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pizzadude
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2015 12:22am
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I sure am glad I found this place. I've learned a lot in just a couple days!
One other concern I have is keeping the mosquitos under control during the summer months.
Where I live, it can be extremely humid out, especially during late summer. The skeeters love this time of year. They come in swarms, so bad sometimes, you almost dare not breathe. They get so bloodthirsty, I've had them bite me with a fresh dose of heavy deet.
As I prepare to enter the deep woods full time, I dread the thought of that annoying buzz and those irritating midnight bites that will disturb my peaceful rest.
I know I will need to open the doors as little as possible, but the suckers are very quick.
Tiki torches, candles, haven't had much luck with those. Foggers work well, but cost $$. I will try burning dry chaga, heard that works pretty good but I haven't tested yet.
Is there any other proven methods out there worthy of defeating the enemy?
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2015 07:42am
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i use a thermaCELL when hunting / fishing/camping....it works
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=thermacell&tag=smacab-20&index=aps&hvadid =30885925941&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5891218754269476231&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hv qmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6zj883nnz1_e
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creeky
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2015 11:31am
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coming from saskatchewan. which means land of omg that's the most mosquitoes i've ever seen.
vinegar works great on the itch, removes the bump too. if you don't get it on right way you have to wait a bit for it to take effect.
other tips:
light coloured clothing.
bug screening/nets/hats/gloves etc.
eliminate standing water.
find a friend who is attractive. mossies always seem to prefer one person. this is a good thing as they then leave you alone. a bad thing if you turn out attractive.
I once visited an aunt. she was really smart. but sometimes... "let's go outside for our lunch" she said. and we go into her backyard. immediately we are inundated with thousands of mosquitoes. i look around her yard. she has all these buckets and wading pools filled with water.
as I dump out the reeking contents I ask her, "why do you have all this water."
"oh, I'm helping the local wildlife."
This was a residential neighborhood. I can't imagine what her neighbors were saying. "what a year for mosquitoes!" "yup. and bob across the street doesn't have any." "you don't think?" "it's the crazy lady." "ahhhhhh. get the torches and pitchforks."
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Malamute
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2015 01:50pm - Edited by: Malamute
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Bens 100 Deet (100% deet, not the sissy stuff at lower percentage) lotion worked the times I was in Ak camping.
There was also available there some stuff called Buhach. It was dried powdered flowers. Fatal to insects, not supposed to be harmful to mammals. It came in a press fit lid can. Id stick my knife blade in it, dump it on the cap, then light with a match. It would smoulder. The smoke would kill skeeters. It cleared out a wall tent in short order, as well as the back of my truck when sleeping in it.
I'm fortunate in that there are very few mosquitos where my place is. In normal years, I see a skeeter about every two weeks. Wetter years, I may see 3 or 4 hanging around when I sit in the tall grass and sagebrush out front watching it get dark. I may be propagating them, as I water the heck out of that area with sprinklers, though no standing water.
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Littlecooner
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2015 07:56pm
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Deet on the skin, permethrin on the cloths. and heavy doses of Vitamin B 1 for 2 full weeks before exposures and continue B 1 every day. Pick up the permethrin at the local feed and seed or Home depot, etc so you can mix your own, either 10 % or 33 % stuff. spray all around you cabin and it will keep every bug away for 6 weeks to 2 months before you need to reapply
Like Malamute says, purchase the "good" deet. not the sissy stuff. The permethrin apply to cloths, boots, etc should last a while.
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beachman
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# Posted: 15 Mar 2015 08:21pm
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Although permethrin is effective, it does kill everything including honey bees and some aquatic life if it gets into the waters. It is lethal for cats and can harm some dogs. Be careful with this stuff. I''ll stick with the heavy deet.
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cman47c
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# Posted: 16 Mar 2015 08:33am
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The Thermacell device works great. Tried them last summer on cabin porch and completely cleared the area around the chairs. I bought a second one to increase the range.
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Jim in NB
Member
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# Posted: 16 Mar 2015 09:01am
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Part of being out in and enjoying nature is being part of it. All of who heads to the woods bring a fine new source of food in our blood. Let em eat! LOL!
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LoonWhisperer
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# Posted: 16 Mar 2015 03:11pm
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I can vouch for the Thermacell as we are both end users and also resellers of their products. Just make sure you give it time to heat up before you step into the fray 
100% Deet also works for me but I am a bit leery of that chemical in such a high concentration.
