Mosquitos .. this may help

[Nostrodamus]

Here is a DIY Mosquito catcher!!!!
What we need is basically:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup of brown sugar,
1/4 tsp of yeast (yeast bread, found in any supermarket) and a 2-liter plastic bottle. [...]

How to:
One. Cut the plastic bottle (PET type) in half. Storing the neck portion:
2nd. Mix brown sugar with hot water. Let cool. When cold, pour in the bottom half of the bottle.
3rd. Add the yeast. No need to mix. It creates carbon dioxide.
4th. Place the funnel part, upside down, into the other half of the bottle.
5th. Wrap the bottle with something black, minus the top, and put in some corner of your house.

[GordMay]

Cheap & easy, but does it work?

There is no scientific evidence that the device reduces the number of mosquitoes in an area or that it will reduce the chance of getting bitten. In fact, if placed near people, the device can draw mosquitoes into the area and potentially attract them to a CO2-emitting human prior to ever reaching the trap.
➥ About.com: http://mosquito.ifas.ufl.edu/Homeowners_%20Information.htm

[virginia boy]

I am plagued by gnats, noseeums, Mosquitos etc.

As I write this. I have two noseeum hoodies on..tied tightly around my neck and I am inside in my own apartment! When I go to a mall with plants in planters you can be assured that I will have an escort of biting gnats. This is no joke..Sometimes I feel as if I'm at my wits end. Until my family saw actual evidence of these gnats they clearly thought I had some mental issues.

My point is that I have been desperate enough to try every gimmick on the internet. I have eaten every supplement and herb..sprayed with DEET (not a healthy long term solution) slathered lotions and fabricated every ineffective trap known to man (carbon dioxide, vinegar, sugar, fruit, alka-seltzer, baking soda, etc.) I've found little relief.

The only effective solutions found by me thus far are:
DEET (to me it smells like carrion and I'm pretty sure I'm going to die of cancer considering thousands of applications)
Noseeum hoodies/bodysuit with high powered fan blowing on me while I sleep. Still only partially effective as they will creep in around the edges.

Cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxer) I don't know why it works, but I can get a virtually bug free day when I take it. (again not a viable long term solution)

Out on the boat with wind blowing is bug free! (Except for gnats from composting toilet)

Woe is me.

[zeehag]

i found good relief with citronella oil on my teak wood after sea water wash.. while the oil is fresh, no skeeters or no see ums or anything..was true relief. yes i live in dengue sleeterville....

[Craig Cape Town]

They love me. I'll usually be covered in bites while others around me will not even notice their presence. All the sprays and goos don't really work, so I rig a mosquito net when sleeping, but sometimes one will still find its way in.
I found using a fan blasts them away from where I'm sitting.
Some people seem to be immune to their attacks. Not sure but why but could be due to a diet of buckets of garlic and hot spices.

[robert sailor]

I get bitten like most people but I have no reaction whatsoever, no sign on my skin or itch.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I get bitten like most people but I have no reaction whatsoever, no sign on my skin or itch.

Words fail me.


I hope you cant stand their buzzing

[robert sailor]

I can't, especially at night when I think they are in my ear, wakes me up and drives me nuts.

[rebel heart]

Mosquitoes LOVE me. I think it's because I exercise a lot so for ~60 minutes a day I'm sweating my ass off, pumping out CO2. Then I take a protein supplement which is rich in branch chain amino acids, and that apparently is one of the most desirable things for a mosquito to smell in your blood / sweat.

So far, this works:

- Long pants, coated in permethrin. I only wear shorts if I know it's mid day and I'll be outside walking around. If I'm going to be sitting down anywhere or standing around, it's pants time no matter how hot it is outside.

- If shorts, use Ultrathon. I exercise in shorts with my exposed legs coated in Ultrathon which sucks but those are the breaks.

- When it's real bad, long sleeve shirt also coated in permethrin.

- Mosquito coil burning in the cockpit in the evenings.

- No-see-um / jejene screens up late at night so that the early morning a-holes don't fly in.

- Anchor far offshore. The difference between a 10 minute and 15 minute dinghy ride is inconsequential.

- Shoes, not sandals.

[rebel heart]

If I don't do anything I'll get at least a dozen bites a day. With the prevention techniques I use I'll go a week or two between single bites.

[JPA Cate]

I, too, am one of those folks whom the mozzies bite in preference to all the others in the group. Eric has the right idea, here: if you do all those kinds of chemical and physical prophylaxis he mentioned, you will cut down a lot on getting bitten. I never found anything that was 100% effective, but I use Cutter repellent on my face, hands, and ears, and learned to keep the sheet on top of me, which will keep out no-see-ums as they cant bite through it. Mozzies must be kept off the inside of the boat, and there, it's screens that will work.

The only other weapon I've used is to spray the screens every 6 weeks or so with long lasting surface spray like what is used against cockroaches, it seems to discourage sandflies that would otherwise fly on through.

As to the trap, never tried it, but probably won't, because I am a proven attractant, and I think that it's more than just CO2 that attracts them to us, I think it has to do with the whole gestalt of our skin chemistry. But it's a lovely idea.

Ann

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Craig Cape Town

They love me. I'll usually be covered in bites while others around me will not even notice their presence.

Works for me and I would invite you over for drinks in the cockpit as long as it is true! Give the bugs what they want so they are happy and leave me alone.

[zeehag]

autan is the only stuff i have ever been able to use for repelling skeeters.. not much is needed and it actually works.
is available on line.

[sheppy]

While I was sailing around south of France ,Corsica and many Mosquitos ,one day I picked some garden mint for cooking the excess put in a cup with water near companionway ,from then on no more mosquitos.Ibrought the mint back to uk now growing in a pot ready to come with me to croatia ,Italy,France ,Spain ,this year

[Tx J]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Works for me and I would invite you over for drinks in the cockpit as long as it is true! Give the bugs what they want so they are happy and leave me alone.

Sacrificial mozzodes, the more you have around, the better (for you)...renew as needed.