Mosquito Problem In Central Bangkok At Present

[FalangBaa]

In the past month, I've noticed a massive escalation in the number of mosquitoes entering my apartment. I wake up every morning itching and covered in bumps. Then I have to go around the apartment killing dozens of them in the dark places where they hide after drinking their fill of the red stuff.

I live on the 20th floor of a building on lower Sukhumvit. They seem to be coming in through the open windows during the daylight hours. After about 6 p.m., I always close all the windows and switch on the air con. I have lived in this same building since January 2012. I NEVER noticed any mosquitoes entering until about one month ago, but now their numbers seem to be increasing by the day. Being on the 20th floor, I never expected to be bothered by them at that height. What is becoming more worrying is that I have noticed a different species of mosquito entering in the past few days. Previously, it was only the smaller species with a dark black body and black legs. Now I'm also getting the much larger species which has longer black and white striped legs. I believe that is the species that can carry dengue fever.

Does anyone know what is the risk that I could come down with dengue? Bear in mind that I seem to be getting bitten multiple times every night, including by the big species now. I really would like to avoid this, but I don't want to cover my body with DEET spray every night. There hasn't been a tremendous amount of rain in Bangkok this year so far, so I'm puzzled why the mosquito numbers have skyrocketed in the past 4-6 weeks. I'm also very surprised that they fly up to the 20th floor of a building, and during the daytime hours too, even with bright sunshine around. Has anyone else noticed this problem if you live on a high floor of a building? They are just about driving me crazy at the moment. Of course, the solution would be to keep all the windows closed during the day as well as at night, but I don't really want to be breathing air con air 24 hours a day...

[stoneyboy]

Kill them with a tennis racket mozzie zapper before you sleep,shake those curtains,dark places and such and wake up mozzie bite free,failing that buy a mozzie net for the bed ( bit extreme I know) or one of those mozzie proof tents.

[Poke]

rainy season is always worse

most cities have mosquito eradication programs. our fair town the money goes missing.

there are four strains of dengue fever and you risk getting them all

[meom]

I thought dengue mosquito's only sting in the day time.

[Sateev]

If they're up that high, look for a local breeding source, i.e., a pool of water: a bucket on an unused balcony, or suchlike on the same or a nearby floor. Doesn't take much stagnant water to create a mosquito factory...

[sysardman]

Well to start with you need a mosquito net for your bed so you are not bitten when sleeping. If you have been bitten many times then you've allowed the female to breed and produce more of the little critters so it's important to try to kill any that bite you. If you don't know it's only the female that bites because she needs a blood meal to produce eggs. Also look around for any sources of standing water because this is where they will lay the eggs so remove any you find.

As it's monsoon season then you can expect the mozzie population to increase but being in Bangkok I think you would be very unlucky to catch dengue. I think the countyside is where the most risks are because the mosquitoes may have bitten all types of animals that in turn may be carrying diseases.

As you've noticed the 'dawn and dusk' biting time is by no means a reliable guide, the mozzies here bite 24/7 so you have to be on your guard all the time.

[Xonax]

The only mossies we have on 26th floor, is the ones that we bring home, every time we buy fresh fruit in markets or supermarkets. It seems like the mossies specially like to hide in bananas, while many other fruits often contains ants.

If you install a large fan in the room, the mossies will have difficaulties to navigate around. Baygon mossie spray (the one without strong smell) as well as a mosquito net over the bed will work.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Xonax

[duncanb]

2000 baht or so will buy you a mosquito screen for the window, so you still get fresh air, no chemicals and mosquito free sleep.

[sysardman]

2000 baht or so will buy you a mosquito screen for the window, so you still get fresh air, no chemicals and mosquito free sleep.

Wow a bit expensive, I had a custom screen door made for 500Baht - I would advise shopping around. You can even buy the netting and some wood and make a cheapie youself - not rocket science.

[Familyonthemove]

Mossies don't gerally travel far - so as others have said - check for stagnant water on other balconies - plant pots are a big issue.

Use window screens to keep then out during the day - and always check the door before entering the apartment to keep 'em out.

I only get mossies in the apartment when I get a pizza delivered - I think they've evolved to follow men in red and green uniforms riding scooters with huge top boxes.

