How To Keep Mosquitos Away

Do you love the outdoors especially in the warmer months of Summer, but hate the mosquitoes that come with it? Well here is how to keep them flying by without stopping on you.

A Little Bit Of Insight

The real purpose of mosquitoes besides being a nuisance to people is to feed birds, fish, frogs, and bats to name a few animals that eat them. They are thought to have come from South America around the 1490s and spread across the world.

Thankfully over the years, they have gotten a lot smaller than their ancestors from the prehistoric age where their wingspan could be up to 30 inches (762mm) across. That’s longer than your arm is. Could you imagine one of those coming at you? Thankfully in today’s time, the average wingspan is about 0.7 inches (19mm) across.

In the present day, there are over 3,500 different species of known mosquitoes. When mosquitoes sleep during the day they hide inside plants and grass but they do like humid areas the most. Mosquitoes go through a life cycle of egg, larva, pupa, and adulthood and it takes a little over a week for them to go all the way through from egg to adulthood.

Mosquitos start life off in stagnant water and can live for about 2 months. Once a mosquito latches on it won’t stop feeding until its abdomen is full and if it doesn’t get full on the first try it tries again and again until it’s full. That’s a lot of bites and they will even bite through thin clothes just for a taste of your blood.

Why Me And Not You

Ever wonder why mosquitoes go after you and not the person standing next to you? Well, you are producing chemicals that are enticing to mosquitoes. But don’t feel bad because “O” blood types have it worst since mosquitos find them the tastiest.

Mosquitoes use the CO2 you blow out of your mouth or nose to find you as their next meal and since you blow a lot of CO2 out when you exhale you’re easy to find. People can’t stop breathing so your only hope to keep mosquitoes from biting you is to move to the South pole where you won’t find them, well that is until they evolve again.

Only kidding about the moving part there are some things you can do to keep them away, but we will get to that in a minute.

Virus Carriers
Unfortunately, if you are bitten not only do you have to deal with an itchy bite but mosquitoes are carriers of a whole array of viruses like dengue fever, West Nile fever, yellow fever, zika virus, to name just a few because I lost count. Those viruses come with some pretty bad side effects like:

• Fever
• Headache
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Rash
• Muscle and Joint Pain
• Even Death

Some people ignore these signs chalking them up to something else and by the time they do go to the doctor for treatment in rare cases they die from it. Not to scare you or anything but you shouldn’t pass off the symptoms as something else especially for those of you that travel to other places.

Before you travel anywhere you should do……. and most people don’t (I’m guilty of this too)  is to check with the “CDC Travelers Health Website” (here is their link I have checked out https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel look for disease directory=Zika Travel Information) also go to your doctor at least 6 weeks prior to leaving and get vaccinated for the ones you can be treated for.

If you do get bitten while traveling when you come back home try not to get bitten again since a mosquito can bite you, get your blood with the virus in it, and take it to the next person, bitting them and transferring the virus.

Keep in mind that right now as of 6/2020 everything is still

revolving around the COVID-19 virus when you check on the CDC website.

Myth Or Truth

Here are some things I have heard, used, or done about mosquitoes that is either myth or truth:

1-Lights being turned on keeps mosquitoes away from you= False

mosquitoes find you by your CO2 you exhale, your body heat, and blood type. However, the green and blue colored lights do make it harder for them to see you.

2- A smoky fire keeps them away=False

once again it’s your breath, body, and blood they find you by. However, they do have a small fear of smoke since smoke means fire and fire means death.

3-Eating foods high in Garlic or Vinegar sours your blood= False

it doesn’t work that way sorry folks all it does is give you bad breath.

4-Vitamin B keeps them from biting you=True

But before you start popping those B Vitamins keep in mind taking a vitamin your body doesn’t need may cause some serious side effects and have certain side effects with other medications you are taking at that time as well.

5-Hanging Ziploc Bags with pennies in water above your door stops them from coming in=True

when mosquitoes and flies see the light reflecting off the water and coins it confuses them and they tend to go the other way.

6-Keeping a Fan blowing makes it hard for them to fly=True

they are not strong flyers that’s why you don’t see them out on a windy day.

7-Rubbing lemon on your skin keeps them away=True

insects including mosquitoes don’t like the Citrus smell of lemon however when you rub a lemon on your skin you will know where all your cuts are because it will hurt and while you sweat or rub on your clothes the lemon can transfer to your clothes and ruin some fabrics

So what can you do to keep them away? Start by pouring out or emptying any standing water around your house that stops them from having a place to hatch, wearing lighter colored clothes helps, and if you want to go the chemical treatment route or natural treatment read on.

