Mosquito tablets, plug in mosquito repellents and pets

RG, I might have an answer for you, because I purchased a clothing insect repellent to prepare for my trip to Bhutan and India next month. I bought the Sawyer treatment with Permethrin. It's supposed to be effective for about six washes, so I soaked one pants and one long-sleeved shirt to wear in the low-lands (under 6,000 ft) where they are most prevalent.

I'm looking for information about something a little different. I don't want to use any topical repellents (e.g. to put on skin or clothes). I want to use heat released repellents for a room.

Some of them (like the mosquito candles) seem to tend to be based on natural solutions like citronella oil and others seem to be based on toxic insecticides.

I'd rather not smoke up the room with candles or coils so I am interested in the plug in heat released systems. I'd be thrilled if they work with citronella oil and the like, but can't find a lot of information about their active ingredients and what I found seems to indicate an insecticide.

It may well be the same insecticide you are using topically, but I want to use it in the plug in systems and I suspect the differences in application translate into different toxicity dangers for my pets.

For example, with the sprays and the like I can just keep it away from my pets and not use it near them. They sleep with me and like to lick so I don't like that solution too much.

On the other hand, I would like to know if the heat released systems that put it in the air are also harmful to them in those doses.

Have you ever tried fabric softener?

You're not kidding about info being hard to find.

This is likely of no damn use to you...but just in case:

There's stuff being sold that purports to combine citronella with heat release pad...ie it's a lantern where a small candle sits beneath the pad and warms the pad which is imbued with citronella.

It's alleged not to be smoky.....

It's sold here for outdoor use...like on outdoor dinner tables...and, like most citronella, doesn't do very much out doors (I have friends who have tried it) but I do wonder if, unless you find a pad that is safe for all of you, if it might not be worth a try on your balcony....(is that where the bastards are coming from? I assume your other windows are meshed?)

I have a problem of them coming inside because I leave the screen door to my balcony open a tad for Miranda. You can get automatic low level pyrethrum sprayers that come on at dusk to zap the little buggers that lurk on the balcony.

I just pyrethrum spray the balcony by hand every few days (but my balcony is quite enclosed) and zap the bedroom with pyrethrum if they are about (you may not want to do this.)


If you get a little burner designed for diffusing aromatic oils (you know the ones where a little bowl of water sits above a tea candle) you can put citronella in that, and it will diffuse the citronella without smoke.

I found one citronella heating pad being sold online, but it was from China, and frankly, with their quality control I wouldn't dream of buying it.

Closing my balcony doors from dusk until it is really dark limits the number of mozzies that try to come in.


Anyhoo, sorry I can't be of help re what you want...but this may bump the thread at least.

This claims it works. I wonder if anyone has ever used it...
http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/

http://www.mypatioplace.com/shopexd.asp?id=919
We have something like the above...not as expensive and it works pretty good. I can't find my model online. I will have to keep looking.

Carbon monoxide attracts them - the link explains how it works.

I meant Carbon DIOXIDE...sorry -

here is what mine is like - http://www.totalvac.com/parts/skeetervac.html

mismi, What interested me most is the garlic to repel insects. I wonder if regular, raw, garlic taken internally will help? It's an interesting idea that I would like to pursue if possible, because of my travels to countries with malaria, and I would like to do something else other than the pills given to me that I must take two days before, during, and one week after my trip.

I've seen those mosquito traps and such, but am looking for more specific information about something else (those devices are no mystery to me).

But I'm glad mismi took the time to tell us about those "other" ways for insect repellent.

Story goes that taking the right dosage of vitamin B-12 repels mosquitos. It's not a harmful dosage, so why not give that a try, CI? I have no idea of the effect of B-12 on animals.

roger, There are links also to vit B1. What do you think?

Take a closer look at Deet. It has a bad rep, but its rep is wholly undeserved. There is no evidence it hurts anyone, dog or human... and is easily the most effective solution. It has a very long benign track record and is actually recommended by the CDC.

My thoughts are that they are both cheap and harmless in reasonable dosage, so why not?

I've been lucky with mosquitos, anyway. They don't like me as well as they do most people. When I get bit, people around me are bleeding out.

I don't want a topical solution for a variety of reasons, one of which are that I don't just want to not be bitten, I don't want them flying around.

As to spraying an insecticide around all the time I prefer the cleaner solution of a time-released system.

They are very common in the pacific regions, I used them all the time while growing up but I can't find any good information about them on the internet.

For people looking for something other than DEETS.

http://www.govisithawaii.com/2008/03/27/how-to-repel-mosquitoes-with-new-deet-alternatives/

Then Deet is definitely not the answer. It doesn't kill mosquitos.

Maybe you should consider a Mosquito Magnet. These do work; but you have to pre-empt the mosquitoes... because they work by trapping them before they breed.

To be honest, I'll probably just go with the $5 device I was asking about, I know it works very well (in a few minutes all the mosquitoes in a room drop dead) and I don't think they would be dangerous to my pets.

I'd prefer to know that they aren't but I'm not counting on being able to find that info.

Thank You C.I. - you are kind.

Apparently garlic is not a shoe in to work every time.

Mosquitoes according to this Wiki article (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_garlic_repel_mosquitoes) have a very narrow ability to smell. Lactic acid and Carbon dioxide being what they are normally attracted to. There are several things that are like citronella that are suppose to mask the co2 and the lactic acid - That is my understanding anyway. I will do more research and let you know. Mosquitoes are horrible down here as well, which is why we purchased that mosquito trap thingy. It works pretty well. We still get the occastional bites - but it is nothing compared to what it was.

http://www.gomestic.com/Gardening/Five-Plants-That-Repel-Mosquitoes.34525
You could plant plants

C.I. I have been reading in a number of places where vitamin b complex and garlic work very well.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=519239