Finally - a fan blowing over the bed is a great last line of defence - it puts 'em off their aim on the final approach during their night time bombing runs.

[maithigh]

Our mozzies travelled up to the 24th floor in the elevators. You need to "fight" them off before entering your appartment.

[Justincase]

Boy you do NOT want to catch Dengue - my wife who is Thai went down with it and it is not a pleasant virus to deal with !!

First point is that the Tiger mozzie bite at all times - day and night and is an urban dweller ! They are the main carrier for Dengue so you need to take action fast

1 ) Buy some mozzie plugs ( approx 100 Baht each ) and keep them running 24 X 7 ( suggest 1 in each room minimum )

2) Just before you go to bed close all the windows and doors and run the air conditioning at maximum cold for minimum 1 hour

3 ) If you want to have the windows open during the day you will have to put mozzie nets up

Good luck !!

[FalangBaa]

Boy you do NOT want to catch Dengue - my wife who is Thai went down with it and it is not a pleasant virus to deal with !!

First point is that the Tiger mozzie bite at all times - day and night and is an urban dweller ! They are the main carrier for Dengue so you need to take action fast

1 ) Buy some mozzie plugs ( approx 100 Baht each ) and keep them running 24 X 7 ( suggest 1 in each room minimum )

2) Just before you go to bed close all the windows and doors and run the air conditioning at maximum cold for minimum 1 hour

3 ) If you want to have the windows open during the day you will have to put mozzie nets up

Good luck !!

Point 1): I heard these mozzie plugs are very ineffective at killing, and they constantly pump out toxic chemicals into your room. Not an attractive proposition!

Point 2): Why are you suggesting closing the windows just before sleeping? Surely that would mean it has already been dark for several hours (I usually sleep after midnight) and the mozzies already become more active at dusk (around 6 p.m.). Keeping the windows open for another 6 hours after dusk is a sure way to guarantee your room is filled with them.

Point 3): They seem to be getting sucked into my room through the air con. My building has a central air con system with vents at the ceiling level, not individual air con units mounted on the wall. My guess is that the roof of the building has standing water (and probably even a large water collection tank) and the air intake for the central air con system is also on the roof. I tried closing all my windows and running the air con all day as an experiment, and the numbers of mozzies actually seemed to increase! Turning off air con and opening the windows seems to be reducing them again. But I have to close the windows by 6 p.m. again, when they start coming out in droves.

Living on the 20th floor, I never thought this would be a problem. It's getting so bad that I'm actually thinking of leaving Bangkok for a few weeks (my situation allows me to do this) for some beach area that might have less of a mosquito problem. I lived in Phuket for 1 year and never noticed a mosquito problem there, even though I was basically living right next to a jungle.

This is driving me crazy... So if anyone can recommend the best mozzie repellent (spray or ointment), I'd appreciate your advice greatly. I have one from Boots which is 50% DEET, but it seems very strong and I heard it's toxic. I also have an ointment with citronella oil, which I heard works almost as well as DEET, without being toxic. I also heard that eucalyptus oil is effective. Anyone know about that? I don't really want to cover my whole body with DEET before sleeping, if I can avoid it.

[sysardman]

Boy you do NOT want to catch Dengue - my wife who is Thai went down with it and it is not a pleasant virus to deal with !!

First point is that the Tiger mozzie bite at all times - day and night and is an urban dweller ! They are the main carrier for Dengue so you need to take action fast

1 ) Buy some mozzie plugs ( approx 100 Baht each ) and keep them running 24 X 7 ( suggest 1 in each room minimum )

2) Just before you go to bed close all the windows and doors and run the air conditioning at maximum cold for minimum 1 hour

3 ) If you want to have the windows open during the day you will have to put mozzie nets up

Good luck !!

Point 1): I heard these mozzie plugs are very ineffective at killing, and they constantly pump out toxic chemicals into your room. Not an attractive proposition!

Point 2): Why are you suggesting closing the windows just before sleeping? Surely that would mean it has already been dark for several hours (I usually sleep after midnight) and the mozzies already become more active at dusk (around 6 p.m.). Keeping the windows open for another 6 hours after dusk is a sure way to guarantee your room is filled with them.

Point 3): They seem to be getting sucked into my room through the air con. My building has a central air con system with vents at the ceiling level, not individual air con units mounted on the wall. My guess is that the roof of the building has standing water (and probably even a large water collection tank) and the air intake for the central air con system is also on the roof. I tried closing all my windows and running the air con all day as an experiment, and the numbers of mozzies actually seemed to increase! Turning off air con and opening the windows seems to be reducing them again. But I have to close the windows by 6 p.m. again, when they start coming out in droves.

Living on the 20th floor, I never thought this would be a problem. It's getting so bad that I'm actually thinking of leaving Bangkok for a few weeks (my situation allows me to do this) for some beach area that might have less of a mosquito problem. I lived in Phuket for 1 year and never noticed a mosquito problem there, even though I was basically living right next to a jungle.

This is driving me crazy... So if anyone can recommend the best mozzie repellent (spray or ointment), I'd appreciate your advice greatly. I have one from Boots which is 50% DEET, but it seems very strong and I heard it's toxic. I also have an ointment with citronella oil, which I heard works almost as well as DEET, without being toxic. I also heard that eucalyptus oil is effective. Anyone know about that? I don't really want to cover my whole body with DEET before sleeping, if I can avoid it.

I think if they are getting in your air con vents then it might be an idea to buy some of the netting that they make window screens out of and cover the vents with it. You also need to make sure that your windows and doors are screened. As I said in an earlier post that if you are careful and shop around you can get these quite cheaply. Use some insect spray a few hours before you use the room and you should be OK. People scoff at spending a bit of money if you rent a place but it's better than forking out for hospital treatment.

As for personal protection I think 50% deet does sound strong so why not buy some cheaper stuff and mix the 2 to get a weaker solution. I used to use an aerosol spray called OFF which was pretty good and I think was 35% deet but don't quote me on that. Unfortunately mozzies are really sneeky little sh*ts and often find the one spot that you didn't apply repellent. I've had them bite me on my ear lobe, eyelid and often on my toes and hand where the repellent rubs or gets washed off quickly. The best personal protection is long trousers and long sleeved shirt so you only need repellent on small exposed areas. I said I used to use OFF but as that started to get expensive I now buy some small (40ml) bottles at BigC labelled in Thai ก.ย. 15 (37 Baht) and despite the title is actually 25% deet and mix half and half with Sofell repellent which smells better and is only 12% deet.

As for sleeping you don't want to have deet on your body all night so you have no option but to do as I said about putting screens over any mozzie sized openings and spraying room before use. If it's any consolation I live in a village outside Chiang Mai in a small shop/apartment which is open all day long and is quite near one of those drainage ditches so common here (nothing more than open sewer really) and just about keep on top of the mozzie situation - the odd bite now and then when I let my guard down. I can actually do a Jackie Chan now and catch mozzies in flight with my bare hand - that's not in the Olympics (not yet)

Edited July 31, 2012 by sysardman

[samuijimmy]

Citronella spray works very well and is not chemically "toxic"....

Tesco for sure carries it, but many pharmacies too.... small bottle with pump spray and green label... around 120 baht

[ddpffft]

i have the tesco citronella spray... i will certainly never ever buy again...

in general, citronella indeed works very well - just not this one, for some reason...

i thought there might be some "binding agent" in it, which is crap(?)

it smells very strong, the mosquitos are back in 20 minutes, and its all gone in 45 or so...

i shake the bottle i spray in layers... dunno, for me it doesnt work a bit...

at home i only used citronella/neem to keep spiders and things out...

i sprayed once every 2 weeks into the window/door frames - worked perfect!

with the spray here, there is something wrong...

Edited August 1, 2012 by ddpffft

[sysardman]

Citronella spray works very well and is not chemically "toxic"....

Tesco for sure carries it, but many pharmacies too.... small bottle with pump spray and green label... around 120 baht

For those interested there is a lot of rumour about safety of DEET compared to Citronella and the like. Here is an interesting article about repellent safety from the University of Florida website.

Safety of Mosquito Repellents

The EPA has determined that the normal use of DEET does not present a health concern to the general U.S. population and is not classifiable as a human carcinogen. The American Academy of Pediatrics updated their recommendation for the use of DEET products on children (2005) to state that repellents containing DEET with a concentration of 10% appear to be as safe as products containing a 30% concentration when used according to the directions on the label. They suggest that it is acceptable to apply repellents with low concentrations of DEET to infants over 2 months old. Non-DEET repellents have not been as thoroughly studied as DEET, and may not be safe to use on children. There are no reported adverse events following use of repellents containing DEET in pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under 3 years of age. In the University of Florida research, it should be noted that one subject experienced a skin reaction when testing the efficacy of the oil of lemon eucalyptus; the subject discontinued that portion of the study.

"Natural" Products

"Natural" is a word that is sometimes used to promote "safe" products. Unfortunately, the wording can be misleading for the uninformed individual. "Natural" products are usually essential oils distilled from plants; oils that have evolved with plants to defend the plant from insect feeding. These oils can be toxic and irritating in high concentrations. "Natural" repellents are not necessarily safe repellents.

I've found that most research tends to favour DEET based products and is also my choice. DEET seems to have much longer duration times compared to other products (hours vs minutes, information taken from same U of Florida article http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in419 ).

[nocturn]

deet is nasty stuff.

the 100 percent stuff clearly warns against putting on your skin, it should be sprayed on clothes or something else which it will eventually eat or at the very least disclour. It will make very short work of a pair of nylon or plastic sunglasses, essentially melting or softening the plastic away.

when i used to work in the bush in northern BC, some would wear bugh jackets, mesh jackets that would be soaked in deet to keep the bugs away. a co worker of mine had his shirts ride up placing the deet-soaked bug vest between a utility belt he was wearing and his skin. he suffered waht looked like very severe acid burns with the skin "melted" away in patches and very nast blistering in others. to this day he still ahs the scars and they can be seen clearly on his hips and above when he swims or takes his shirt off.

use sparingly, even the 30 percent stuff can have nasty consequences if mishandled.

why not place mesh inside the grills? though i suspect all that will achieve is to prove to you that the central AC is not the source.

i have had mosquitos in my living area daily(ground level house with significant vegetation around it) since i moved to Thailand.

The black hole works well at minimizing and almost eliminating mosquitoes, which are impossible to keep out between the maid, the 5 year old and guests constantly opening and shutting the exterior doors. I also have an outdoor kitchen which necessitates traffic to and fro frequently.

Bedroom doors are ALWAYS shut so mosquitoes in the bedrooms are extremely rare.

I recommend sleeping in the same room as a woman or better yet a small child, as they seem to be preferred targets. Avoid scented soaps shampoos and creams and if a mosquito does get in, odds are it heads straight for the woman or the kid.

I would suggest any fears of dengue or malaria in Bangkok are largely misplaced -- as someone else said, it is the mosquito that bites you at dawn or pre-dusk that will do you in -- and i personally haven't met that mosquito after 12 years in the same house, and i am bitten regularly.

Remember, dengue takes a around week to present, so it is likely once symptoms appear, you will no longer be where you contracted it.

Edited August 1, 2012 by nocturn

[sysardman]

deet is nasty stuff.

the 100 percent stuff clearly warns against putting on your skin, it should be sprayed on clothes or something else which it will eventually eat or at the very least disclour. It will make very short work of a pair of nylon or plastic sunglasses, essentially melting or softening the plastic away.

when i used to work in the bush in northern BC, some would wear bugh jackets, mesh jackets that would be soaked in deet to keep the bugs away. a co worker of mine had his shirts ride up placing the deet-soaked bug vest between a utility belt he was wearing and his skin. he suffered waht looked like very severe acid burns with the skin "melted" away in patches and very nast blistering in others. to this day he still ahs the scars and they can be seen clearly on his hips and above when he swims or takes his shirt off.

use sparingly, even the 30 percent stuff can have nasty consequences if mishandled.

why not place mesh inside the grills? though i suspect all that will achieve is to prove to you that the central AC is not the source.

i have had mosquitos in my living area daily(ground level house with significant vegetation around it) since i moved to Thailand.

