General 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 species of insects that nothing will deter them all. Some insects in some areas for example have been especially focused, like bed bugs in New York, and so they have developed a tolerance to repellents that does not exist elsewhere.

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

Mosquitoes are not really a problem in Scotland, but midges are in the summer and mosquito repellent does not have an effect on midges (or sand flies) even though they get up to the same type of monkey business. The key is local information. Before you go anywhere attempt to do some research on local problem insects.

In fact, unless you know that your favourite mosquito repellent works where you are going, there is not a lot of point taking it with you, since the locals will already have the best repellents for their own specific 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 over 25% DEET, but you feel safer 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 toxic mosquitoes lives.

Another insecticide that kills pretty much all insects (except bed bugs) is permethrin, but you may not be able to get it where you are going. The difference between DEET and permethrin is that DEET deters mosquitoes by baffling their senses – basically, you slip under their RADAR – but permethrin kills insects.

This confusion works for plenty of insects that detect their prey by carbon dioxide emissions like ticks and possibly bed bugs. Permethrin is not so effectual against bed bugs because they have a waxy coat which does not allow the chemical to actually get to their skin, where it would kill them.

This waxy coat can be removed, but you will not have time when on vacation to do it. The overall best solution to most, but not all insect pests is putting DEET at about 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 several washes.

If you are sitting outdoors it is a good idea 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 author of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.