8 Ways To Avoid Mosquito Bites When Travelling
- August 5, 2019
- in Pest Control
- by Ashley Dando
- 71
- 0
Summer is the most fun time of the year, and everyone has at least one week of vacation. Travelling to far away and exotic places may sound amazing, but it does come with its risks, and mosquitoes are one of them. While you may be able to live with a few itchy bites, the greatest danger of mosquitoes lies in the diseases they can carry. These are serious life-threatening conditions such as malaria, the dengue fever or the Zika virus. Luckily there are a few methods of avoiding these nasty insects, and in this article, we’ll talk about a few ways to avoid mosquito bites when travelling.
8 Ways To Avoid Mosquito Bites When Travelling:
1. Use Insect Repellent
When travelling to an exotic place known to have mosquito problems, it’s highly recommended to be well equipped with insect repellent. You can go prepared and get some from home, or you can buy it locally.
It’s best to apply the repellent whenever you are going outside, especially during the evening. Apply it as often as needed (depending on how long that product offers protection for), and make sure to cover all exposed areas of the body.
Carefully read the ingredients to avoid any allergies and follow the instructions on the label when applying it.
2. Wear Appropriate Clothing
As mentioned before, it is important to protect all exposed areas of the skin and you can do this with clothing or insect repellents. But instead of wearing very short clothes and having to apply huge quantities of repellent, why not wear longer clothes that cover a larger surface of your body.
Yes, we know that long-sleeved clothes do not fit with warm climates, but that doesn’t mean you will have to wear jeans and a hoodie. There are plenty of long-sleeved clothes that are very thin and do not keep warm. Just look at what the locals are wearing and do the same.
3. Avoid Mosquito Hotspots
The best way to stay protected against mosquitoes would be to avoid them in the first place. So before buying the plane ticket and booking the hotel, search if that specific area is a mosquito hotspot.
If it is, then you might want to choose another destination. You can find plenty of information online about each place, and make sure to read the comments and reviews posted by other tourists who went there. Hotels and travel agencies might not want to share this information, but other people will do.
4. Remove Standing Water
Standing water is the perfect breeding environment for mosquitoes and it definitely attracts them. So try to avoid leaving various items containing water on the balcony of your hotel room or on the porch of the rented home. This includes glasses of water, mugs, cups, buckets and even the spades used by the young ones on the beach.
5. Avoid Certain Times of The Day
This depends on the species, but most mosquitoes are active at dusk and dawn. These times of the day are a bit cooler and less windy, which makes it great for people to spend time outdoors, but also for mosquitoes.
Especially if you are in a mosquito hotspot, try to plan most of your activities during the day, when there are less of these nasty insects around.
6. Wear Light Coloured Clothing
Another known fact about these nasty insects is that they are attracted to dark colours. So wearing light coloured clothes can help you avoid them. Don’t wear too bright colours either, as they can attract other insects such as wasps. Stick to neutral or pastel coloured clothing.
Don’t rely just on this method, but combine it with the other ones presented here.
7. Use a Mosquito Net
It happened to all of us to wake up in the morning with red and itchy mosquito bites on our body. This is because if it has all the needed conditions, a mosquito will feed until late into the night.
It’s not necessary to apply insect repellent during the night (unless in an area full of mosquitos), but it is highly important to have a mosquito net installed. You can do this yourself if you have mosquitos at home, but when travelling this is the responsibility of the hotel or host.
So make sure to find accommodation in a place that has mosquito nets around the beds and/or insect screens on the doors and windows.
8. Keep Air Circulating
As mentioned before, mosquitoes prefer the dusk and the dawn because they are less windy. And this is because they are not strong fliers, and the currents of air will keep them away. So make sure to leave a fan or two turned on during the night. Not only it will keep you chill, but it will also keep mosquitoes away.
What To Eat To Keep Mosquitoes Away
These tiny but dangerous insects find their prey based on smell. They are looking for sources of carbon dioxide and lactic acid, which will eventually lead them to warm-blooded animals or humans. This also explains why mosquitoes seem to bother you more when you are working out and sweating, as that’s when you are emitting more of those two substances.
Most mosquito repellents do not have a bad smell that the insects don’t like, but they rather cover the smell of carbon dioxide and lactic acid. So basically when you are wearing that substance, the mosquitoes simply can’t smell you, so they leave you alone.
You might have noticed that some people attract mosquitoes more than others, and this is because of their smell and not because of their blood type. Each person has a distinctive smell composed of multiple aromatic compounds, and some people are simply magnets to these insects.
A common food known to keep mosquitoes away is garlic. It works both from the odour on your breath and from the sulphur compounds, you emit through your skin. The only problem is that it will keep other people away too.
While this is not the safest method and it doesn’t offer total protection, you can combine it with some of the previously mentioned ways to avoid mosquito bites when travelling. Plus, you will benefit from the many health benefits of garlic.
Signs of Mosquitoes
So now you know what to do about mosquitoes when travelling, but what about if you have mosquitoes at home? You can’t wear insect repellent or white clothes all the time, and you can’t always sleep with the fan turned on.
Here are some of the signs that you have mosquitoes in your area and you need to take action right away:
– You hear annoying high pitched buzzing sounds during the night
– You wake up with inflamed, red or swelled bites. (by the way, did you know that the male mosquitoes feed with nectar and other sweet things, and only the females bite humans and other animals)
– You find mosquito eggs in standing water in your home (the trays of house plants, water bowls, etc.)
– You find mosquito larvae in standing water
If the mosquitoes become too annoying or you hear cases of various diseases caused by them in your area, then it’s time to call a pest control company.
Mosquito Control
Safeguard Pest Control is a family-owned and operated company that has been operating since 1989. We have extensive knowledge and experience in this field and can provide you with professional results.
We have 30 years of experience and our employees are highly trained and skilled. They have great knowledge in this field and can provide great results for all types of buildings. We offer pest control solutions to both residential and commercial areas, as well as to schools and hospitals. We are using modern devices and safe substances that will not affect your health or the environment.
Our team of experts will arrive as soon as possible and will begin by inspecting the particularities of your own home. After finding the problem, we will come up with a custom action plan and we will get to work. We will accommodate your schedule and together we’ll find the right time to start the treatment.
Book your Safeguard mosquito inspection and treatment now by calling 07 5477 6675 or emailing info@safeguardpestcontrol.com.au and allow us to protect your home against mosquitoes.