The black hole works well at minimizing and almost eliminating mosquitoes, which are impossible to keep out between the maid, the 5 year old and guests constantly opening and shutting the exterior doors. I also have an outdoor kitchen which necessitates traffic to and fro frequently.

Bedroom doors are ALWAYS shut so mosquitoes in the bedrooms are extremely rare.

I recommend sleeping in the same room as a woman or better yet a small child, as they seem to be preferred targets. Avoid scented soaps shampoos and creams and if a mosquito does get in, odds are it heads straight for the woman or the kid.

I would suggest any fears of dengue or malaria in Bangkok are largely misplaced -- as someone else said, it is the mosquito that bites you at dawn or pre-dusk that will do you in -- and i personally haven't met that mosquito after 12 years in the same house, and i am bitten regularly.

Remember, dengue takes a around week to present, so it is likely once symptoms appear, you will no longer be where you contracted it.

Controversial stuff here:

Despite my post from the University of Florida findings, you give us a silly example where it's possible your buddy's utility belt could have rubbed his skin and hence the deet on raw flesh would not have been recommended usage.

As for sleeping in a room with a woman or child, lets hope there's no pedo's or rapists reading this thread!!! and where's the chivalry in letting the women and kids get eaten first????

I also understood that scented things disguise the body odours that attract mozzies and reduce attacks.

I also think dengue can be caught anywhere and by mozzies that bite anytime: I include a clip from a report on dengue fever - "The disease "dengue fever" is carried by a particular species of mosquito, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is active all day. It is on the rise to becoming one of the top public health problems in the tropics".

[FritsSikkink]

I recommend sleeping in the same room as a woman or better yet a small child, as they seem to be preferred targets. Avoid scented soaps shampoos and creams and if a mosquito does get in, odds are it heads straight for the woman or the kid.

You are a really nice person.

[JusMe]

Much as I do sometimes like DEET myself, I'll try to restrict it to clothing rather than skin.

Doubtful? try spraying a bit on anything plastic, or varnished, and see how it melts that stuff. Then think about putting it on your own skin.

[meand]

Boy you do NOT want to catch Dengue - my wife who is Thai went down with it and it is not a pleasant virus to deal with !!

First point is that the Tiger mozzie bite at all times - day and night and is an urban dweller ! They are the main carrier for Dengue so you need to take action fast

1 ) Buy some mozzie plugs ( approx 100 Baht each ) and keep them running 24 X 7 ( suggest 1 in each room minimum )

2) Just before you go to bed close all the windows and doors and run the air conditioning at maximum cold for minimum 1 hour

3 ) If you want to have the windows open during the day you will have to put mozzie nets up

Good luck !!

Point 1): I heard these mozzie plugs are very ineffective at killing, and they constantly pump out toxic chemicals into your room. Not an attractive proposition!

Point 2): Why are you suggesting closing the windows just before sleeping? Surely that would mean it has already been dark for several hours (I usually sleep after midnight) and the mozzies already become more active at dusk (around 6 p.m.). Keeping the windows open for another 6 hours after dusk is a sure way to guarantee your room is filled with them.

Point 3): They seem to be getting sucked into my room through the air con. My building has a central air con system with vents at the ceiling level, not individual air con units mounted on the wall. My guess is that the roof of the building has standing water (and probably even a large water collection tank) and the air intake for the central air con system is also on the roof. I tried closing all my windows and running the air con all day as an experiment, and the numbers of mozzies actually seemed to increase! Turning off air con and opening the windows seems to be reducing them again. But I have to close the windows by 6 p.m. again, when they start coming out in droves.

Living on the 20th floor, I never thought this would be a problem. It's getting so bad that I'm actually thinking of leaving Bangkok for a few weeks (my situation allows me to do this) for some beach area that might have less of a mosquito problem. I lived in Phuket for 1 year and never noticed a mosquito problem there, even though I was basically living right next to a jungle.

This is driving me crazy... So if anyone can recommend the best mozzie repellent (spray or ointment), I'd appreciate your advice greatly. I have one from Boots which is 50% DEET, but it seems very strong and I heard it's toxic. I also have an ointment with citronella oil, which I heard works almost as well as DEET, without being toxic. I also heard that eucalyptus oil is effective. Anyone know about that? I don't really want to cover my whole body with DEET before sleeping, if I can avoid it.

