Mosquitos...this works

14 years ago

My cousin posted this link to her facebook account. We have tried it for the last 2 night and it works. Spray some Listerine in the area where you are sitting, playing, etc. NO Skeeters. I bought the Target brand. Much cheaper than the regular Listerine (regular flavor). I bought a small spray bottle and just spritzed some around were we were sitting. Sat outside for over an hour and a half and not the first mosquito. The smell only last for a couple of minutes.

Snopes says it won't kill mosquitos. It doesn't say it won't repel them.

Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Mosquitos & Listerine

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Comments (27)

cynic
14 years ago
I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation of Snopes:
Likewise, spraying Listerine around your home or outdoor areas isn't an all-purpose mosquito preventive. It may kill some mosquitoes on which it is directly sprayed, but it won't serve to keep knocking mosquitoes dead for hours and hours afterwards. It may also have limited effectiveness as a mosquito repellant, but you get what you pay for - DEET will repel mosquitoes more effectively for much longer than solutions concocted from commercial household products intended for completely different purposes.

Be interesting to try though. There's so many ideas out there. I tried the dryer sheets and they made me smell better when I was camping in the woods the one time I tried it but they didn't help for bugs.
moonie_57 (8 NC)
14 years ago
Family members used to swear by Skin So Soft. It kinda sorta worked, I guess. But the other day I used some SOS body lotion and the bugs loved it! Won't try that again! Might give the listerine a try, though. We spend a great deal of time outside. If there's a mosquito in the area, it's gonna get me!
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lindyluwho
Original Author
14 years ago
I agree about the Skin So Soft. Bugs love it.

At least with the Listerine you don't have to spray chemical on your body. Just around the area where you are.

Linda
stargazzer
14 years ago
Any thing with a fragrance draws mosquitoes. Skin so soft doesn't work, just ask the guides in the rain forest. It is a big joke to them. I don't believe any of this kind of stuff works, but I do try it sometimes. I did the dryer sheet to stop ants coming in the home, guess what it worked, I was so proud of myself. Later I read that you can stop ants from coming with a soapy rag, it washes away their scent trail. That's all I did was clean off their scent trail.
dilly_dally
14 years ago
I've actually had good results spraying plain 'ol rubbing alcohol on my skin to repel mosquitoes. Its cheap. It can't be any more dangerous than those chemical repellents that they sell and it certainly is a lot less money. I am assuming the Listerine idea works on the same theory as the rubbing alcohol.
dorothy_oahu
14 years ago
This new OFF Clip on device looks interesting.
{{!gwi}}

There are a lot of precautions though. Mosquitoes just LOVE me and I hate to go in the back yard on some evenings.

Here is a link that might be useful: OFF Clip On
lydia1959
14 years ago
I was going to ask if anyone had tried the OFF clip on too. They must be fairly expensive since there was a $3.00 off coupon in the paper a few weeks ago.
moonie_57 (8 NC)
14 years ago
lydia - according to Dorothy's link, the OFF clip would be around $10 and the refills $5. There is a buy one get one at the site.
minnie_tx
14 years ago
When I sit outside I llight up a few incense sticks made by Gonesh they are made to keep mosq's away. I get them at Dollar Tree 20 in a pack for $1
jemdandy
14 years ago
For understanding mosquittos, it helps to know a little about how the little buggers tracks their prey. Mosquitos can detect the carbon-dioxide in exhaled breath. In fact, they are very sensitive to it. They do not need line-of-sight to find you. They can follow the carbon-dioxide trail around corners and through nooks and cranies. Their tracking ability is disturbed when a breeze blows the breath path away. Some scents disrupts the mosquito's sensors and interferes with their ability to home onto their prey.

The flying speed of a mosquito is about 5 miles per hour. If you travel faster than that, they have a rough time catching you. If the wind speed is greater than 5 mph, mosquitos recognize a loosing battle and will stay planted in a protected area until the breeze abates - kinda explains why mosquitos tend to suddently come out of hiding at dusk when the breese dies away.
joyfulguy
14 years ago
Which means, then, that if I find a tube and tape it to my nose, letting it hang down with the other end near the ground, discharging the carbon dioxide down there, then the skitters'll think that the quarry has landed and land on the ground, themselves??

Maybe getting some dry ice and casting chunks of it to a nearby location via slingshot should make the little buggers congregate there with great enthusiasm.

But one would need to wrap the chunks of dry ice in plastic sheet which would cover them in flight, but drop off on landing, in order to forestall the predators backtracking to your location.

However, maybe they'd be so drunk with the heavy duty atmosphere of CO2 at the distant location that they wouldn't find the trail back to the slingshot.

HTH.

ole joyful
tioga
14 years ago
I swear by dryer sheets. I rub one on my Doxie's back and then stick it into his collar. No mosquitos while walking, on him nor on me.
lindyluwho
Original Author
14 years ago
Dilly Dally, the alcohol probably has the same effect except I didn't put this on my body, just sprayed the area where we were.

Linda
iowagirl2006
14 years ago
I use Bug Free Backyard . It is a chemical spray - so if you are against using those - it's not for you.......

But...if you don't mind using them - it works great. I spray after I have mowed and there is no rain in the forecast. I try to spray it as far up into the trees as possible, on the lawn, and around and under any bushes. I also spray my house.

It is a bottle that you hook to a hose.

We live in the country - so there is no mosquito spraying by a municipality at all in my area.

I start spraying Bug Free Backyard about this time of the year. I spray everything down and re-apply in a week. Then I taper off and apply it every two weeks or so during July.