Chemical Treatment

There are many chemical treatments you can use to keep mosquitoes away. like products that have DEET in them but you should know first before grabbing something with DEET, is that 30% or higher is known to melt some plastics, fabrics, and people with sensitive skin can have an allergic reaction to it.

On the upside products with Deet in it can last all day long and you won’t have to reapply. Other ingredients or bug sprays you may want to consider are:

• Insect Repellent with picaridin in it
• OFF! Deep Woods Repellent with 25% DEET in it
• Avon Bug Guard with IR3535 in it
• Repel Repellent Spray with 40% DEET in It

 Try putting a small amount of Menthol Ointment on the back of your ankles, wrists, neck, inner elbows, knees, and behind the ear

Try a Dryer Sheet rubbing it on your body and clothes

Try Mosquito Bracelets which are a neat thing but only work for a very small area so if you wanted to use them you would literally have to have one every 5 to 10 inches apart on your body for a full-body coverage.

But if using chemicals to keep mosquitoes away isn’t your thing you could try going the non-toxic treatments with these natural ideas.

Natural Treatment

Planting some of these around your house or using them as oils on your skin will help keep mosquitoes away. Mosquitoes do not like some natural plants and citrus smells and they would rather go after someone else for an easier meal than you and that’s what you are trying to do so try these:

• Peppermint Essential Oil Roll On
• Lavender Essential Oil Roll On
• Tick Repellent and Mosquito Essential Oils with citronella
• REPEL with Lemon Eucalyptus in it

Magnolia, catnip, lemongrass, lime, basil, clove, neem, oranges, and vanilla are some other smells and plants to think about.

But if you do get bit then what do you do about the bite?

The Bite

You’re looking at three to four days from the first bite before you see any signs of improvement from the swelling and itching but a good trick to try is Toothpaste, (not the gel type) mixed with Baking Soda or Peppermint Oil this makes a natural anti-inflammatory for mosquito bites and will help with the swelling. To stop the itch try Menthol Ointment. Other things you could try that have similar effects are:

Apple Cider Vinegar

Caladryl Clear Lotion

Ice Packs

Cortizone Cream

Honey
To name a few things to try

My Go-To

When I go play outside where I know there will be mosquitoes my go-to is:

Spray myself and clothes down with Pure Vanilla Extract, Yes you heard me right the same stuff you use in your baking. Vanilla has the unusual ability to interfere with mosquitoes honing in on you as their next meal ticket.

This trick isn’t just for mosquitoes either it also works on ticks, gnats, and biting flies.

And as a bonus for you ladies, Pure Vanilla Extract is known to be a natural way to increase arousal in your man, by producing aphrodisiac. Maybe it’s because it’s in an aroma that is relaxing and lowers stress levels. But no matter what the reason it’s a good thing to have around for it keeps away the bugs and makes a good perfume.

This Is What I Do

1. I have a travel-size spray bottle with straight Pure Vanilla Extract in it. Most sites will tell you to add water to get rid of the stickiness from the sugar in the vanilla.

When I use mine I just make sure not to spray it on any white or light-colored clothes for it may leave a little brown spot then I head out and enjoy my day, however.

If I know I’m going to be sweating a lot or stay gone awhile I’ll drop my bottle in my purse or back pocket and take it with me, and every few hours I’ll give myself another little spray of it. Now if I do get bit by the little boogers

2. I grab Apple Cider Vinegar to put on the bite and cover it with a dab of Toothpaste and if it still itches I use a Bristle Hair Brush to scratch with it’s much better than your dirty fingernails and feels a lot better afterward. But don’t have to push too hard because you don’t need to and last but not least

3. If number 2 doesn’t work and I still want to itch I apply some Benadryl Anti-Itch gel to help stop the itching. The cooling effect of this on your bite helps you forget about the itch. And since I like to be outside a lot where it doesn’t matter what you use they will still get you at least once or twice I tend to go through a lot of this in the summer months.

4. Oh and if you sweat a lot you will have to reapply the vanilla obviously a lot more often like every 30 minutes or so and if you go into the water after getting out a few squirts and you’re good to go again.

So now that you know what to arm yourself with get out there and enjoy the summer months before winter hits again.

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