The central air conditioner itself will create quite a bit of water of course. That could be the source, probably not. It sounds to me like they could be in the actual air conditioning vents, that is a total nightmare and would be worst case scenario.

The way id go on this would be to tell the building managers and keep on them about it -- don't be too nice. I'm sure they wont do anything, but who knows, maybe the building guys even know of the problem area, and they just need push to get them to clean it up. My next step would be to ask them if I could have a look myself around some potential areas where they could be getting in, you may get lucky. I would never go with deet in your bed, that just sounds like an absolute nightmare, id rather get a mosquito net than deet, like not even close.

In the end, nobody will care, and it sucks. I would move to another building.

Edited August 2, 2012 by meand

[sysardman]

Much as I do sometimes like DEET myself, I'll try to restrict it to clothing rather than skin.

Doubtful? try spraying a bit on anything plastic, or varnished, and see how it melts that stuff. Then think about putting it on your own skin.

They sell DEET in plastic bottles, I don't see it eating it's way out of them

Who started these rumours about DEET?, please Google 'DEET safety' to see what the experts say (or at least read my previous post). It's these 'Natural' products that are the suspicious ones.

Edited August 2, 2012 by sysardman

[SaNim]

Much as I do sometimes like DEET myself, I'll try to restrict it to clothing rather than skin.

Doubtful? try spraying a bit on anything plastic, or varnished, and see how it melts that stuff. Then think about putting it on your own skin.

They sell DEET in plastic bottles, I don't see it eating it's way out of them

Who started these rumours about DEET?, please Google 'DEET safety' to see what the experts say (or at least read my previous post). It's these 'Natural' products that are the suspicious ones.

There are of course diferent typse of plastic

[sysardman]

Much as I do sometimes like DEET myself, I'll try to restrict it to clothing rather than skin.

Doubtful? try spraying a bit on anything plastic, or varnished, and see how it melts that stuff. Then think about putting it on your own skin.

They sell DEET in plastic bottles, I don't see it eating it's way out of them

Who started these rumours about DEET?, please Google 'DEET safety' to see what the experts say (or at least read my previous post). It's these 'Natural' products that are the suspicious ones.

There are of course diferent typse of plastic

Well noted but the poster doesn't specify any particular type. I've been using DEET based products for over 7 years and never been burned, had a skin rash, epileptic fit, vomiting, convulsions, heart failure, brain tumour, seizure, heart palpitations etc, etc, etc, But it's your choice and if you want to ignore the experts then go forth and feed the multitudes. By the way plain old water can be used to dissolve a multitude of things so your argument doesn't errr 'hold water'. What do you think is issued to armies, aid workers, scientists etc working in the tropics - it aint lemon juice and by the way if you distill juice from citrus fruit to 100% concentration you have a pretty mean acid. We are talking about common sense and moderation in this thread not some smarty pants hearsay.

[SaNim]

Much as I do sometimes like DEET myself, I'll try to restrict it to clothing rather than skin.

Doubtful? try spraying a bit on anything plastic, or varnished, and see how it melts that stuff. Then think about putting it on your own skin.

They sell DEET in plastic bottles, I don't see it eating it's way out of them

Who started these rumours about DEET?, please Google 'DEET safety' to see what the experts say (or at least read my previous post). It's these 'Natural' products that are the suspicious ones.

There are of course diferent typse of plastic

Well noted but the poster doesn't specify any particular type. I've been using DEET based products for over 7 years and never been burned, had a skin rash, epileptic fit, vomiting, convulsions, heart failure, brain tumour, seizure, heart palpitations etc, etc, etc, But it's your choice and if you want to ignore the experts then go forth and feed the multitudes. By the way plain old water can be used to dissolve a multitude of things so your argument doesn't errr 'hold water'. What do you think is issued to armies, aid workers, scientists etc working in the tropics - it aint lemon juice and by the way if you distill juice from citrus fruit to 100% concentration you have a pretty mean acid. We are talking about common sense and moderation in this thread not some smarty pants hearsay.

Just which of "my" arguments don't hold water?

I must admit I'd trust something that I put in my G+T over something that I have actually witnessed melting plastic.