It helps control the flys (farm living!) and mosquitoes. I also use it a couple times in the late fall to knock back those dang Asian Lady Beetles. I spray the outside of my house really well and along the foundation to keep them away.

I buy it at Wal-Mart. It often sells out early - so I stock up.
barb_from_pa
14 years ago
Joyful -
Happy_Go_Lucky_Gayle
14 years ago
What do you put on your Skeeter Bites? I use to buy a stick called "after bite". It smelled like Amonia. So now I just use Amonia.

I looked for the Clip On Off at Wal-mart, but they were sold out.

We have 6 Tikki Torches and there is a Torch Oil with insect repellent we buy.
pris
14 years ago
Joyful, Joyful, Joyful

I can't get the picture of you and your elephant trunk dangling on the ground out of my mind. PLEASE send me another visual picture to replace it. LOL.
grinch_gut
14 years ago
I tried the listerene didn't work for me...I had a clip but I dropped it on the cement so can't tell you if it was going to work or not....my most effective is my mister fan it just sparys water mist in the air keeps misq. and flies away but can't use it after the sun goes down or I freeze....I too live in the country so pay day going to walmart to look for the spray iowagirl uses....we have sooo many bugs...eckkkk!! LOL Stacy
marygailv
14 years ago
My daughter said the Off thing didn't work for her.
mariend
14 years ago
PLEASE read the precautions on using this product. There are some serious situations mentioned. It scares me to use a product with so many warnings. Even spray on products seem safer. Maybe it is because it is in a concretration form.
jennmonkey
14 years ago
I just read an article in a medical magazine stating that a spray made of catnip oil was found to work much better than DEET for deterring mosquitos. I haven't had a chance to research it anymore yet, but mosquitos LOVE me and I react badly to their bites, (but hate putting poison all over myself) so I'm willing to try anything once. I got bit twice on one of my feet last Saturday, and my whole foot is still really swollen 9 days later!
tami_ohio
14 years ago
A friend was told by a Dr. to take either vitamin B-12 or B-6, I can't remember which.
drewsmaga
14 years ago
Ed (Old Joyful) -- you CRACK me up!!!! Keep Posting!
re: the Off clip-ons, I'm in my 4th yr. of mosquito infested SE TX & nothing worked for me (even head-to-toe mosquito netting suit, over-sprayed with bug spray and wearing long sleeves & long pants - horribly hot to waer all that here in the HOT humid south.) They'd swarm, I'd get eaten alive.
The Off clip-on WORKS FOR ME!!!!!! Halleujah!!!! They swarm, but they don't land (I wear it on my belt loop.) I can water my plants again without getting eaten!!!! WOO-HOO!!
lilliepad
14 years ago
Joyful,what can I say....You are truly Joyful!
Well,I bought a king size bottle of Listerine,(W/M brand).DH couldn't wait to try it out.Sprayed it all around where he was sitting on the porch.Our mosquitoes loved it!
I had forgotten about the dryer sheets.Used them a couple of years ago on DS's dog and they worked.I tied one on her collar.
Iowagirl-Is that spray harmful to pets? I have outside cats and kittens and wondered if it would hurt them.
I was seriously thinking of getting the clip on thing for DH but am wondering about the precautions now.
My neighbor burns the gel things made for tiki torches.She sits the all around her deck and says they work great.They must because they are out on their deck all the time.
grittymitts
14 years ago
We live in West Nile Virus part of the country -scared silly of getting it & willing to try most anything.

Went out one day with so many dryer sheets tied on me I looked like a scarecrow after a single one didn't faze 'em. Ha! Neither did the ones tucked in my socks, tied to belt loops, wrists & enough strung together to go around my neck! Got up one morning with an eye swollen shut & opposite ear large enough to make me look like I'd lost a boxing match from their hateful bites.

Spray on Deet makes me really sick & tried Deet stretchable braclets on my wrist per their instructions but was attacked upper arms. Moved 'em UP & they tried to feast on the lower part!

Botanical one (can't recall who makes it) works well for me but lasts only 3 hours or so.

For sittin' on the patio a fan turned on high keeps 'em away.

I bought a large container of pellet type stuff (looks sorta' like plant food) for birdbaths, pot saucers, etc., and it keeps eggs from hatching without harming pets, birds, etc. (Barely daylight here & won't risk a bite to look right now...will add info to this later.) Cost was about $12. but have used from container for 3 years 'n still have nearly half left -it only takes a few.)

Has anyone tried Eucalyptus? Don't live close to places that sell the oil, and am NOT gonna' tie the floral arrangement sprigs of it all over me...from the looks I got wearing those dryer sheets, it's quite likely passersby already think of me as that Nutsy Scarecrow Lady.

Suzi
helencolby
14 years ago
I went out to the garden to water yesterday evening, and they literally chewed me up. Hubby sprayed me with alcohol when I came in to stop the itching. I am spraying with OFF this morning before I venture outside.

Helen
iowagirl2006
14 years ago
Lilliepad- we have outdoor cats and a dog. I try to make sure they aren't right where I am spraying it - and it says it is safe when dry. I remove the water/food bowls when I am spraying. I usually put the dog in the garage for a while. The cats tend to just leave when I have the hose out. It dries pretty fast when it is warm out.

I also set ice cream pails over my herbs. I don't have any vegatables in my garden, but if I did - I wouldn't spray there.

I have been using it for several years.

It doesn't work instantly - but if you keep at it, it does a great job! It lasts for quite a while too.

Mosquitos...this works

Comments (27)

cynic

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