Mosquitos and B-vitamins- any truth?

[Guest Gossamyrrh]

Once upon a time, I heard that taking B-vitamins (and I'm not sure if it's a B-complex or one in particular) causes you to be rather un-tasty to mosquitos. I'm finding information on the net, but it seems to be more old wive's tale than anything.

 

Does anyone else have input? A large number of caches in my area are close to water, and the mosquitos are already terrible in areas without that are in drier areas.

[Guest Hawk-eye]

Must work ... there's Vitamin B in the the vitamins I've been taking and I haven't had a single mosquito problem ... since September ...

 

Of course it's winter

 

Sorry ... couldn't resist ... on the serious side ... I think you're right ... Vitamin B12 is suppose to cause you to be unappealing to certain insects ... I was reading about it not to long ago ... I'll see if I can find out more on it.

[Guest Hawk-eye]

Must work ... there's Vitamin B in the the vitamins I've been taking and I haven't had a single mosquito problem ... since September ...

 

Of course it's winter

 

Sorry ... couldn't resist ... on the serious side ... I think you're right ... Vitamin B12 is suppose to cause you to be unappealing to certain insects ... I was reading about it not to long ago ... I'll see if I can find out more on it.

[Guest prv8eye]

quote:

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Originally posted by Gossamyrrh:

Once upon a time, I heard that taking B-vitamins (and I'm not sure if it's a B-complex or one in particular) causes you to be rather un-tasty to mosquitos. I'm finding information on the net, but it seems to be more old wive's tale than anything.

Does anyone else have input? A large number of caches in my area are close to water, and the mosquitos are already terrible in areas without that are in drier areas.

---

 

I don't know the answer to this question but, having grown up in a marshy area on Lake Erie, I HATE mosquitoes as much as anyone on Earth.

I did read, several years ago, that mosquitoes are more attracted to people with O+ blood.

The best repellent for me has been "Cutter's".

I know that, although this may sound amusing, U.S. Marines somehow discovered that Avon's "Skin So Soft" is an excellent repeller of ticks. Don't know if this is still made or if it works for mosquitoes.

By the way, only the female mosquitoes bite-go figure .

One of my biggest attractions to living in San Diego County is that there are very few mosquitoes. I think they are the work of Satan.

 

Gus Morrow

Oceanside, CA

[Guest Hawk-eye]

Did a little searching on the web ... a lot of advice on Vitamin B12 being the one ... and one reference to B1 ... also a reference to garlic ... here are a couple of links to check out:

 

http://www.experientials.org/health.html

 

http://www.teplitz.com/report.htm

 

http://travel.guardian.co.uk/askatraveller/story/0,8915,551295,00.html

 

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by prv8eye:

I know that, although this may sound amusing, U.S. Marines somehow discovered that Avon's "Skin So Soft" is an excellent repeller of ticks. Don't know if this is still made or if it works for mosquitoes.

<

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I don't know about ticks and skeeters, but I do know the SSS works great for gnats/noseeums. There is one problem...how do i put this politically correct....it uhm seems to make you more appealing to members of your same sex then the opposite one. Oh hell, screw being PC, down on the boat docks we call it "fag juice".

[Guest prv8eye]

quote:

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Originally posted by Hawk-eye:

Did a little searching on the web ... a lot of advice on Vitamin B12 being the one ... and one reference to B1 ... also a reference to garlic ...

---

 

DANGER WILL ROBINSON...Garlic also repels women.

[Guest prv8eye]

I don't know about ticks and skeeters, but I do know the SSS works great for gnats/noseeums.[/b]

 

I wonder what ingredient Skin So Soft contains that is effective in repelling these nasty little bugs.

Could it be just the perfume? Time to dig out my old bottles of English Leather and Hai Karate and do some experimenting.

[Guest Steak N Eggs]

quote:

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Originally posted by prv8eye:

DANGER WILL ROBINSON...Garlic also repels women.

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I dont know about that, some like garlic.

 

 

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"MY gps said it's RIGHT HERE!"

http://www.geogadgets.com

[Guest prv8eye]

quote:

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Originally posted by Steak N Eggs:

I dont know about that, some like garlic.

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Oh, yeah, I forgot about the Italian girls.

[Guest ClayJar]

Good news and bad news:

 

Good news: B-vitamins may possibly make you not-so-tasty to skeeters.

 

Bad news: The skeeters still bite you; they just go away spitting it out.

[Guest ClayJar]

Good news and bad news:

 

Good news: B-vitamins may possibly make you not-so-tasty to skeeters.

 

Bad news: The skeeters still bite you; they just go away spitting it out.

