(no subject)

[heidi]

Question for the homeowner-types: do any of you have the Mosquito Magnet or a similar high-catch anti-biting-insects device? If so, what do you have and what do you think of it? We need something - our backyard is utterly unusable because of the skeeters!

Comments

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I personally recommend the OFF! products. (http://www.offprotects.com/) They have coils that you light that burn slowly and the smoke kills all mosquitos on contact. Probably not great for the wee ones, however. Best to use before anyone goes into the area, and then you put them out when the kids are around. You're not supposed to use them indoors, but I've done that for years. We used to "smoke out" the kids' tents before bed when I was a camp leader. Extremely effective. They would beg for it during the early summer.

In my experience the "natural" products (citronella etc.) don't work all that well. I think if you're dealing with serious mosquitoes (as you probably are), they just laugh at that stuff. I've hearrd good things about Skinstastic, but reapplications are necessary. Skintastic is safe for everyone in the family. Though maybe if you've smoked out the area beforehand with a mosquito coil, you could get away with a "bug bomb" citronella type thing while the kids are out there, just to keep new critters away.

I used to work in the deep Ontario north woods, so my methods might be more extreme than you actually need.

[poconell.livejournal.com]

I used to work in the deep Ontario north woods, so my methods might be more extreme than you actually need.

Have you seen this?


'Twas early in the spring when I decided to go,
For to work up in the woods of North Ontario;

And the unemployment office said they'd send me through
To the Little Abitibi with the survey crew.

And the back flies, the little black flies
Always the black fly no matter where you go.
I'll die with the black fly a-pickin' my bones,
In North Ontar-i-o-i-o, in North Ontar-i-o.

—from The Blackfly Song

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I even have the mp3 on my ipod, in fact. :)

I know the blackfly very well. I used to spend the spring in Northern Ontario too, setting up camp for the month prior to the kids arriving, and we had to take serious precautions. We could not shower in the morning, only at night. You can't smell too clean or they'll just get to you faster. We wore t-shirts on our heads, so that only our faces showed, put long-sleeved t-shirts on over that, and then gloves. We wore our socks pulled up over the bottoms of our pants. The only thing you can do to protect yourself against blackflies is to cover up. Once you got over how stupid you looked, it was pretty efficient.