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On the down side, if you take enough of it you will stink to high heaven, you will annoy your fellow airline passengers, and your urine will turn the color of radioactive orange juice. Maybe just eating lots of beets will keep the buggers away? scott
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[ well thought-out experimental design deleted ] Guess what? I didn’t get any fewer bites on either side. But did you consider that your beard probably absorbs most of the vitamins that go to that side of your body? You should repeat the experiment, but shave off the left half of your beard while you are lying on your left side. In fact, just be safe, you’d better shave the left side of your entire body. scott
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Will you folks please stop posting this to misc.health.aids? This is an HIV/AIDS newsgroup. (BTW, I would go with the garlic.) Thanks, -James M. Scutero, original proponent of misc.health.aids (HIV/AIDS talk only) misc.health.aids homepage: http://www.panix.com/~jscutero
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Try eating Marmite. The West Coast sandflies hate the stuff.My wife eats it a week before we go bush. She dosn’t seem to get bitten.
I havent tried marmite yet, but rum is an excellent mosquito repellant. cheers JP
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| | | Try eating Marmite. The West Coast sandflies hate the stuff.My wife I’d rather get bitten. Barbara Vaughan
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I’m planning a week of scuba diving in the Bay Islands off of Honduras over Thanksgiving. I’m told that the bugs there are horrific. No-see-ums attacking the ankles, etc… Kicking the sugar habit will cure your insects from being attracted to you. But you may have to stop eating the junk for one year prior. 
o cHaz o
WHAT?!! I’ll tell you what would be more effective. Stop eating entirely for a few months. The insects will only be attracted until you have decomposed. Fruit and vegetables are full of sugar, should we cut these out as well? Cheers Teaching Fellow fax: +64-3-479-9037 Dept. Geography voice: +64-3-479-8762 Otago University postal: Box 56, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
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writes: I havent tried marmite yet, but rum is an excellent mosquito repellant. cheers JP Is that taken externally or internally. Does in repel the buggers or you just don’t give a damn…? Bob
There is always the old Scotch and sand mixture. Mix equal quantities of each and apply to exposed skin. The mosquitos, etc, land on the surface, ingest the alchohol and quickly get meaner than they already are. Seems they have a low tolerance for drink. They soon turn violent and start hurling sand at each other. This might not seem much to us, but to a skeeter a well aimed grain of sand between can take a few dozen eyes out. As they say "Its all fun and games until someone looses ten eyes". There is generally a lull in which you will be bite free, while the little buggers sleep it off. Good luck. Teaching Fellow fax: +64-3-479-9037 Dept. Geography voice: +64-3-479-8762 Otago University postal: Box 56, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
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Conclusion: For me, the vitamins did nothing other than making me piss bright yellow. -pete P.S. the bright yellow piss *was* effective for killing bugs when aimed at them.
Sure Pete. Your out hiking with a few friends. You stop for a rest and you see a blackfly land on the cheek of one of your friends. What are you going to do? Whip it out and spray the little bugger? What of you are being bitten on the back of the neck by mosquitos? The mind boggles. I think I’ll stick to Jungle Juice. Cheers Teaching Fellow fax: +64-3-479-9037 Dept. Geography voice: +64-3-479-8762 Otago University postal: Box 56, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
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Agreed Bill. I reccomend DB Bitter applied to all exposed body parts, as well as liberal amounts taken internally. That was actually DB Bitter beer being applied to Kim Bassinger in 9 1/2 Weeks. And you thought it was a sew scene. They were actually warding of the sandflies. On a slightly more serious note: The foresters, or in PC speak "tree murderers", of NZs West Coast are said to have taken to knocking back a couple of spoons of kerosene every morning. This was sweated out during the day. Not only did it repel insects but it probably killed most of those who tried it. And I always thought foresters had short life expectancies due to the high injury rate. Drinking kerosene can’t have helped much. Cheers P.S. I would have thought a collection of blood sucking insects would be more aptly called a "congress". Teaching Fellow fax: +64-3-479-9037 Dept. Geography voice: +64-3-479-8762 Otago University postal: Box 56, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
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: : | : : | | Try eating Marmite. The West Coast sandflies hate the stuff.My wife : : : I’d rather get bitten. : : What exactly is marmite? You don’t want to know. —
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: | : | | Try eating Marmite. The West Coast sandflies hate the stuff.My wife : I’d rather get bitten. : Barbara Vaughan What exactly is marmite? Mike S. Medintz
Mike, Marmite is a spread peculiar to New Zealand, which is made from yeast and other ingredients. It is very dark and gooey, and in my professional opinion tastes awful. But it is better to get the real low down from a Kiwi. Maybe Jon Mitchell will enlighten you more. — Bill Dueease
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| : | | : | | Try eating Marmite. The West Coast sandflies hate the stuff.My wife | | : I’d rather get bitten. | | : Barbara Vaughan | | What exactly is marmite? | It’s some nasty brown glop that English mothers feed their kids to "build up their blood" or something. (I’ll probably get roasted alive for saying this, because lots of English adults were brainwashed in their youth into thinking it was "yummy".) Barbara Vaughan
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My neighbor has no problems with insects of any kind and he says all he takes is red beans and rice (all 3 meals).