[Guest Hawk-eye]

quote:

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Originally posted by ClayJar:

Good news and bad news:

 

Good news: B-vitamins may possibly make you not-so-tasty to skeeters.

 

Bad news: The skeeters still bite you; they just go away spitting it out.

---

 

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Hawk-eye]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Hawk-eye]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Hawk-eye]

quote:

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Originally posted by ClayJar:

Good news and bad news:

 

Good news: B-vitamins may possibly make you not-so-tasty to skeeters.

 

Bad news: The skeeters still bite you; they just go away spitting it out.

---

 

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest JamieZ]

quote:

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Originally posted by ClayJar:

Good news: B-vitamins may possibly make you not-so-tasty to skeeters.

 

Bad news: The skeeters still bite you; they just go away spitting it out.

---

 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the raciest comment I do believe you ever see escape ClayJar's fingers.

 

Jamie

 

[This message has been edited by JamieZ (edited 07 February 2002).]

[Guest JamieZ]

quote:

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Originally posted by ClayJar:

Good news: B-vitamins may possibly make you not-so-tasty to skeeters.

 

Bad news: The skeeters still bite you; they just go away spitting it out.

---

 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the raciest comment I do believe you ever see escape ClayJar's fingers.

 

Jamie

 

[This message has been edited by JamieZ (edited 07 February 2002).]

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by JamieZ:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the raciest comment I do believe you ever see escape ClayJar's fingers.

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CJ musta had one too many root beers with his lunch!

[Guest Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by JamieZ:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the raciest comment I do believe you ever see escape ClayJar's fingers.

---

CJ musta had one too many root beers with his lunch!

[Guest toberlander]

I lived in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Maine. The only thing that I found that works is 100% DEET (Ben's 100). Keep it away from watch crystals and GPS screens...

 

Avon's SSS never works for me. I always thought it was a lie spread by Avon sales people to sell more SSS.

 

Todd

[Guest Gossamyrrh]

So this summer, I will be covered in sunscreen, bug repellant, and Ivy Block.

 

eeuww....I want to take a hot shower already.

[Guest Alan2]

After I got bit last October by a Lyme infected tick, I did some heavy research while I took antibiotics and scratched. Deet (which is a repellant not an insecticide-it confuses the mosquitos so they don't know how or where to land) has really no additional benefit above 35%. Deet in 100% can also be sickening if applied to kids. Skin-so-soft while it does work somewhat is not nearly as effective as Deet. Perethrin which you apply to clothes (becomes ineffective on your skin in 15 minutes so don't apply it there) is actually the insecticide unlike Deet and its killing chemistry comes from flower petals - I think the Lotus! It's the same stuff that you wash into kids hair in lower percentages to kill lice, another nasty cousin of ticks. In the typical Perethrin can application, it'll kill ticks crawling on your clothes for two weeks including clothes washings. You can buy the military heavy duty stuff and soak your clothes in it and you're good to go for 50 weeks and washings. There are also combinations of Deet, Perethrin, etc. that work on horse flies, and other bugs - check the labels on the cans.

 

Now wasn't that educational?

 

All kidding aside, you'll want to protect yourself when you're out bushwacking. Ticks in larva form come out in the Spring and grow through the fall. Wear light clothes so you can see the ticks better, long pants, no sandles, and tuck your pants bottoms into your socks. Check often, carry tick removal tool and don't leave your shirt hanging out like I did. (She, and it was a she, got me right in the middle of my stomach!).

 

Alan2

[Guest jfitzpat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Alan2:

All kidding aside, you'll want to protect yourself when you're out bushwacking. Ticks in larva form come out in the Spring and grow through the fall. Wear light clothes so you can see the ticks better, long pants, no sandles, and tuck your pants bottoms into your socks. Check often, carry tick removal tool and don't leave your shirt hanging out like I did. (She, and it was a she, got me right in the middle of my stomach!).

 

Alan2

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Ticks and fresh water leaches give me the willies. Poison Oak and Barney the purple dinosaur are probably the only things I dislike more.

 

Alan2 has it nailed, when it comes to things that sting, bite, burn, etc., nothing beats minimizing exposed area. I once got laughed at for covering my head with bug netting during a hike. 4 hours of relentless insect hell later, I could have traded it for a BMW.

 

Vanilla extract does work for gnats and a few other no-see-ems, but not for skeeters. Be sure it is real vanilla extract, the fake stuff is basically sugar water and putting it on is like tenderizing yourself.

 

I've never seen any of the other holistic repellant stuff work - though eating garlic does make nylon middlewear smell pretty awful after a couple of days of hiking. Bad, as in the smell takes your mind off all your bug bites...

