12 Tips to Protect Yourself from Bug Bites

Mosquito Sucking Blood_set A-2

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No matter where you live, city or country, on the East coast or on the West coast, summer is here. And with summer comes flowers, sunshine, beach vacations, oh yes, and those nasty, ugly, biting bugs.  Those little buggers are everywhere the minute the weather warms up.

Find that you or your kids are getting overrun by the creepy crawlies? Do you have bites on top of bites? Try our list of the top 12 ways to keep them away or, if they have already struck, ways to make the itch stop itching.

 

1.  Protect your skin by wearing long sleeved shirts, pants, socks.

The first rule of thumb, most bugs can’t bite through clothing, so by wearing clothes that cover more skin, the less chance you have of being bit. Wear light colored solids. For some reason, bugs dig those paisley prints and the goth look.

 

2. Stay inside

Of course, this isn’t much fun, but right around sunrise and sundown, mosquitoes come outside and do their little biting dance so if all else fails, stay inside until the mosquito show is over.

 

3. Use unscented products

Don’t wear perfumes, scented sun screens or suntan lotions. Bugs like good smelling people as much as we do, it appears.

 

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4.  Use bug lights

You’ve seen them, those yellow light bulbs that look like little glowing lemons? Bugs don’t like those the way they like white light so install yellow bulbs ( you’ll find them at hardware stores listed as bug lights) in all outdoor fixtures.

 

5. Eliminate all standing water

Mosquitoes breed in standing water, not running water. So be sure to empty buckets, kids toys, Fluffy’s water bowl ( remember to refill it with fresh water) , plastic pots, garbage cans, clogged rain gutters, bird baths, even your kids blow up pool should be emptied every few days to keep mosquitoes from breeding.

 

6.  Encourage natural predators

If you have a pond, stock it with fish, goldfish will do just fine, they eat mosquito larvae. Leaving seeds and water out for birds will bring them to your yard where, besides seeds, they will eat bugs. Many garden centers sell natural predators such as ladybugs, spiders, and praying mantis. You might want to build bat houses and place them around your property. Bats cat eat poundsof bugs every single night.

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