FACT OR FICTION

[Donna D.]

Interesting article from
Newsweek.com

[Bob H]

That does it...I'm going to quit exersizing and never get pregnant!

[Donna D.]

Good one Bob

Also walk reeeaaaal slow: attracted by "carbon dioxide and lactic acid"

[Bill MacDermod]

My wife weighs in at 110-115 does not sweat and is not pregnant (least I hope not, anyway if I'm outside and get bit I call her out there and they don't bother me anymore. I weigh 185 to 190 and sweat just from normal breathing and I'm not near the bait that she is. So much for lab testing. We normally take a medium size fan and while sitting outside have it blowing on us and the skeeters don't get to us quite as bad, also the deet, but I hate that greasy stuff.

[BobB]

My wife is a mosquito magnet. She smells sweeter than I do. I get mosquito bites, but not as many as she does.

[Connie M.]

Once, a few years back, I got a haircut and they used a strawberry scented shampoo. After I got home, I was nearly eaten alive! The mosquitos, and especially the flies, really loved me.

[Capt Ron]

The plain truth is that you gals just taste sweeter.

[Lizbeth]

The plain truth is that you gals just taste sweeter.

Not true....in our house my husband is the flying bug magnet. The skeeters come from miles around to feast on him.

On the other hand fleas will jump miles to get to me and leave him alone.

[james kent]

Shampoos and scented deoderants are also attractants. When we canoe camp we take un-scented anti-persperant and try to find a bio-degradeable camp soap that smells neutral or like pine.
Deet smells bad but it works.
Skintastik has little deet in it, and only lasts a short time, but while it does the biters just slip and slide right off.

[Carolyn Patterson]

We learned from a 'neighbor' at our campground this past weekend that mint Listerine in a spray bottle works very well. While sitting around our campfire over the 4th of July weekend, we were being eaten alive by bugs...neighbor heard us complaining and came over with a regular spray bottle of blue Listerine (not diluted) and sprayed it all around the ground around us.

Not only did our camp site smell good, but no more skeeter bugs!
(Minty fresh and I liked it too! Remember the commercial?)

Just something to consider for those of us who havent tried the New Dry "Off" spray yet...I heard that was very good, not sticky or smelly like the old days...

[Pete Dumbleton]

I read somewhere recently that blood type is also a factor -- Reportedly, Type O is attractive to skeeters.

"Environmental Factors

While blood types are 100% genetically inherited, the environment potentially can determine which blood types in a population will be passed on more frequently to the next generation. It does this through natural selection. Specific ABO blood types are thought to be linked with increased or decreased susceptibility to particular diseases. For instance, individuals with type A blood are at a somewhat higher risk of contracting smallpox and developing cancer of the esophagus, pancreas, and stomach. People who are type O are at a higher risk for contracting cholera and plague as well as developing duodenal and peptic ulcers. Research suggests that they are also more tasty to mosquitoes. That could be a significant factor in contracting malaria."

http://anthro.palomar.edu/blood/ABO_system.htm

[bonnie w]

Years ago my husband and I were camping around Port Angeles. We were listening to the Ranger about nature things There was a bleacher type seating so we could all hear and see. Listening intently we all began to hear the most annoying buzzing sound exactly like some hearing aide that someone needed adjusting. Finally the older man fessed up that it was him and admitting he didn't have a hearing problem, but found it drove the mosquitoes away --- yah and noone wanted to sit near him. Ok now we'll all ask for old cast off hearing aides !