 

-jjf

[Guest Buck8Point]

Unfortunately Mosquitos are attracted to the CO2 that we exhale in every breath. Repelants may keep them off of your exposed skin, but they will still be attracted to the cloud of CO2 that follows us everywhere we go.

At a food show in New Orleans a while back I saw a machine being marketed to people with outdoor restaurants, and camps. It had a tank of CO2 (same tanks they use for a soft drink fountain) and a vaccum assembly with a heated dryer that ended in a mesh bag. The machine misted CO2 and the mosquitos were attracted to it and got sucked into this funnel with heated air, and subsequentially dried out and blown into the mesh bag. Well, this thing really worked. After several hours of operation on a patio, it had filled like a gallon ziplock sized mesh bad with the dried remnants of about a gazillion Skeeters. The bag even weighed a pound or 2. It was pretty amazing.

Now all we gota do is engineer a smaller personal version to put in a back pack...

With all the exotic things they had to eat at the foodshow, im surpriesd that someone didnt make a Roux outta them Dried Skeeters.... hehehehehe

 

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Buck8Point

"If I can't fix it, It's definately Broke."

[Guest Buck8Point]

Unfortunately Mosquitos are attracted to the CO2 that we exhale in every breath. Repelants may keep them off of your exposed skin, but they will still be attracted to the cloud of CO2 that follows us everywhere we go.

At a food show in New Orleans a while back I saw a machine being marketed to people with outdoor restaurants, and camps. It had a tank of CO2 (same tanks they use for a soft drink fountain) and a vaccum assembly with a heated dryer that ended in a mesh bag. The machine misted CO2 and the mosquitos were attracted to it and got sucked into this funnel with heated air, and subsequentially dried out and blown into the mesh bag. Well, this thing really worked. After several hours of operation on a patio, it had filled like a gallon ziplock sized mesh bad with the dried remnants of about a gazillion Skeeters. The bag even weighed a pound or 2. It was pretty amazing.

Now all we gota do is engineer a smaller personal version to put in a back pack...

With all the exotic things they had to eat at the foodshow, im surpriesd that someone didnt make a Roux outta them Dried Skeeters.... hehehehehe

 

------------------

Buck8Point

"If I can't fix it, It's definately Broke."

[Guest TTracker]

I've used SkinSoSoft and it worked for black flies. Deet seems to work for mosquitos. Mosquitos and black flies are both attracted to dark clothing more than light. One time in the Everglades I was wearing a black jacket and my wife was wearing a light colored one. I was surrounded by the little devils but they ignored her. And she hadn't even been eating garlic. Another time we were photographing in the Adirondaks and using SSS and the black flies swarmed around my black camera, but left us alone.

[Guest pater47]

The ingredient in Skin So Soft that repels mosquitoes is Citronella, the same ingredient found in many "natural" repellants. The biggest problem with B-12 is convincing the skeeters to take their vitamins!

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

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Originally posted by pater47:

The biggest problem with B-12 is convincing the skeeters to take their vitamins!

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Actually, wouldn't the biggest problem be convincing them *not* to take their vitamins?

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

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Originally posted by pater47:

The biggest problem with B-12 is convincing the skeeters to take their vitamins!

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Actually, wouldn't the biggest problem be convincing them *not* to take their vitamins?

[Guest 300mag]

I have seen reports on tv about different mosquito repellents. The one's tested with most DEET worked best. They also tested Skin So Soft and found that it actually attracted more mosquito's. So it might work for some bugs but don't use it as a mosquito repellent. I also remember one day during black fly season early spring. Me and my friend where out brook trout fishing. I had muskol he tried some kind of rubbing compound. This stuff was red and liquid and smelled strong like absorbine jr or something. Anyways it worked wonders for him.I guess the million's of fly's and mosquito's didn't appreciate the taste

 

[This message has been edited by 300mag (edited 08 February 2002).]

[Guest 300mag]

I have seen reports on tv about different mosquito repellents. The one's tested with most DEET worked best. They also tested Skin So Soft and found that it actually attracted more mosquito's. So it might work for some bugs but don't use it as a mosquito repellent. I also remember one day during black fly season early spring. Me and my friend where out brook trout fishing. I had muskol he tried some kind of rubbing compound. This stuff was red and liquid and smelled strong like absorbine jr or something. Anyways it worked wonders for him.I guess the million's of fly's and mosquito's didn't appreciate the taste

 

[This message has been edited by 300mag (edited 08 February 2002).]

[Guest VentureForth]

I just bought a Coleman CM001/CM003 Electronic Mosquito Repeller. It puts out a high whine like you hear when the TV is on but muted - that high pitch sound that you can never hear unless you wake up at 4AM and you hear it and you can't figure out where it's coming from. Well, it was only $4, so I bought 4 of em.

