" part of my fore-arm. Once in a while I'll get a bite on my feet.
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HAHAHAHAHA
One of the few advantages of chemo.
Mosquito's don't even come near me. =D
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My wife gets bit on a 10 to 1 scale compared to me. Something got in the house yesterday and went to town on her feet, she has about 6 bites. She also has two nasty but healing spider bites right now.
If you were outside at all they are probably chiggers. They'll itch like crazy for about a week. Welcome to Texas!
Brad
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HAHAHAHAHA
One of the few advantages of chemo.
Mosquito's don't even come near me. =D
During or after?
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At any time, all the time.
Watching my son's Baseball games, all the other parents reeked of DEET. I'm sitting watching the mosquito's (and other flying insects) get within about 4-6 inches of me and then suddenly turn and fly off somewhere else.
They must be able to smell the chemo drugs (Velcade and Cytoxin) eminating from my pores......
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Anything with fragrances (cologne, deodorant, perfumes, etc) will attract mosquitoes. IIRC, sweat does as well. Then there's a natural body odor which some people have and some don't that attracts them. For the most part I don't have it, so I don't get bit often. My wife gets bit all the time.
Me also, everyone around me gets chewed up but I don't seem to be bothered that much unless I happen to be in some highly infested mosquito haven, usually for tics too.
Biting flies, thats a whole different thing.
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I'm a mosquito magnet too, always have been. Deet is my friend, but lately I've been wearing a lot of synthetics and I'm wary of ruining them. Another reason why wool is superior to synthetics as a tech fabric, but it's a little hot when the weather is swampy like it's been all week.
Bug bites drive me nuts, too. My kids don't seem to be bothered by them in the least, but I find myself scratching until I bleed without hardly noticing. Last week I got a row a spider-bites on my upper arm. The two days those were under a surgical dressing and not scratchable about drove me up the wall. The worst is mosquito bites on scars. I have rather a lot of scars, and so I get those pretty regularly. They just get nasty. Yuk.
Dunno why. I eat a ton of garlic, but I also sweat a lot. A LOT. Apparently this runs on the family. It's nasty, and the bug bites are just another effect, I guess. Winter may be damp and miserable, but summer makes ME damp and miserable, not to mention smelly and itchy. I would never survive life in the South.
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Try taking niacin pills. Mosquitoes don't like the smell.
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I remember when I was a kid, my mother said she heard that eating locally made honey can help with some bugs, but I'm not sure if that works for mosquitoes.
I've use those bug sprays that you fill a bottle, attach to the hose, and deluge the entire yard. Those work well for a week or more.
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i have/use that but its a mite unnerving to use a product that makes your skin feel warm
Just think of it as reverse menthol.
Oh. Soak your clothes in permethrin, too.
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HAHAHAHAHA
One of the few advantages of chemo.
Mosquito's don't even come near me. =D
I don't even think thats going to work as a selling point for chemo.
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Self immolation is always an option
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Self immolation is always an option
On a related note, mosquitoes bother me less after a severe sunburn. They don't like home-cooked meals.
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Loose fitting long sleeve shirt and pants treated with permithrin.
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http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/death-star-laser-zaps-mosqitoes-dead/
I want this... but portable, in a HAT. [tinfoil]
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But are you a buffet of manliness?
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But are you a buffet of manliness?
Nantaimori?
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Use enough DEET. (http://www.long-grass.com/products/detail/bens_100_insect/)
I've used something similar, Maxi-Deet (http://www.sawyerproducts.com/sp718b.htm). Was at Fort Dix for some pre-deployment training in June. During land nav my buddy and I took turns hosing each other with the stuff (full length clothing, got sprayed and only light application to hands/neck/face). After tromping through the New Jersey underbrush for about 8 hours we were the only people without mosquito/tick/chigger/any other insect bites. I actually saw one tick launch itself from a tree, land on me, hang there about a second before diving back off me for dear life (sucker was about the size of a black bean too). =D One warning though, it is a solvent to a point, so don't spray it on anything plastic/rubber like say, your camelbak drinking tube. It's bad ju-ju.
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Interesting enough, while tracking down the studies that DEET actually does repell insects, not just jam/numb them, they indicated the same receptors also detected other undesirable plant aromatics like eucalyptus etc. I'm guessing that when it's not breeding season and the females need blood protein to lay eggs, they all go after plant juices instead and that sense protects them from trying to tap plants that are caustic or poisonous to them.
Which might also be why Citronella works. (sort of...) The D-Limonene component is toxic to insects, because it dissolves the lipids and waxes that keep their chitin parts waterproofed to keep their organs and fluids inside.
If I can find suitable sources for these, I might work up a cocktail that's more potent than DEET alone.
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zxcvbob said,
"Try taking niacin pills. Mosquitoes don't like the smell."
I was going to suggest a mix of B-vitamins, like B-100.
Seems to work for me. (Niacin is B-1 or B-3, I forget which.)
By the way, those big-assed "mosquitos" which look like mosquitos aren't. They're crane flies. They don't bite.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sown.com.au%2F_dbase_upl%2Fcrane294469.jpg&hash=5f6baa814ec79d6abe75fb78fc5d89b3e0f061fc)
For better "scaling," see this:
http://www.highroad.org/ranch%20images/Insects/cranefly-hand.jpg
Terry, 230RN
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I don't even think thats going to work as a selling point for chemo.
Hey, it's about the only good thing. I, the ever optimist, try to find the positive in everything.....
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Hey, it's about the only good thing. I, the ever optimist, try to find the positive in everything.....
If you have to endure that *expletive deleted*it, might as well enjoy any benefits that show up along the way...
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Nantaimori?
More like this.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi377.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Foo211%2FRaspberrySurprise%2FHard-Gay-animated-sprite.gif&hash=1754bf8a88bc70266bea01f8658413ec80c08d96)
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Hey, it's about the only good thing. I, the ever optimist, try to find the positive in everything.....
I never have been able to figure out how to make lemonade out of something looks, smells and feels like crap.
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I never have been able to figure out how to make lemonade out of something looks, smells and feels like crap.
A ratio of 100,000/1 of Lemons/Crap usually works.
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A ratio of 100,000/1 of Lemons/Crap usually works.
note to self never drink aj duals lemonade