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creeky
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# Posted: 17 Mar 2015 11:00am
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Deet has to be used carefully. So we use it only on clothes. It's also important not to apply to young children. Or if you have it on your hands allow pets to lick you etc.
It's also recommended to wash Deet applied areas thoroughly before bed.
Personally I don't use it much anymore. Occasionally mountain biking. I put it on ankles (socks), wrist area (cuffs), and on my hat.
Had a buddy apply liberally to his cycling pants back in the day of polypropylene ... the deet ate a hole right through the material.
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sunswirlgirl
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 04:22pm
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Deet is really poisonous! I can't understand why so many people use it?You should try a nepetalactone based repellant. Nepetalactone is an isolate of Canadian Catnip. University of Iowa did a study in 2008 and found that it is 10 times more effective than DEET at repelling mosquitos and ticks,and it won't poison you. It can even be used on children. I developed this repellant five years ago that contains nepetalactone, geraniol,and other natural isolates that target all annoying insects. There are a lot of essential oil based repellants out on the market and they don't work. Citronella is a non effective essential oil.
Nepetalactone is the key. You can use it in your hair on your face, plus it smells great.It's in a carrier oil of fractionated coconut oil along with other isolates and essential oils that target annoying insects. Fractionated coconut is a dry oil that will not stain your clothes and will not leave you greasy. You can read about it on www.wildwoodsoapworks.com.website. I live off the grid in Northern NM and the mosquitos last spring and summer were really bad.
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SE Ohio
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 05:35pm
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Sunswirlgirl, I see this is your first post (just registered today), and it would seem that you have a link to sell the product you have "invented". I see such first-post links here occasionally from one-time spammers  Will you have anything to contribute here besides what you have for sale? I'm guessing not, but would like to be pleasantly surprised that a spam-bot didn't drop a turd.
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Mtnviewer
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 06:35pm - Edited by: Mtnviewer
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sunswirlgirl, besides the now old U of I 2008 "study", which you don't provide or link to, what other real EVIDENCE or science can you provide regarding your product? I mean real evidence or science, not just opinion or advertising of both it's efficacy & safety. One thing to say it & another thing to prove it.
At $10/oz, your product is extremely expensive with no proven record or of safety. You'd do well to not only do real peer review trials & double blind studies, & send samples to Small Cabin Forum members to "test" & report on, after you also prove it's safety. I for one, living in the mosquito Canadian wilderness, would "test" your product if you also had proof of it's safety. Mosquito season is coming up. Unlikely of course that you will do any type of real studies.
Recent reviews of 1,800 homeopathic studies in Australia have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that Homeopathic remedies are basically snake oil & useless. Funny too how homeopathic products, & like yours, seem to work for so many things vs. being more specific.
URL
So can you please provide some real science & evidence to back up your claims? There is no way that I am paying $10/oz on a product that is unproven, it's real safety is unknown & basically no one has ever heard of. If it were a "miracle" as you claim, then it would be wildly popular as word would spread like wildfire. You can say that YOU have proven it for yourself, but you need to have others unrelated, aka science really prove it.
In the meantime, while I wait for my sample of your product to test & to especially be first convinced of it's safety or to have several other forum members to test it, Thermacell works for me.
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bugs
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 06:57pm - Edited by: bugs
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Hey Creeky: Isn't the SK bird a mosquito??? We do grow them big in SK. Altho there is one in the southern states that they say feels like a horsefly with it bites.
There are two ways, well three ways, at looking at avoiding being bitten using chemicals. Contact poisoning the mosquito or tick ie permethrin (which we tried last year on ticks and it does work.)
Repel the insect before it lands on you ie a halo of chemical that the mosquito smells with its palps/antennae and is repelled (kind of like many of us after too long in the woods ) by it alas Thermacell method (These work a charm as some have noted except if there is a breeze.) I have heard that some people have had a reaction to the Thermocell fumes though.
Or the mosquito can land on your skin and taste with its legs/proboscis to decide if you are tasty enough to bite. This would be a contact repellent like a number of essential oil type of repellents it seems
From our experience. Deet has the bad smell and bad taste effects. One thing going for it tho is it is long lasting. Many other repellants we have tried are taste repellents so you have to have every mm of skin covered by the "chemical" in order for it to be effective. We have found that these are not long lasting, especially when sweating, and the mosquito still has to land on you and that, I find at least, is extremely irritating.
