"Dave" writes:
Citronella burners - these seems to work in repelling mosquitos but be
prepared to inhale all those lovely fumes.

There was a flyer doing the rounds in this part of Sydney last week, with
someone trying to flog Sandlewood budda sticks as mozzie repellents. I've
never heard of sandlewood scent being repellent to mosquitoes, but you
could try it. I have used pennyroyal oil and believe it worked, but never
thought to apply it to only one side to see whether the mozzies really
were avoiding it. It burns a little, so apply sparingly to a cloth and
wipe this over the skin. It smells quite nice to humans!

I have seen American writers claiming that a particular skin lotion, not
marketed as a mosquito repellent, nevertheless does an excellent job of
keeping mozzies at bay. Many swear by it, others say they have found it
to be useless. It has a name something like Avon Skin So Soft.

Also, some say that vanilla essence (imitation) rubbed onto the skin
will ward off the mozzies. Give that a try and let us know.

I looked back over the google archives for articles on misc.consumers.
frugal-living to refresh my memory of some other recommendations that
have emerged from time to time, and chuckled at this impish note:

| Citronella oil sprays worked for me, for about half an hour.
| I had to keep reapplying.
|
| I've read good reports about bear grease and mud.

IMO, there are some species of mosquitoes so bloodthirsty that nothing
short of a thorough lathering in DEET will keep them at bay.

And when the bottle of DEET lotion says "prolonged use of this product
could be dangerous" what is the ballpark figure for the "prolonged use"
that I should avoid??? Hours? Days? Weeks? And does death by DEET come
suddenly and without warning? Inquirying minds wish to know .....
--
John Savage (for email, replace "ks" with "k" and delete "n")