By now, let's assume you don't want to get sick from mosquitoes. You don't
want to give blood to them either. And you don't even want to land on you!
Time of day
Mosquitoes tend to be out at dawn and dusk, and you
may be able to avoid getting bitten by staying inside when they're outside.
They don't like to be out in mid-day since they could suffer a disastrous
drying out.
The heavy-duty approach
You can try netting and dressing yourself fully.
Timing
Try to go out before or after the peak mosquito season.
Wind
A good breeze will keep mosquitoes
down.
Repellents
DEET has been the standard of the industry, and it is recommended
to put no more than 30 percent DEET applied according to label directions.
And Children should use lower concentrations no greater than 10%. Don't drink
DEET and be especially careful with young children. There are several
precautions to be taken with DEET. See our home page. Use a
natural repellent like BITE BLOCKER if you are concerned about the
negative effects of DEET. Recent studies regarding BITE BLOCKER show
it works as well as low concentrations of DEET and without toxic side
effects that DEET or other natural repellents may cause.
Repellents (the fashion statement)
For travel to heavily infested areas, one option is
to soak your clothing in permethrin, an insecticide made for the purpose.
One treatment will last for several washings. "It's a good combination,"
says Barnard. "We can get hours of complete protection from that."
Be careful about combination of DEET and Permethrin as well as other
chemicals. Duke Medical Institute in Durham, NC has just released
a study confirming the negative effects of combinations with DEET.
Bug zappers
They kill a lot of insects, if you can stand the loud
crack and smell of burning insects. But critics say zappers fry more beneficial
insects than harmful ones and they may attract more insects than they
kill..
The ecological method
Put up a bat-house
or a house for purple martins. Bats supposedly gobble hundreds of
mosquitoes each hour, and they're not only non-toxic, but they're fun
to watch.
Next: Comparison of Insect Repellents
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