All-Purpose Insect Repellent

The difficulty with all-purpose insect repellent is that no one insect repellent will repel all insects. There are so many different type of insects that nothing will deter them all. Some insects in some regions for instance have been particularly targeted, like bed bugs in New York, and so they have built up a tolerance to repellents that does not exist elsewhere.

This is not such a problem if you know the region where you are staying, because you will know the most common insect pests in your region, but what about if you go on vacation? You may take a box of your favourite mosquito ointment to Acapulco on your dream holiday only to find that there are no mosquitoes there but that the sand flies are murderous.

Mosquitoes are not actually difficult in Scotland, but midges are in the summer and mosquito repellent does not affect midges (or sand flies) even though they get up to the same type of monkey business. The key is local knowledge. Before you go anywhere try to do some research on local nuisance insects.

In fact, unless you know that your favourite mosquito repellent works where you are going, there is not much point taking it with you, because the locals will already have the best repellents for their own particular local problem insects. The only potential exception is a cream with a high percentage of DEET.

It may be illegal where you are going to sell a cream containing more than 25% DEET, but you feel far less at risk with 50%. I know that I would feel far less at risk with 50% DEET, if I were going to Gambia, where the world's most deadly mosquitoes lives.

Another insecticide that kills pretty much all insects (except bed bugs) is permethrin, but you might not be able to buy it where you are going. The difference between DEET and permethrin is that DEET repels mosquitoes by confusing their senses - in essence, you slip under their RADAR - but permethrin kills insects.

This bewilderment works for lots of insects that perceive their prey by carbon dioxide emissions like ticks and possibly bed bugs. Permethryn is not so effective against bed bugs because they have a waxy coat which does not allow the chemical to actually reach their skin, where it would kill them.

This waxy coat can be removed, but you will not have time if on vacation to do it. The overall best solution to most, but not all insect pests is putting DEET at around 25-35% on your skin, which will give you five to eight hours protection and spaying permethrin on your clothes. Permethrin can last up to six months and can survive a number of washes.

If you are sitting outdoors it is a good tactic to hang up a bug zapper - the kind that has an ultraviolet lamp inside a highly charged electric grill. A handheld racquet style bug zapper is also useful for clearing a tent or bedroom of a couple of mosquitoes or flies before retiring.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remedy for mosquito bites. If you
want to know more, please go to our {website|web
site} at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.