3

Recently, there are quite a number of mosquito in my house even though I have no "breeding grounds" for them.

So, I intend to buy mosquito repellent for my little ones as I am concern of the dengue virus that might spread by these little pesky mosquito.

After doing some research, I notice that in the current market, there are 2 types of mosquito repellent - one with DEET and another one with natural oil (e.g. citronella oil)

According to some websites, DEET are harmful to my little ones. Also, those using natural oil such as citronella oil also are harmful as there are reports of people getting lung cancer after inhale such oil.

So, I was wondering are there any ways to help my little ones (and also me and my spouse) from getting "love" bite from those pesky mosquito?

Improve this question
3
  • Do you have screens on the windows?
    – DA01
    Aug 31, 2012 at 17:20
  • Nope. I don't have screens on windows as it block the natural air from coming into the house.
    – Jack
    Sep 3, 2012 at 2:07
  • 2
    I'd suggest investing in screens. The reduction in air flow is minimal and likely a MUCH better option than having your kids sleep in Deet. Barring that, get some mosquito netting to sleep under (but then you might as well put screens on the windows.)
    – DA01
    Sep 3, 2012 at 2:41

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3

Per your comment, you don't have screens on the windows. The screens do serve a purpose, and that's to keep insects out of the house. I'd say that's by far the safest and easiest option for keeping mosquitoes out of the house. Deet isn't the safest product and, even if it was perfectly safe, no one wants to sleep all night every night coated in sticky bug spray.

As for worrying about air flow, I can't imagine a screen could possibly reduce air flow by any more than maybe 10%. If that's a concern, perhaps invest in a window fan to boost it.

Improve this answer
1
  • As per my answer, adding a fan to the mix may also cut down on mosquitos (although it's questionable how solid that is). That said, adding screens should be the first step. DA01 is correct in that a screen shouldn't reduce air flow terribly, but if you're really concerned about it, there are a number of screens that claim to improve air flow over "traditional" screens.
    – ND Geek
    Sep 5, 2012 at 2:32
1

According to the New York Times, A well-placed house fan or two may help. I've also heard that using LED lights can reduce the number of mosquitos attraced to your area (according to eHow, there are a number of logical reasons for this, but I can't find any reputable sources to back that up). I did find a research paper that is looking at what wavelengths might attract mosquitoes, and if I'm reading their data right, they actually are suggesting that LED light still attracts mosquitoes, and some colors may attract more than others. That said, anecdotal data does suggest that LED light is better than standard or fluorescent light, for whatever reason.

Since they're inside, it sounds like they may have found a breeding ground somewhere inside you can't find, or somewhere very close to the house outside where they can get inside. You may want to call an exterminator and see if they can find the source.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    The link to advantages of LED lighting states that LED does not emit carbon dioxide (true) while other lighting does (false, except for candles!). That makes me doubt the quality of the entire article.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Aug 31, 2012 at 10:08
  • Yeah, I wouldn't consider eHow reputable, but everything else I could find seemed to be forums linking to the eHow article. I have heard from other places that LED lighting reduces the attractiveness of your area (Holmes on Homes I believe has mentioned it), but I can't vouch for it myself, and that research article I linked seems to suggest otherwise. I felt it deserved a mention, though, since it's one of the very few non-chemical methods I've heard of.
    – ND Geek
    Aug 31, 2012 at 12:59
  • I can't imagine that LED actively scares away insects, so it's not a repellant as such. But I believe that, if you must have light, then LED's are less of an attraction than regular lightbulbs because of less heat and fewer frequencies in the emitted light.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Aug 31, 2012 at 13:27
0

Actually, I found another way of repel the mosquito by installing a ceiling fan (and setting the speed to the max). My little ones have not get bitten by those mosquito ever since then.

Improve this answer
4
  • I'm confused as to why you'd be concerned about screens hampering air flow if you have ceiling fans on high-power anyways.
    – DA01
    Sep 7, 2012 at 15:21
  • @DA01 We are concern about the air flow because or maybe we like to have the wind from the natural surrounding blowing us. By the way, the ceiling fans are just installed recently (which I actually do not like to have ceiling fan cause they are hard to clean but at least, the mosquito cannot land on our body because of the wind cause by the ceiling fan.)
    – Jack
    Sep 10, 2012 at 1:07
  • Ok, well, to each their own. Ceiling fans are a whole lot more expensive than screens, though.
    – DA01
    Sep 10, 2012 at 3:18
  • @DA01 I just hope that one day, someone maybe can invent a type of light bulb that work like or sort of like infra-red security system that you place on the windows. When it is turn one, the mosquito went past the light, its wings will be "chop" off or get zapped. Then I will not need to worry about the air flow and also the cleaning of the ceiling fans.
    – Jack
    Sep 10, 2012 at 4:17

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .