can we talk about mosquitos!

[canella]

i'm going quietly mad and its only april!! the little buggers love me! we've got mosquito nets on half the windows and we only open those ones! and a hangy mosquito thing on the back door cause we've often got that open all the time! but somehow they're still getting me!

so i've taken vitamin B for the last month and i'm still getting bitten!its not only that they bite me but i react really badly to them - they swell to the size of a euro coin!!

so does anything work to stop them eating me?

[slim22]

mosquito repellent?

[LouIsOnAHighwayToHell]

I know they are attracted to the colour blue.
Apart from coils and spray there is nothing yyou can do as far as I know.
Have you got nets on your beds?

[Itsjustafleshwound]

Citronella

Garlic

G&T - Quinnine in the tonic ... any excuse to drink

Having moving air in the room - ceiling fan

[canella]

think i wanted to avoid having smelly things in the bedroom at night but think i'm going to have to buy something to burn.

like the idea of drinking gin - obviously for medicinal reasons! and it cant be a lack of garlic - we eat too much already!

not got nets on the beds - we only live in germany and i really thought the window nets would be enough! think dh must be secretly opening other windows to let them in!

did i read somewhere about some cream from Avon that was also supposed to be a good repellant?

[BudaisintheZONE]

Yes - the Avon one is Skin So Soft i think.

Can you get those plug in things in germany? You attach a bottle of liquid and plug in to the wall? We get them in Hungary and I use them every year in every room. Also burn citronella candles and oil.

[canella]

thanks for that buda - i had a look in an Avon catalogue last week but there were so many different ranges i didnt know where to start!

have never looked for a plug in thing but going shopping tom so will have a look! my poor ds2 has also been bitten alive! he's got many more than i have but mine are so huge its ridiculous! have got some antihistamine stuff to take once i'm bitten but think i'd rather prevent them than treat the effects!

[paisleyleaf]

brewers yeast

[canella]

and what should i do with the brewers yeast?

[ajandjjmum]

It's the Avon Skin so Soft that is in a pale green container - can't remember the variety! It's body oil.

Worked for us in Africa.

[admylin]

Those plug in things are OK but use chemicals but I've heard and read tests that the safer greener ones don't work. Rub Autan lotion on legs and arms, neck before going to bed maybe.

I have to take anti-histamines if I get bitten, infact if I'm staying somewhere and I know I won't have my nets, spray, swatter and lotion protection I just take one before I go to bed so the bites don't give me agony.

I once had 3 bites around my knee and it was so swollen I had to have it bandaged and I could hardly walk for a week!

As you are in Germany if you go to the pharmacy they give you finistil gel for the swelling - don't bother it's useless, you have to beg them to give you something stronger.

[admylin]

This sounds good 5 plants that repel moskitos. When I move house I'll have all my window ledges full of these!

[castille]

Poor you, this reminds me that I must get antihistamines for DD2 who suffers like you from bites that swell up to saucer-sized bumps of angry itchiness.

I found quite a good organic skin spray for her, must get some more of that too. She has a mozzie net over her bed in the summer. I don't like the chemical plug-ins either.

The French all plant geraniums in their window boxes to repel mosquitoes, might be worth adding to the armoury?

[paisleyleaf]

Sorry, you can get tablets of it you can take.
(I think it might also be in marmite).

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

When we lived in Thailand we used DEET. I know it isn't popular due to the chemicals but, our dd was once tested for dengue fever and that strengthened my resolve that she wouldn't die from a bite. Those plug in things are good, but virtually ineffective if you use either a fan or the air con.
One tip from our time in the 'kok was to clear any standing water away from your house. If you have paddling pools, buckets, upturned tyres etc. make sure they are emptied. Don't give the bastards mozzies a place to lay their eggs.

