Mosquito's!!!

[rmc20021]

We were out in my back yard the other day and the mosquito's were SOOOOOO bad we had to come inside. There is no way I plan on staying inside all summer, and I'm sure when things ever dry out they will not be so bad.

Other than spraying the kids down with bug repellent, what else can I do to keep the kids from getting bit up? I hate the bug sprays.

[ABCDaycareMN]

You could get a fogger. Spray it around the yard when you are outside they should stay away.

[Cradle2crayons]

Nothing works here but deet. And a high percentage of deet.

You could put them in long pants and a long shirt and try just spraying the pant legs and sleeves and see if that helps.

Foggers and citronella never worked for me,but they may for you.

The clip ons work, but are expensive. You could ask parents to provide.

My dad has a lot of standing water he couldn't get rid of and at the coop her found some all natural round pellet things you toss around your yard. They are safe for kids and animals etc but they kill Mosquitos. It worked a little.

Even worse than skeeters though are these horrible things called BLACK GNATS.


Deet doesn't work against them. Nothing works. They swarm you and they are like very very tiny. And the itch is horrible !!! Thankfully we don't have them at my house but my dad does just a few miles down the road.


Ohhhhhh ETA ...... This is my 500th post!! Lol sorry had to hijack !!!!

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Already??!! Eeeek! Keep them there, I don't want them.

[rmc20021]

Yup...already. We have had a very wet spring so they are horrid. I think I'm going to try spraying for them every few days and only go outside in the middle of the day. I noticed they weren't as bad when we had our earlier outside time than they were after school when we went back out.

[ksmith]

Certain plants are supposed to keep them away like lemon grass. I would check which ones are kid friendly. Also I bought a plant based bug spray the other day that works but doesn't have that awful smell.

[Solandia]

Nothing works reliably except DEET in high mosquito areas. You/the parent have to decide what the trade off is to be. I live in an area where there is West Nile cases every year. And I have had one daycare kid, plus my middle dd be treated for Lymes, even tho no tick was found. My oldest was allergic to mosquito bites, she outgrew that -thank goodness-around 10 yo.

So DEET based products is what we use. The high percentage one...it is like 40% I think. The CDC use to have a website with stats on mosquito repellents...I will look for it. All I found was stats regarding DEET products. But there used to be a info page comparing different products, sry I can't find it. In short, other products work, but for minutes, not hours. There are always new products, so who knows what may work now.

[Leigh]

We use Cutter Bug Free Backyard, and it works great to keep all sorts of bugs away. Apply every 2 to 4 weeks, and we have no problems with bugs. When I apply, I spray the yard, the trees, the house...anything I can reach with the spray.

It is supposed to be safe for kids and pets as soon as it dries. I have a fairly small lot , and I apply it HEAVILY-i use an entire bottle each application. I still use the OFF during mosquito season, but we rarely see them.

[Jewels]

I have therma cell mosquito lanterns, and they do work very well...however you have to have a few depending on your yard, I have a pretty big yard, and I can't cover it all, I have 4, and I put them where the children play the most, I put one on the swingset, one by the sandbox, one by where I hang with the baby, and another by where we eat snack outside, they also take like 15 minutes to start working, so I set them out before we get out there and turn them on......where they can really ****, is its expensive, the past couple years, I had parents each pitch in $20....I do still spray them with bug spray, and the pads that are used for the lanterns really only last 1 maybe 2 days, so thats 4 new ones every 2 days, my back yard is really bad, we have a large standing pond in our back yard, and then an even larger wet land pond behind that, with lots of trees around. It gets awful.