There are alot of essential oils with claims of repellent qualities but that does not mean they are safe for contact to skin as some people have sensitivities to them that parallel Deet. And often it is not the essential oil (active ingredient) that is the problem it is the carrier that is part of the mix that is needed to keep the oil in suspension or something.
What we have been using is a well vented mosquito jacket (Cdn Tire or any outdoor store) with the non netting sprayed with deet and a less nasty ie Sawyers contact repellent for our hands and face. This gives us the halo effect and keeps the DEET away from our skin and camera and/or telescope eyepieces.
For ticks we use permethrin soaked pants and socks (follow application directions carefully). Pant leg bottoms tucked into the socks. This forces the tick onto the pants and usually by the time the tick has walked about a foot on the pants it is already sick and dying....very satisfying. As one article I read about ticks...using a repellent just moves them into a corner of your clothing that you missed and they will later come out and get you!!!
Anyway that is my Cdn 2 cents worth....altho we Cdn's lost our penny but the way our $ is against the US$ a Cdn nickel will be about the same.lol
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 07:58pm - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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I won't use DEET because it is not safe. None of the other chemicals recommended here are either.
Sunswirlgirl,I did research on you and your company. I love your products and know a lot of research and thought has gone into all of your products. You have many happy customers.
I also did research on the natural product you mentioned. I will be doing further research on this so that I can make my own. Thank You for the information.
Edited to include, ehow.com has information on how to make catnip repellent. I know a few members will be interested in this info since we had Julie ask about plants that can be used as natural insect repellents.
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sunswirlgirl
Member
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2015 10:38am
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Thank you Silverwaterlady, Google nepetalactone mosquito repellant studies. The reason no one knows about it is because it can't be patented. The duPont company has been doing some research with it too. Nepetalactone isolate 95% cost me $1600/lb. Thermacell which uses the pyrethroid d-allethrin that is heated and vaporizes . So you keep in your pocket and are inhaling the vaporized d-allethrin. What?
Why would anyone think that this is a safe alternative to DEET. Synthetic pyrethins are endocrine disruptors i.e. breast cancer , prostate cancer etc.
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Mtnviewer
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2015 11:40am - Edited by: Mtnviewer
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The problem that I have with your statements is that you have no proof or you don't give us any proof that YOUR product is effective & for how long & no proof that applying it repeatedly to skin, getting into eyes or inhaling the residual spray is safe. It is one thing to make statements & have opinions or hopes, but quite another to actually have 3rd party tests & repeatable proof based science. You do not have the latter. For all we know, your concoction, (& sold at $1,280 per gallon or $10/oz!!!!) has only a placebo effect. Nor do you or we know that if your product is used over time, used repeatedly on the skin or inhaled, even accidently during application, may also have serious health consequences. You should be afraid of that possibility. Why would you want to possibly harm others?
At least with other products such as Deet or the thermacell product, the Mfgs list warnings, application details & have studies to back themselves up. People can then make more informed choices of the risks based on the information provided or the science done. Each of these products also has a MSDS (material safety data sheet) that one can read (with the product in store or to download, to help one make an informed risk assessment. Does your product have a MSDS for consumers? You have not provided any such information, nor does your website have any.
I have looked up some of your references & found the Iowa U study from 2008 that the product had not in fact been tested on animals or humans; they say in their article, "No animal or human tests are scheduled for nepetalactone, although Peterson is hopeful that will take place in the future." So you cite the study as fact & as back up to your claims, but the study was incomplete & does not whatsoever make claims of the products safety or efficacy when used in the real world & on humans. Are you really comfortable using that kind of vague "proof"? Is that really honest & caring of you for others to trust?
Home made remedies may or may not work & the problem is that they are unregulated & are largely not proven to be effective or safe. Home made products just do not do the science to back up their claims. Where is yours? Funny, strange, or hypocritical too, that you use science & studies done by OTHERS to make your claims about Deet or synthetic pyrethins being potentially harmful, yet you use vague & inconclusive science & heresay to say that your product is effective & safe? So it's seems convenient to me that you use the world of real science & long term studies to scare people but you don't provide the type of science or long term studies to prove the safety of your product & all the chemicals inside. Are you also a chemist?