[ajandjjmum]

Think this is it -

avonshop.co.uk/shop/product.asp?pf_id=33708&from=search&find_spec=skin so soft&pagenum=1

[canella]

thanks for all that advice!

kreecher - not overly keen on covering myself in DEET but i def would if we lived somewhere where there was some risk of serious disease from the mossies! and about the water - we have a pond!!! but there are fish in it and now tadpoles and someone told me they would eat the mossie eggs (hopeful emotion!)

ajandjjmum - your link didnt work but think i've found it on the Avon website is this it?

paisleyleaf - not enthused about eating marmite! think thats as bad as the bites!

admylin - will look for that Auten lotion!! think i'll be going to Mueller with a big list tom!! the chemist gave me that fenistil stuff along with some hydrocortisone last year - i'd been staying in a hotel with no nets on the windows and i was eating alive!! i'd drank a lot of wine the night before so those mossies must have had a feast on me - my legs and bum were covered (that'll be own fault for falling asleep on my front, drunk and nearly naked!!!).

thanks for all the tips - i'm not going to tolerate any more bites from these beggers!

(will be asking for tips against ticks soon - but let me deal with the mossies first!)

[ajandjjmum]

Yep - sorry about the link! They've changed the packaging since we last used it, but it is good.

Where do you live? Sounds like to Amazon!!

[admylin]

Germany is terrible for moskitos - I was hoping this long winter might have killed off quite alot of them.

Cannella is abit further south than me I think so sounds as if it's started before us.

Also, every other German garden has a big barrel under the drain pipe to catch water (free garden water) and that's one of the reasons why there are so many.

[Bucharest]

I splattered my first one this morning (S Italy)
Geranium oil is good. I splodge drops of that all over the pillows, and us at night. Also have one of the plug in things- an electric plate thing inside is supposed to repel them without pongy chemicals.
I also have a bottle of the Autan for children.
I tend to douse dd in stuff and not myself. (my pet theory, totally unproven scientifically ) is that they go for rhesus positive blood, as she and dp are that, while I am neg and never get bitten.

[canella]

i feel like i'm in the amazon sometimes with these fecking mosquitos!! but not enough to put mosquito nets over the bed - i'm a bit claustrophobic in bed - cant cope with the sheet tucked in so think i'd have a panic about a net!!

admylin - we got rid of our water butt at the end of the winter! wondered if it was harbouring some too!!

bucharest - i am rhesus postive so maybe your theory works! nto sure why they dont bite dh tho!

will write all these bits of advice out and go to the shops tom for a look!

i'm declaring war against the mossies!!

[springaporesling]

I get bitten really badly too and DH hardly at all (both of us are rh+). I eat stacks of marmite and don't think it has ever helped - guess we must be very tasty

These seem to work for DS (can't use deet as he's a bit young) - I put them on the back of his t-shirt between his shoulder blades so he can't remove it and they seem to stick well www.anti-moz.com

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

For truly chemical free methods of killing/controlling mozzies,you can't beat a black hole. I can't do links, but essentially it is an UV light under a net funnel with rotating blades. The skeeter is attracted to the light, flies down the funnel and is chopped to bits in the blades. We had one in Thailand (and stupidly left it there). One of our dd's greatest treats was emptying it out every couple of days.

[paisleyleaf]

I'd read that they prefer 'o' rhesus neg - which makes sense in our family re who gets bitten and who doesn't.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

Someone once told me that mosquitos prefer very fertile women , it could explain why I was seldom bitten. She told me that where she grew up in Kenya, the women with the most bites were highly prized as brides. I asked a doctor about it, he nearly fell off his chair laughing. The same woman told me that tortoises were evil.

[canella]

that would be me Kreecher!! i got pregnant with dc3 despite using a condom (and it had no signs of it bursting!!) - its still a mystery and dc3 is nearly 4!!! very grateful for being sterilised - i'd have too many kids by now otherwise!

going to google your "black hole" machine later - sounds like my kind of thing!! i read quickly about it before and it says the mossies are attracted to high levels of carbon dioxide and some people have higer levels than others!! not much you can change about yourself about that!

i've no new bites from last night although i've 3 together on my thigh from the night before last which now has a reaction the size of a saucer! its driving me crazy!