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Original poster

Mosquito repellent advice

28 replies

FrankieButNotBenny · 30/06/2019 20:58

Posted in travel advice but hoping for a response here...

Does anyone have any fail-safe mosquito repellent tips? Could be gadgets, creams, sprays etc

I am a mosquito magnet 😟 and always get lots of bites despite covering myself in jungle repellent.
Any advice for my European holiday this summer. Thanks!

OP posts:
Rubytinsleslippers · 30/06/2019 21:02

I always prepare by taking garlic and vitamin b before I go ( they don't like it). I also have a few items of clothing pre-treated with anti mozzi stuff ( bought in outdoors shops and lasts for X amount of washes ) as I camp or am very outside.
Avon skin so soft is good but mainly to cover at dawn and dusk with long trousers / sleeves.

goingtotown · 30/06/2019 21:50

I’m a mosquito magnet too. I’ve had many holidays ruined by being bitten. Mosquito Milk or Jungle Formula Maximum are the only preventatives that work for me.

Original poster
FrankieButNotBenny · 30/06/2019 22:00

Thank you. I’m ordering the supplements and going to look at the mosquito milk now!

OP posts:
delilahbucket · 30/06/2019 22:06

Calypso aftersun with insect repellent is fantastic and you slather it on from top to toe! Get a mosqui-go plug in or two for your room. It kills anything that gets in rather than you relying on them being repelled. Never had an issue inside with these as long as they go on before dusk and windows/doors are shut. You can get them on Amazon.

Hefzi · 30/06/2019 22:06

Jungle Formula tropical or some other high-as-possible deet cream, applied liberally.

A plug-in mosquito murderer with tabs or liquid - one by the bed and one by the desk (they don't cover that far)

Light-coloured clothing

Clothes and bedding you've washed in permethrin (from camping shops or ebay)

Drinking so much vodka you can smell it coming out of your pores also seems effective, but I don't recommend it above the other measures Grin

Mosquitoes adore me. Despite my precautions, I've had a number of tropical diseases where they are the vector over the years. I am sure they have a function, but I honestly would not be sad if they were extinct.

delilahbucket · 30/06/2019 22:07

Forgot to add, got burner coils for outside in the evening as well. They stink but cintronella candles are pointless.

Hefzi · 30/06/2019 22:08

Oh- avoid natural formula of anything, especially Jungle Formula. When they love you, they love you, and shit loads of chemicals are the only way forward.

MyFokMarelize · 30/06/2019 22:21

Drink lots of gin and tonic or if that is unbelievably not your thing Grin just the tonic. The quinine is repellant to mosquitos.
Veteran of trips to South Africa here. Also lover of gin and tonic!

parietal · 30/06/2019 22:56

look for DEET as an active ingredient. It is the only thing that works.

travailtotravel · 30/06/2019 23:11

100% Deet. Nothing less. The bastards.

Original poster
FrankieButNotBenny · 30/06/2019 23:53

Thanks all, the plug in is ordered and deet, deet, deet all the way!

OP posts:
StarlightLady · 01/07/2019 06:40

Xpel do packs of Tropical Formula mosquito repellant wipes which work well and get in those spots that liquid repellants alone can miss.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 01/07/2019 06:46

super high dose of vitamin B works. Apparently it changes your body smell. It worked for me. I’m a magnet and also am allergic to them, so good combination.

LilyRed · 01/07/2019 06:54

I am a bite magnet until I use Jungle Formula Maximum spray - even works on the Scottish midgies where I live presently.

Natsku · 01/07/2019 07:00

Get a Thermacell gadget if you're planning to sit out in the evening - put it on in the place you'll be sitting about 20 minutes before you go out. When I used it like that I ended up turning it off thinking there no mosquitoes around that day but of course they came rushing back when I turned it off - it really works!

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 01/07/2019 07:01

yy to jungle formula max and the room plug in (or the little coils you burn).

Don't bother with avon stuff, it doesn't work and smells absolutely rank!

My other tip is to buy a can of insect spray when you get there. About 30mins before bedtime, spray liberally under beds and furniture in bedroom and shut door. Any nasties waiting for the overnight human buffet to arrive will be long gone.

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 01/07/2019 07:03

Oh and BTW, the DEET % in Wilko own, Sainsbury own, Tesco own etc is same as JF - but they are all a lot cheaper. Wilko spray def works, haven't tried the S and T versions yet (the "max strength" versions obvs).

I seem to recall Asda version not being as good for some reason.

TapasForTwo · 01/07/2019 07:13

I agree that the woo stuff only works for people who aren't really mosquito magnets. Forget about garlic, marmite, Avon etc. They don't work for real mosquito magnets.

DH is a magnet for anything that flies and bites, and has horrible reactions to mosquito bites. He uses products containing shit loads of DEET. Jungle Formula and Autan work for him.

millimat · 01/07/2019 07:17

I've been using garlic supplements for a few days now. Not sure if it's coincidence but I've not been bitten recently and I get bitten a lot!

millimat · 01/07/2019 07:18

Although I'm on about at home. What is it that bites at home? Not mosquitoes I presume?

TapasForTwo · 01/07/2019 07:32

DH gets bitten by all insects, not just mosquitoes. At home it will be midges. Garlic is useless for him.

Surfingtheweb · 01/07/2019 07:38

I use plug ins, the toll on & no perfume at all or string smelling toiletries. I think the perfume attracts them.

Natsku · 01/07/2019 08:00

Alcohol attracts them, movement does too (so flapping your arms about to drive them off won't help) and take a daily antihistamine to help ease the itching of bites

Limits33 · 01/07/2019 09:44

Mosquito Milk is the only thing that works for me.

goose1964 · 01/07/2019 09:50

Jungle formula, and antihistamines. Take the latter for a couple of days before you go. I found this out when I was abroad during hay fever flare up and didn't get bitten very much and when I was they didn't itch or swell up.