[sysardman]

They sell DEET in plastic bottles, I don't see it eating it's way out of them

Who started these rumours about DEET?, please Google 'DEET safety' to see what the experts say (or at least read my previous post). It's these 'Natural' products that are the suspicious ones.

There are of course diferent typse of plastic

Well noted but the poster doesn't specify any particular type. I've been using DEET based products for over 7 years and never been burned, had a skin rash, epileptic fit, vomiting, convulsions, heart failure, brain tumour, seizure, heart palpitations etc, etc, etc, But it's your choice and if you want to ignore the experts then go forth and feed the multitudes. By the way plain old water can be used to dissolve a multitude of things so your argument doesn't errr 'hold water'. What do you think is issued to armies, aid workers, scientists etc working in the tropics - it aint lemon juice and by the way if you distill juice from citrus fruit to 100% concentration you have a pretty mean acid. We are talking about common sense and moderation in this thread not some smarty pants hearsay.

Just which of "my" arguments don't hold water?

I must admit I'd trust something that I put in my G+T over something that I have actually witnessed melting plastic.

The different types of plastic argument - the guy talking about DEET (and you) melting plastic doesn't specify the concentration of DEET or the type of plastic so it's nonsense really. Like I say, you distill acid from citrus fruit to 100% and it'll eat through loads of stuff including some plastics.

If you're happy with battery acid in your G+T then who am I to argue (and yes I've seen batteries made from citric acid).

By the way I've accidently spilled DEET on plastic and it hasn't melted so what are we talking about here? which plastic does DEET melt and at what concentration? back up your story with a few facts and we may be convinced.

[meand]

Myself, i'd definitely avoid getting the deet on a nice watch or nice pair of glasses. This opinion is based on a little bit of reading. I personally only use deet when it is an absolute, 100% must, but to each their own. I dont like RAID either, or any of that type of stuff.

I'm just left wondering if this is a serious "solution" to this problem, smothering yourself and sleeping in deet every night??!! I'd much sooner move.

[sysardman]

There are of course diferent typse of plastic

Well noted but the poster doesn't specify any particular type. I've been using DEET based products for over 7 years and never been burned, had a skin rash, epileptic fit, vomiting, convulsions, heart failure, brain tumour, seizure, heart palpitations etc, etc, etc, But it's your choice and if you want to ignore the experts then go forth and feed the multitudes. By the way plain old water can be used to dissolve a multitude of things so your argument doesn't errr 'hold water'. What do you think is issued to armies, aid workers, scientists etc working in the tropics - it aint lemon juice and by the way if you distill juice from citrus fruit to 100% concentration you have a pretty mean acid. We are talking about common sense and moderation in this thread not some smarty pants hearsay.

Just which of "my" arguments don't hold water?

I must admit I'd trust something that I put in my G+T over something that I have actually witnessed melting plastic.

The different types of plastic argument - the guy talking about DEET (and you) melting plastic doesn't specify the concentration of DEET or the type of plastic so it's nonsense really. Like I say, you distill acid from citrus fruit to 100% and it'll eat through loads of stuff including some plastics.

If you're happy with battery acid in your G+T then who am I to argue (and yes I've seen batteries made from citric acid).

By the way I've accidently spilled DEET on plastic and it hasn't melted so what are we talking about here? which plastic does DEET melt and at what concentration? back up your story with a few facts and we may be convinced.

Oh my God, Oh my God - I just put some DEET on the plastic lid of my Pringles container and guess what - NAFF ALL (but it did keep the mozzies off ).

[sysardman]

Myself, i'd definitely avoid getting the deet on a nice watch or nice pair of glasses. This opinion is based on a little bit of reading. I personally only use deet when it is an absolute, 100% must, but to each their own. I dont like RAID either, or any of that type of stuff.

I'm just left wondering if this is a serious "solution" to this problem, smothering yourself and sleeping in deet every night??!! I'd much sooner move.

Plenty of serious solutions if you bother to read all the posts instead of just joining in the argument about DEET on plastic. How about one of you guys backing this rubbish up by making a plastic eating DEET demo and posting it on Youtube - really want to see that. There plenty about batteries made from lemon juice!!!!!