I live in the southwest, where the environment is hostile enough that there aren't any mosquitoes or ticks. I'm going to Cape Cod for a week or so and there are plenty of both there. We will have outdoor activities. Can anyone recomment a good insect repellant for these critters?

Any product with DEET. Just be careful you do not get it on any plastic stuff, it will dissolve it. Higher concentrations are supposed to last longer but you can just re apply.

Backwoods Off etc. I like the spray as you can put a little on your hands and wipe your face and neck.

When we fish the back waters with salt marsh skeeters I have old clothes that I just leave the stuff on them. Have skeeter nets over our faces.

Worse than skeeters up North is damn Black Flies

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Still Running Against the Wind

I work on the shore and surrounding wooded areas up here in Maine and I use Ben's DEET. You can find it in hardware and sporting goods stores or order it on line. I get the 100% stuff, it works great, better than anything else I've tried for keeping any and all biting bugs away (including the ferocious Maine Black Fly), just don't get it on your lips, it'll make them numb. It also comes in 30%, if your concerned about numb lips and your ability to control where you apply it.

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Don't kiss smiling dogs!

Here I was, thinking this was going to be a thread singing praises about that wonder liquid that was the staple at meal times on US Navy vessels. That wonderful red, or green, semi-sweet, lukewarm nectar of the gods that always showed up on the mess decks right beside the powdered milk after about 3 days at sea and the joys of fresh milk was rapidly fading from our memories.

That's the bug juice I remember, I have a feeling the ones with DEET, while probably not as healthy for you to drink, probably can't taste much worse.



bob

DEET is indeed the most effective.

If you can't find any of that I'm sure you have some
bear grease lying around, which is the next best thing.

Seriously........

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Ogy

Some people break out with high concentrations of DEET. Affects my son. Try a bit first. We used Avon Skin So Soft on him as an alternative. Seemed to work.

Darn! I thought this was a thread about US Navy made koolaid! ...it wasn't that bad. OK. Now I see Bob R's response!!

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RIP Shipmate

WalMart sells 2 different strength spray cans of Deet based bugjuice. The green can and the blue can. The blue is labeled "Sportsman" and is 50%, the other is less concentrated. Both work well, but go for the "more power" formula if you will be in an area of heavy infestation.

The stuff isn't expensive, less than $4 a can.

If you are going to be in a circumscribed area, I find it really helps to fog, spraying the grass and surrounding shrubbery as well as putting some mist in the air. Raid and Black Flag fogging products seem to work equally well. I do a lot of shade-tree mechanical work, but I could not sit still outside in bug season without fogging.

As an alternative to DEET, or even as a redundancy, consider using permethrin, which is applied not to skin but to fabric, and is purportedly particularly effective at repelling ticks and chiggers. Sawyer Products makes it, and sells directly online, or did, last I checked.

Will you be camping or just going to the beach, i have been up to the cape several times and never used anything,the off shore breeze keep the skeeters away.now if you are going back country i use the military fuming kits for clothing, works great, used it in Africa along with Deet.

I use one of these:
Thermacell mosquito repellent

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USPSA RO
IDPA - SSP MM

A spouse with lots of hairspray and perfume

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Vaya con Dios

I find myself on Martha's Vineyard every year in July and the island is positively crawling with ticks. You can see them hanging on the tips of the beach grass leaves just waiting for you to brush against them on your way to and from the beach. The woods practically seethe with them. I can't imagine that the Cape is any different.

Apply DEET to your shoe tops and inside and outside of your trouser legs. Apply it to your socks and then blouse your trousers. Apply another band of it further up your trouser legs. Don't reach into the brush. Appy it to your arms, hands, neck and face. Wear a hat to keep the flies out of your hair. If you get a fly bite, it's gonna hurt and bleed. You will know right away if you get fly-bit.

Enjoy the scenery and the sea breezes. Summertime is the best time to be in New England. After the leaves turn in the autumn, head south as fast as you can!

Russ

As a native Floridian, I've got a little experience with bugs. For both mosquitoes and ticks, the Ben's 100 works great. If you are sensitive to deet on your skin, try putting your cloths in a plastic bag the day before with a few drops of deet on them. This is the best method for heavily tick infested areas, as it keeps them off of your clothing as well as your body. Follow Russ's advice about where to place deet on your body.

If you are dealing with absolute clouds of mosquitoes, the thermocell is just the ticket! Just move slow so you don't outrun the cloud of repellent it gives off.
If you have to deal with what we in the South call "sand flies" and the Yankees call " no see ums" , the only recourse is to coat yourself with some sort of oil or grease. The traditional Southern remedy is Avon Skin-so-Soft.
Hope you enjoy your trip.

Butt, My goodness, won't they be attracted to her?

if I cant get it on any plastic,,, why do they put it in a plastic bottle???