And just you saying, "The reason no one knows about it is because it can't be patented." is misleading & you don't actually know that. Where is your evidence to even back up THAT claim? Perhaps the reason(s) that nepetalactone is not known or used is due to other reasons, due to inefficacy or safety? If your product or more accurately "nepetalactone isolate" was in fact that effective, I would think (unlike you), that the world would know about it. I would think that it would be sold by corporations or by people like you in huge numbers. I would think it unlikely that it would therefore be hidden just because it can't be patented. That's seems to me, to be a plain ridiculous connection of thought by you, but then, exactly like you, I have no proof, it is just your opinion, as it is mine.
Please provide real evidence & science to back up your claims & statements. And do not use fear mongering & very incomplete statements, or snippets of references regarding cancers, etc., because you do not know that your product when used over time could also cause illness or allergic reactions. You are also not an expert on the cause and effects of Deet or synthetic pyrethins. You may as well avoid many many other foods, water, air & products due to health hazards given your thinking. I am all for a clean environment, health & safety & am not a fan of what we are doing to the planet.
Hey we're all looking for mosquito controls, I just want proof & facts of your claims & opinions. Where is your MSDS literature? So far, you have little to no facts or evidence or long term studies to back up your claims. Just present the facts and not the scare tactics, nor the uproven benefits.
If you really do care about people & the planet, then you will do the work needed to scientifically back up your claims. For all you know thus far & into the future & over long term use, without proof, you may in fact be doing more harm than good. How would you feel if long term use of your untested product also caused cancers?
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2015 12:57pm
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I'm all for natural solution starting with eliminating sources of mosquitoes.
Drain any source of standing water. If the larvae can't hatch then no bug.
Bats One bat can eat 600 mosquitoes an hour. Do things to attract bats to the property like bat houses. Before you get worried about rabies understand it is extremely unlikely. There's only about one death a year attributed to a bat bite. Bats in North America are far more interested in eating bugs and don't suck blood. Too many bad movies did a number on us
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Littlecooner
Member
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2015 03:59pm
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http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/are-you-mosquito-magnet
A most interesting read, along with ALL of the know repellants for mosquitos. Very interesting for the OP here.
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beachman
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2015 04:33pm
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I too am concerned about breathing in chemicals, but the bugs get so fierce that I will use a deet product and out of sheer madness, will douse myself with it. The proof is in pudding as they say. I would try just about anything that is shown to be less toxic - if it works. I''ve tried Skin so Soft and others, still go back to the Deep Woods Off. If a mosquito gets into the cabin at night, it will hover over me for hours and I'm just waiting for it to land to crush the little so 'n so. We have those battery operated bug swatters that electrocute the little suckers, but the noise drives our dog crazy.
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creeky
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2015 05:33pm
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bugs the mossies up around your place must be nuts. i can't even imagine. lol. hey. you wanted the bog!
my favorite sask. story was the one about a horde of mosquitoes descending on a family in a car. the whole car went up into the air and when it dropped, even the transmission was dry. lol.
just a note: deet works by overpowering the sensors the mosquito uses to home in on you ... so on your skin or on fabric. does the same job.
but we don't have ticks really. so?
tell you the truth. i pretty much just put up with 'em now. i dress to cover and carry a baggie with tissue soaked in vinegar. if i get bit I smear some vinegar and go on with life.
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countrygirl
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2015 12:19pm
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Manitoba here, we have a cabin set in mosquito country. Your best defense is to keep your grass short all around your cabin. The bigger your buffer zone the better. If you want to be outside in the evening stay on your deck, have a small fire pit there. If anyone leaves her deck and stirs up the grass the mosquitoes are sure to follow. Don't have vehicles running they like the exhaust, and the heat of the engine. And when that fails everyone heads to the screenroom. Bugs are just part of being in the woods. When it comes to ticks make sure you pull your socks over your pants. If you're walking on a trail let someone walk in front because they'll get 2x more ticks then you. Deeps woods off when you've had enough and just can't handle it anymore. Mosquito seem to be a magnet more for some people than others. They love my husband so if I am with him I've only got half the bugs bothering me, that's great for me. Good luck with the bugs, don't let them keep you from enjoying the outdoors.
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SE Ohio
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2015 04:21pm
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A friend chews nicotine gum. No mosquito bites ever, and nobody ever bums a second piece of gum from her.
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