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#137668 - 08/15/10 12:17 PM pets and mosquitos
Jimshaw Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 3983
Loc: Bend, Oregon
When Bigfoot and I were camped in the Cascades about a month ago, the mosquitos nearly carried us off, but the subject here is pets. Bigfoots dog Benie was chewed alive. We covered him with his blanket but even though he pulled his head under it, the bugs still got him. I told Bigfoot to sew a piece of mosquito netting to the end of Benies Blanket so he could cover the dogs face with it. I also suggested a mosquito headnet for dogs. Now I'm trying to design a mosquito headnet for a Llama.

I have a mosquito net teepee and when I got up at 7:15, bigfoot and Benie had been sitting under it since 5:30 am. I slept in a small tent with mosquito screening, but bf was in a hammock without netting and his DEET had exploded inside his first aid kit because he came up from sa level and didn't purge the bottle before going to altitude.

Please consider your canine buddy as you smear DEET on yourself.
Jim
_________________________
These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.

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#137777 - 08/18/10 03:12 AM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: Jimshaw]
chimpac Offline
member

Registered: 04/06/09
Posts: 148
Loc: alberta,can.
Mosquitos do not like smoke. When I am burning my woodstove under a tarp I put green stuff on the stove to make a bit of smoke.

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#137782 - 08/18/10 01:37 PM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: chimpac]
GDeadphans Offline
member

Registered: 12/26/08
Posts: 382
Loc: Maine/New Jersey
purge the can? Really? I never knew that.
_________________________
"To me, hammocking is relaxing, laying, swaying. A steady slow morphine drip without the risk of renal failure." - Dale Gribbel

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#137803 - 08/18/10 11:33 PM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: GDeadphans]
Jimshaw Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 3983
Loc: Bend, Oregon
All,
Yeh purge bottles before or as you go to altitude. If you left the tops loose most things would be ok but then they might tip and spill, but as one who often went from sealevel to 10,000' in a day, your toothpaste, sunlotion, alcohol bottle, canteen, etc can "explode" either in your pack or when you open it. Might want to tap a bottle down on a rock a couple times so the gas bubble is in the top above the liquids, then scrack the top and hopefully let off the pressure without incident.

Anyway DEET is horrible but it works. I carry a bottle of 100% DEET in liquid form but I wait to see if theres mosquitos before I'll pull it out.

My dog likes to sleep under an old bath towel as shes part greyhoound and short haired. I'm going to sew a piece of no-see-um cloth onto the side of a towel for her.
Jim
_________________________
These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.

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#137808 - 08/19/10 01:37 AM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: Jimshaw]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
That's why Hysson sleeps in my tent. IMHO, he deserves a bug-free space, too. In return, he keeps my feet warm!
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

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#137819 - 08/19/10 12:18 PM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: Jimshaw]
dkramalc Offline
member

Registered: 09/19/03
Posts: 1070
Loc: California
Jimshaw - have you tried the lemon eucalyptus oil repellent? It certainly works well enough for me, and is much less "horrible". A Wall St. Journal article several years back rated it as effective as 21% DEET. It keeps mosquitoes off, but not for as long (a couple of hours, which is fine for me)as 100% DEET (I think that stuff lasts 6-8 hours, but it's been 15 years since I've used that).

(I have no connection to this product, I just happen to like it after having finally tried it this summer in some fairly nasty mosquito times, i.e. 30-40 mosquitoes landing on my arms within a minute or so without repellent).

I found one curious thing, possibly related to your comment about purging bottles. The spray dispenser for the lemon eucalyptus worked fine at sea level, then would not work when I got to 8000 feet (I ended up just wiping it on), even after purging. The next morning it worked fine (having cooled off?) but ceased to work again after it warmed up. Same experience next day. I transferred it to a different spray bottle (left over from an older repellent) when I got home, and the next trip it worked just fine, so it's something about that manufacturer's spray design (Repel). Or possibly that one particular unit had a malfunction.

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#137830 - 08/19/10 05:56 PM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: dkramalc]
Jimshaw Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 3983
Loc: Bend, Oregon
I think Oregon early season mosquitos are indifferent to any "organic" solution that I've seen. It seems that only pure DEET of nets work. I wouldn't want to put anything on my dog that she would lick off.
Jim
_________________________
These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.

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#137845 - 08/20/10 01:11 PM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: Jimshaw]
ndsol Offline
member

Registered: 04/16/02
Posts: 678
Loc: Houston, Texas
I had that happen to me last week with a bottle of sun screen. It was last opened at sea level and when I went to put some on at over 14,000', the stuff shot out. At least the bottle didn't explode in my pack.

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#137883 - 08/21/10 01:09 PM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: Jimshaw]
dkramalc Offline
member

Registered: 09/19/03
Posts: 1070
Loc: California
Well, since I'm retiring in 6 weeks, I'm hoping we can visit a friend in Portland next season and hike with him. Maybe I'll get a chance to try the stuff against your mosquitoes.

I do know that my old non-DEET choice, Bite Blocker, which was rated less effective than lemon eucalyptus, worked fine in SE Alaska about 10 years ago when I was there in summer. Those are the only two "herbal" type repellents that have ever worked at all for me, but they've both been pretty good. Bite Blocker is a little thicker and tends to gum up its spray bottle, but smells less obnoxious (kind of vanilla spice-y) and might even be non-toxic for pets, not sure (active ingredient is actually some sort of modified soy oil). I would not put the lemon eucalyptus on a pet, for sure.

I saw something in my local drugstore a while back that was similar to an air freshener cage, you put refills into it and are supposed to wear the thing to keep mosquitoes away. If it works, it might be something you could hang off a dog's collar. Don't remember what it was called, though.
_________________________
dk

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#147955 - 03/18/11 05:52 AM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: dkramalc]
squark Offline
member

Registered: 03/14/11
Posts: 66
Loc: SF bay area, CA
Do you find topicals such as Frontline or Advantage to be ineffective?

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#147962 - 03/18/11 01:07 PM Re: pets and mosquitos [Re: OregonMouse]
skcreidc Offline
member

Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 1590
Loc: San Diego CA
OM's response is why I haven't gone over to hammock. I want a tent to protect my dog. Advantix works well for ticks, but only so-so for skeeters.

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