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UNDER THE CONE OF SILENCE

"Just be careful you do not get it on any plastic stuff"

Do not get it on the face of your new handheld GPS. Don't ask me how I know this.

There be different kinds of Plastic.

Not using on or near furniture, plastics, watch crystals, leather, or painted or varnished surfaces, including automobiles, to avoid damage to these materials

Deep Woods OFF! For Sportsmen Drug Information, Professional

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Still Running Against the Wind

Gosh Cyrano, I didn't know there was any place in Texas without mosquitos and ticks, although the fire ants really put a dent in the tick populations. I thought only the arctic circles were like that.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I live in SE MA and I've never seen more ticks than we have this year.

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ASA/NSA 67-71
NRA Benefactor

Skin So Soft works. The wife uses it instead of official bug repellant.

Had a bottle of DEET repellant come open in the door pocket of my truck. That was real ugly. Yes... it will melt most any plastic.


It wasn't that bad. What we didn't drink the snipes took down to the engineering spaces. The stuff is a great cleaner/degreaser. Just don't leave it on paint very long!

Avon Skin So Soft doesn't do squat!

Come on down here, will go fishing in the boat at night in the Mangroves and we will run a test

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Still Running Against the Wind

My wife & I tried Skin So Soft many years ago, as well as every other product
that is supposed to work. We always went back to a product that contains DEET.

In Northern Canada, during the height of Black Fly season, products
like Cutters, which only has / had something like 30% DEET, just wouldn't
"cut" it, but it works fine around home. When the bugs get bad it's
always Muskol for me, the type that's kickin' close to 100% DEET.

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Ogy

DEET-containing products have been the repellent of choice for decades, but a few years ago a study found that the aromatic oils in catnip were about 10 times as effective as DEET in repelling mosquitos. I don't know if it works on other flying pests, but 'skeeters tend to shy away.

There are some catnip-oil products on the market, but if you could get a bunch of fresh catnip and just rub yourself with the leaves, that might be a solution.

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David Wilson

Here is how we used to control Mosquitoes!

There would be 3 or 4 DC 3's in staggered formation just above the power lines dumping fuel oil and Malathion. The fog was so thick you could not see through it. This was usually a dawn. You have 3 of those planes fly over your house and you knew it!

There are lots of pics but #5 and #6 give a good idea

stock photography images | Picture 202 « Environmental Issues | Nathan Benn Photographs

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Still Running Against the Wind

Far west Texas is a desert environment, just like southern New Mexico and Arizona. Too hot and dry for ticks (chiggers, too). Mosquitoes need still water to reproduce, and there's no standing water for quite a few miles around here.

If you have a sensitivity to harsh chemicals like DEET, soap nut liquid can be sprayed on you and clothes. Just don't get it in your eyes. Burns like crazy.

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Soli Deo Gloria

I liked the wet t-shirt pics in the side bar.

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Corripe Cervisiam

Don't know if it true or not but the Viet Nam era GI repellant is supposed to be excellent for breaking loose rusted fasteners...

In the navy we used that concentrated bug juice to scrub the deck plates with. Used it to get rid of the oil and grease from the deck plates. Frank

Sorry I cant help myself. But what say's a fly against a windscreen of a car? That is me all over.

Overhere I use a electric tennisracket. Place it carfull near the bug on the wall and frye it. Maximumscore one day was ten.

While on a job I stayed at an *inn* near Shanghai built on reclaimed swamp land. The inn's lights were the only lights for miles
The windows had screens but the maid would remove the screen to *air the room out* (I smoked back then). One of the Chinese guys also smoked and had the same problem.

We had electric flyswatter contests. You had your flyswatter, and a referee. I believe the most either of us killed was 120, but if you didn't kill at least 100 you were definitely buying dinner that night.
Some (not all) nights I'd pull back the sheet an there would be fleas in the bed
At $8 a night it was still a rip-off

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In dog years I'm dead.

Just a little added bonus!

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Still Running Against the Wind

DeadAye. It could be a olimpique sport. Wack the most bugs in one hour.

If you think a bug zapper and a six pack constitute quality entertainment.....you might be a redneck!

6 pack? Maybe a young redneck...

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In dog years I'm dead.

Six pack is a low start.

Up here, we only have to use a crucifix....... but we gotta hit 'em real hard!!!!!

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UNDER THE CONE OF SILENCE

This is what we use in the woods to keep chiggers away. It works very well!

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Recycled Bricklayer

Try putting it in a spray bulb and spraying a wasp, hornet or bee nest, hive or entry point. They fly out and instantly drop to the ground. I used it on a wasp infestation I had a few years ago. A few puffs on the spray bulb and no more red wasp. Yea, a few of them escaped and a few of them met the bottom of my shoe, but the stuff WORKS.

For ticks, chiggers and mosquitos I use Muskol 100% DEET, Yes, it will soften some plastics and eat paint and varnish/shellac. But, it's a price I'm willing to pay to be bug free.

Class III