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bug spray that's better than DEET

3 months ago by ThorrJo to c/camping

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Tried the (relatively) new picaridin bug spray (gel, actually, in my case, but there's spray and lotion as well) this season, and I am never ever going back to DEET.

No smell, no grease, no damage to synthetic fabrics, and works just as well as 90%+ DEET formulations if not better. Tested in deep woods crawling with ticks and inundated with mosquitoes. Major success.

Just thought I'd share as a bonus for my fellow federated campers who haven't heard of this stuff yet. 5/5 stars, A+++++ would slather again!

supernicepojo 20 points 3 months ago

Catnip and witchhazel. Always works great for me, doesnt smell great but I dont get eaten

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bran_buckler 23 points 3 months ago

I just saw this article in the feed about catnip! I never knew… Repel bugs, attract cats!? I’m into it!

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GraniteM 2 points 3 months ago

How do you prepare the stuff?

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supernicepojo 2 points 3 months ago

Tincture works great, a bit of boiling required but altogether pretty easy. I was trying a wax method for longer application times and it seemed to work and wasnt as potent

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FartMaster69 2 points 3 months ago

Thanks for the advice wise witch of the woods.

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thesohoriots 8 points 3 months ago

Good to know, going camping next week, my spouse is a mosquito magnet, and I’m the next best target. I’ll be sure to pick some up!

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givesomefucks 8 points 3 months ago

Peppermint in the day, campfires at night.

If your only concern is mosquitoes you can get by with peppermint gum because they locate based on the CO2 we exhale. But if you're worried about ticks slap it on any exposed skin.

It sounds like pseudo-science mumbo jumbo, but it works:

The application of oil resulted in 100% protection till 150 min. After next 30 min, only 1-2 bites were recorded as compared with 8-9 bites on the control arm.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3609176/

There's absolutely no reason to spray DEET or any other chemical all over your skin when literally just peppermint oil provides equal if not better protection with zero possible side effects besides children stalking you thru the woods.

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Onomatopoeia 5 points 3 months ago

Peppermint is worth a try, but from my experience it doesn't work (didn't work for me). May work for someone else though.

But put it on your skin? I don't think so.

I've had great luck with picaradin though.

And peppermint is a "chemical" too. Just get it in your eye or the oil on your skin and you'll find out how safe it is (it's relatively safe, like many things).

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givesomefucks 1 point 3 months ago

Our findings demonstrate that larval salamanders suffer severe mortality and developmental deformities owing to environmentally relevant exposures to a commercially available repellent containing the active ingredient picaridin. Our experiments also demonstrate that larval salamanders are an important predator of larval mosquitos, which appear to be unaffected by exposure to repellents containing DEET or picaridin. Ecosystems contaminated with picaridin repellent may be at risk of further declines in salamander populations.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6227861/

Peppermint doesn't remove one of mosquitoes biggest predators from the food chain.

Using peppermint oil instead of picaradin means less mosquitoes so even when you forget your designer chemical, you will be but less.

For purely selfish reasons you should use peppermint, I hope that convinces you since nothing else has.

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BeMoreCareful 1 point 3 months ago

That sucks. How are they getting exposed?

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givesomefucks 1 point 3 months ago

Picaridin-containing repellents are used by humans to repel insects, and may end up in aquatic ecosystems. The picaridin-containing repellent we tested did not directly affect mosquito larvae survival or development, but trace concentrations of it caused substantial mortality of larval salamanders under laboratory conditions. We hypothesize that a loss of predators may in turn increase the emergence of mosquitos in impacted ecosystems, which can possibly trigger increased application of picaridin repellent and thus lead to a positive feedback loop. (Online version in colour.)

1 of the only 2 pictures is about how this happens...

You really should have been able to see that if you clicked the link.

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OwOarchist 4 points 3 months ago

zero possible side effects besides children stalking you thru the woods.

I'm concerned about the children.

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givesomefucks 4 points 3 months ago

If they didn't chase peppermint scented hikers, they'd be eating old lady's houses...

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massive_bereavement 2 points 3 months ago

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givesomefucks 1 point 3 months ago

Picaridin or deet are methods to cover that odor

Buddy, I already know you haven't fucked with peppermint oil...

It repels virtually every pest because of how strong that mint smell is, that's the entire reason the mint smell evolved. Humans are the weird ones for liking it, and the reason we're the exception is our sense of smell is terrible.

For almost every other animal/insect it's like pepperspray, it's so strong it actually hurts insects and rodents.

I'm not saying those chemicals don't work, I'm saying given the choice between some crazy chemical and crushed up benign plant leaves...

Just use the leaves bro.

Not only is it cheaper, it won't give you cancer or fuck up future children you may have.

It's a no brainer risk assessment call

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TheBloodFarts 1 point 3 months ago

Loudly and confidently pushing your opinions means nothing. If you want to make claims like this you've got to have research to back it up. These kinds of claims are the basis of anti-vaccine-type arguments

Feel free to use peppermint oil if you find it works well for you, but there's a difference between anecdotal and real evidence

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givesomefucks 3 points 3 months ago

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massive_bereavement 0 points 3 months ago

Sure, send me your paper and I'll read it.

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givesomefucks 3 points 3 months ago

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sandwich 5 points 3 months ago

I have converted to covering up and treating my clothes with permethrin. They say the bottle covers X number of garments but I don’t have to go that heavy (and I go to buggy places). It’s amazing, no nasty stuff on your skin. If you have cats read the label though.

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massive_bereavement 5 points 3 months ago

When doing field work, we use DEET over our clothes because we get right into mosquito country, but when I just need to spray myself or the kids in more informal situations, I definitely would recommend picaridin for just how easier is on skin. Just anyone looking for advice here, make sure it's concentrated enough.

Note: Gel is way better as spray tends to evaporate sooner from skin, and you can pair it with a pyrethroid smoke coil, just be aware that, like most kinds of smoke, it is not good for your health.

Finally, mosquitoes are lame flyers as they exchanged strength for stealth, so a windy area might help.

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TacoButtPlug 3 points 3 months ago

i just read catnip spray works

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BeMoreCareful 2 points 3 months ago

You just need to have a smattering of kittens and they'll punch the mosquitoes for you, so it's an indirect effect, but still more effective than deet.

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hereiamagain 3 points 3 months ago

I've also had great success with picaridin! Though I used the dry powder spray.

It's been in my rotation for a year or two now, works great.

Except for whatever reason, last weekend, it seemed to worked a little, but largely not. We got absolutely destroyed. We planned 3 days 2 nights, but we cut out the second day.

I've seen thick clouds of mosquitoes before, this wasn't that. But there were plenty of them, and no matter how often we reapplied, we got bit.

Only in the direct sun were we safe. Or if the wind picked up for a bit.

I'm not against picaridin, I'll try it again. But I wished I had some deet with me to do an A/B comparison.

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asdfasdfasdf 1 point 3 months ago

https://nantucketspider.com/

I'm a big fan of this. It's been super effective for me, and people in reviews say they even used it for trips to Africa and it was great.

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