A Low-Tech Mosquito Deterrent • Hacker News Board

Re: A Low-Tech Mosquito Deterrent

#191

Post by scott_karana » Wed, Jul 17, 2013, 9:02 PM UTC

deftnerd wrote: post #128

scott_karana wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also don't ever mix [permethrin] with DEET, because the combination is neurotoxic. Do you have a citation for that? It's well known that permethrin is a neurotoxin to fish and cats, but I've never heard of this DEET+permethrin combination.

NEUROTOXICITY RESULTING FROM COEXPOSURE TO PYRIDOSTIGMINE BROMIDE, DEET, AND PERMETHRIN: IMPLICATIONS OF GULF WAR CHEMICAL EXPOSURES Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health; Volume 48, Issue 1, 1996 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/009841096161456

Thank you :)

Re: A Low-Tech Mosquito Deterrent

#192

Post by KMag » Wed, Jul 17, 2013, 11:11 PM UTC

raamdev wrote: post #107

My low-tech deterrent? A lifetime of avoiding deterrents. My body seems to have developed a natural resistance to them. I grew up in New Hampshire, not exactly as extreme as Alaska but a place where there are certainly plenty of mosquitos in the summer. I went camping a few weekends ago in the White Mountains and had 10 mosquitos biting my arm as soon as I stopped moving. So what's my deterrent? My body. It seems to…

I grew up in Minnesota, with a swampy riverbank full of mosquitos in my back yard. I also used to react to mosquito bites, until I took the wilderness survival merit badge class at Tomahawk Scout Reservation in Wisconsin. Sleeping outside in mosquito infested woods, without shelter, also made me resistant to mosquito bites.

I feel the bite itself, but I don't swell up or itch at all. I also no longer wear repellant, except when I'm at an elevated risk for getting wood ticks or deer ticks.

Re: A Low-Tech Mosquito Deterrent

#193

Post by KMag » Wed, Jul 17, 2013, 11:22 PM UTC

joonix wrote: post #131

raamdev wrote: post #107

My low-tech deterrent? A lifetime of avoiding deterrents. My body seems to have developed a natural resistance to them. I grew up in New Hampshire, not exactly as extreme as Alaska but a place where there are certainly plenty of mosquitos in the summer. I went camping a few weekends ago in the White Mountains and had 10 mosquitos biting my arm as soon as I stopped moving. So what's my deterrent? My body. It seems to…

Mosquitos are terrible in Texas (the humid part) and would bite me all the time (grew up there). Now I'm in NYC the last few months, and I don't think I've been bitten even once. Or, I am being bitten, but I don't notice because my immune system doesn't react to the bites at all. I find this very interesting. Does anyone have thoughts on this? FWIW I never used insect repellants growing up.

I lived in NYC for just under 8 years, and I don't think I noticed being bitten by a mosquito even once. There just aren't that many mosquitos in NYC.

When I go back home to Minnesota, I notice being bitten when I'm out in the wilderness, even though I no longer have an immune reaction to the bites.

Though, I suppose it's possible that NYC has some species of mosquito that is less attracted to the head and doesn't buzz in the ears so much, and bites more subtly than the mosquitos in Minnesota or Texas.

Re: A Low-Tech Mosquito Deterrent

#194

Post by will_work4tears » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:16 AM UTC

jofer wrote: post #181

will_work4tears wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anchorage is south.

Yes. That's what I was saying. The mosquitoes can be even worse in the extreme north of Alaska than they are in southeast Alaska.

Ah, gotcha, the wording just made it seem like you were saying : "The north is bad, Anchorage, for example...ect."

sorry.

Re: A Low-Tech Mosquito Deterrent

#195

Post by retr0h » Mon, Jul 22, 2013, 2:20 AM UTC

kragen wrote: post #141

retr0h wrote: post #49

Years ago my buddy took a tour of the Amazon. His guide took them to a tree, ripped the bark off, exposing a den of termites. The guide instructed everyone to grab a handful of termites, smash them up, and wipe the resulting guts on their exposed arms and faces.

To stop other insects? Did people get bitten by the termites?

Not that he mentioned. He just reached in there, grabbed some termites, and squashed them up.