 

I don't know about it's effectiveness yet. Anyone have luck or no luck with these excuses to pack more AA batteries?

 

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VentureForth out to the wild, wet forest...

[Guest ErinsWeb]

--quote

I just bought a Coleman CM001/CM003 Electronic Mosquito Repeller. It puts out a high whine like you hear when the TV is on but muted - that high pitch sound that you can never hear unless you wake up at 4AM and you hear it and you can't figure out where it's coming from. Well, it was only $4, so I bought 4 of em.

I don't know about it's effectiveness yet. Anyone have luck or no luck with these excuses to pack more AA batteries?

 

-- end Quote

 

Oh no! You don't know what you've done now. All I can picture in my mind is "Magneto" from that Running Man flick. Except in this vision I see an electronically endowed person complete with GPS, Cell, PDA, Computer, 2 Way radio, bug light, satellite uplink, keg cooler ready for cache action

 

Hmmm This could be me.

[Guest hgmonaro]

interestingly I don't get biten by mossies. Even inch long ones that have been known to lift a person off the ground (a slight exageration, humour me )

 

My wife however is a mossie early warning detection system, getting biten even when no one can see/feel any around. Bites on her swell to quite sizable 'blisters' Romping around naked in the forest is not an option for her!

 

Maybe the blood type has something to do with it.. she's common stuff and based on my family, I think I'm the rare stuff (my mother, father and sister all have rare ones but I've never had a test done, should one day!)

 

Even though they don't bite me, I still swipe at them! maybe they would bite me if I let them! The only good mossie is a dead one!

[Guest hgmonaro]

interestingly I don't get biten by mossies. Even inch long ones that have been known to lift a person off the ground (a slight exageration, humour me )

 

My wife however is a mossie early warning detection system, getting biten even when no one can see/feel any around. Bites on her swell to quite sizable 'blisters' Romping around naked in the forest is not an option for her!

 

Maybe the blood type has something to do with it.. she's common stuff and based on my family, I think I'm the rare stuff (my mother, father and sister all have rare ones but I've never had a test done, should one day!)

 

Even though they don't bite me, I still swipe at them! maybe they would bite me if I let them! The only good mossie is a dead one!

[Guest gizmo dave]

We have been stream fishing all over. Always bring 100% DEET, Never had any problems.

[Guest HIltonfamily]

Ok...so I love garlic hate skin so soft...nauseating stuff...the smell I mean.

 

I have an interesting alternative and great reason to bring your barking dog along. We bought Foo the Wonder Dog a bark collar...No not the shock variety but one that sprays citronella when she barks. She hates the smell and so do the skeeters. Soooo we take her caching with us and if she decides to bark (the collar works but for really evil things...postmen, UPS guys and any type of delivery type person, she just can't hold the bark back) we just stand a family member in front of her.............Bark and Spray

 

DxChallenged

[Guest Gliderguy]

eather, I used to work in rice fields where the mosquitoes would be amazingly thick in the mornings. Come noontime when it was breaking 100 degrees F outside, all the mosquitoes would hide in the shade. Dont wear anything that a mosquito could mistake for shade. White or very light clothing seemed to work best.

 

Light colors and DEET are my recommendations, and cover as much of your body as you can stand to.

 

One caution:

I used DEET directly on my exposed skin for years until one day I had a bad reaction to it, ever since I cant stand DEET on my skin in direct sunlight for any lenght of time, or it feels like it is chemically burning me.

[Guest Gliderguy]

My experience is a good dose of DEET will greatly reduce the number of mosquitos that actually bite you, but they will still be annoyingly bouncing around and off of various parts of your anatomy. SSS might discourage a few mosquitoes out of 100 from biting. I havent tried the B vitamins, but would guess they will only discourage a few percent of the less enthusiastic mosquitoes.

 

Dark cloths do seem to attract mosquitoes in warm weather, I used to work in rice fields where the mosquitoes would be amazingly thick in the mornings. Come noontime when it was breaking 100 degrees F outside, all the mosquitoes would hide in the shade. Dont wear anything that a mosquito could mistake for shade. White or very light clothing seemed to work best.

 

Light colors and DEET are my recommendations, and cover as much of your body as you can stand to.

 

One caution:

I used DEET directly on my exposed skin for years until one day I had a bad reaction to it, ever since I cant stand DEET on my skin in direct sunlight for any lenght of time, or it feels like it is chemically burning me.

[Guest HIltonfamily]

Ok so I got Foo's citro. collar recharged today...The battery went dead...Poms tend to be excessive in the bark department...

 

Can't wait to get her on a warm trail an find an advantage to her barking!

 

DxChallenged