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2serenitynow's avatar

What is the best way to kill mosquitos and to keep them from feeding on you?

Asked by 2serenitynow (7points) May 22nd, 2010

I live in a normally very dry,desert climate, and have recently been swarmed by a slew of mosquitoes. Lately, it has been so dry that I have been filling my 10 gallon fish tank up every day since the water level drops ½ inch to an 1 each day. There has been no rain and there is no standing water anywhere in my backyard, yet the nasty buggers are everywhere. The worst part is they have infiltrated my home and taken a particular liking to my blood in particular. I’m am quite afraid of contracting West Nile Virus and have gone to such extremes as plugging in a bug zapper in my bathroom! Any suggestions are quite welcome on how best to remedy these issues!

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10 Answers

MrGV's avatar

You must eat lots of sweets….
1.Get a oil free mosquito repellent and apply over your body
2.Mosquito traps

Seaofclouds's avatar

My mom’s next door neighbor has a machine similar to this. Their back yard backs up to a lake that attracts a lot of mosquitos and it works really well. I’m not sure if that is the exact one he has, but I know it looks very similar to that. I’d have to ask which one it is. I am always amazed to see him empty it because it works really well. There are still a few mosquitos around, but seeing how many he kills with that makes us all very happy he has it when we are sitting out back late at night.

perspicacious's avatar

The pharmacist told me that taking sulphur will keep mosquitoes away from you. The problem is it will also make you smell bad.

XOIIO's avatar

Eat stuff with lots of iron. They don’t like iron.

LuckyGuy's avatar

I tried a similar unit as @Seaofclouds . It would fill up with other insects but very few mosquitoes. They still bothered us – until I went the spray everything with Malathion route.
(I know that is not the “Green” to do, but it worked. )

JLeslie's avatar

The mosquitoes love me. The repellent you can spray on works for me for the most part, but if I miss a spot, I will have a bite there—sigh. I also do not like the idea of using the chemicals on my body all of the time so I remember these points. Mosquitoes mostly come out at dusk and in the evening hours. As the sun goes down I wear long pants and long sleeves if it is cool enough. If you are sitting in your yard change any outdoor lights to yellow lightbulbs, and if you don’t have a screened in patio I highly recommend it.

There are machines, maybe it is one of the links above, that give off CO2 that attracts insects so they will be less likely to come to you.

I am assuming spraying your lawn is what @worriedguy is talking about? Which I find very interesting.

By the way, about west nile, this is what I know about it, but I am not a doctor. It only makes a small percentage deathly ill, and like other diseases, once you get it, you don’t get it again. Since I have been attacked by mosquitoes during west nile scares I have decided that I have had it, did not get very ill, and don’t have to worry about it anymore LOL.

gailcalled's avatar

Here is the only perfect solution and you don’t need to spray yourself with nasty chemicals.

The mosquito suit;

And the mosquito net outfits. Mix and Match.

@janbb: Didn’t you wear one of these to a wedding on the East coast a few years ago?

dpworkin's avatar

I put up a lot of bat houses, but I don’t know if you have bats in your locale.

gailcalled's avatar

@dpworkin: You have a lot of bats? You’re lucky.They seem to be disappearing from your neighbors’ property to the east. And there’s the white-nose issue.

Emt3225's avatar

Try rubbing some peppermint oil on your arms. It works. It has to be pure peppermint oil from a health food store.

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