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: | : | | Try eating Marmite. The West Coast sandflies hate the stuff.My wife : I’d rather get bitten. : Barbara Vaughan What exactly is marmite? Mike S. Medintz
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I’m planning a week of scuba diving in the Bay Islands off of Honduras over Thanksgiving. I’m told that the bugs there are horrific. No-see-ums attacking the ankles, etc… I’m also told that if you take Vitamin B2 it will help to repel them. Can anyone confirm this to be true? What dosage is needed and how long in advance of the trip to begin taking?
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ALSO, heard that garlic repels insects. Of course, if NOT taken in the correct form, repels everything else too.
Including vampires, but, the real test would be… what about travel agents??? :^) -Carl-
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: I’m planning a week of scuba diving in the Bay Islands off of Honduras : over Thanksgiving. I’m told that the bugs there are horrific. : No-see-ums attacking the ankles, etc… : I’m also told that if you take Vitamin B2 it will help to repel them. : Can anyone confirm this to be true? : What dosage is needed and how long in advance of the trip to begin taking? I tried it for my hike of the Long Range Trail in Gros Morne, Newfoundland. The bugs weren’t bad until the third day, at which time I swore off the Vitamin B idea. It doesn’t work for me, but apparently it does for some. I took large doses of Vitamin B complex for about one month prior to the trip. Dick
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: I’m planning a week of scuba diving in the Bay Islands off of Honduras : over Thanksgiving. I’m told that the bugs there are horrific. : No-see-ums attacking the ankles, etc… : I’m also told that if you take Vitamin B2 it will help to repel them. Be sure to take some insect repellent along with you – like Deep Woods Off. There is a dengue fever outbreak in Central America which is carried by mosquitos. —
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Has anyone here actually tried just taking Vitamin B2 to keep the bugs away? Basically, I’m asking for any firsthand experience you might have as opposed to just, "I heard it works great." — "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" -Tennyson Check out the Caltech Ballroom Dance Club Web Page! http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~chingliu/Ballroom.html
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Hey Folks, Please don’t post this thread to misc.health.aids. MHA was created to be a forum to discuss HIV/AIDS issues only. Please remove <misc.health.aids from the <newsgroups line of any future posts on this topic. Thanks. -James M. Scutero, original proponent of misc.health.aids (HIV/AIDS talk only) misc.health.aids homepage: http://www.panix.com/~jscutero
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I’m planning a week of scuba diving in the Bay Islands off of Honduras over Thanksgiving. I’m told that the bugs there are horrific. No-see-ums attacking the ankles, etc… I’m also told that if you take Vitamin B2 it will help to repel them.
Hey Sam. I haven’t used v-B12 myself but I have seen numerous others who have. Guiding in New Zealand’s Fiordland (where "sand flies" have been known to carry off sheep) I met plenty of US hikers who had been mega-dosing on B12 for months before their trip. There seemed to be absolutely zero difference between the number and severity of bites between those who had used B12 and those who hadn’t. Probably of no use what so ever – just another observation from downunder. Cheers Teaching Fellow fax: +64-3-479-9037 Dept. Geography voice: +64-3-479-8762 Otago University postal: Box 56, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
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I’m also told that if you take Vitamin B2 it will help to repel them. Can anyone confirm this to be true? What dosage is needed and how long in advance of the trip to begin taking?
I had heard the same thing. I wasn’t too sure about the number, though, B2, B12, whatever, so I took some B–complex which had all of them. I went for a day, and, sure enough, I didn’t get many bites at all. Then I thought, maybe this was just a light bug year. So the next day, I didn’t take the B*, and guess what? I didn’t get many bites either. But then I thought that maybe that day was a supre light bug day. I had no *real* control. I devised an experiment. I broke the vitamins in half, and swallowed them on my left side while lieing on my left side, to make sure they stayed on the left. I stayed like that for a while to make sure the vitamins went to the left, and not the right. Guess what? I didn’t get any fewer bites on either side. Conclusion: For me, the vitamins did nothing other than making me piss bright yellow. -pete P.S. the bright yellow piss *was* effective for killing bugs when aimed at them. — Pete Hickey | | University of Ottawa | | …. for industry!" Ottawa,Ont. Canada K1N 6N5| (613) 562-5800×1008 |
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I have it on good authority if you drink enough vodka mosi leave you alone. He had few problems working around the red sea. Damn expensive getting pissed when he got back though. Awesome alchol tolerance level MO
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} I’m also told that if you take Vitamin B2 it will help to repel them. } I haven’t used v-B12 myself but I have seen numerous others who have.
Probably not B12! B2 seems reasonable. People here say that a strong B vitamin mixture repels mosquitoes – this is second-hand info. Never heard it was the B2, but if that is the B vitamin that stinks, then why not.
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m planning a week of scuba diving in the Bay Islands off of Honduras over Thanksgiving. I’m told that the bugs there are horrific. No-see-ums attacking the ankles, etc… I’m also told that if you take Vitamin B2 it will help to repel them. Hey Sam. I haven’t used v-B12 myself but I have seen numerous others who have. Guiding in New Zealand’s Fiordland (where "sand flies" have been known to carry off sheep) I met plenty of US hikers who had been mega-dosing on B12 for months before their trip. There seemed to be absolutely zero difference between the number and severity of bites between those who had used B12 and those who hadn’t. Probably of no use what so ever – just another observation from downunder. Cheers
Jon Mitchell Say Hey Jon
I participated in an invitational Golf Tournament on the Milford Track, and found that vast quantities of DB Brown significantly reduced the Itchyxness and irritation of the famous Fiordland Sand Flies. Of Course DIMP and full clothing will help in preventing sand flies from biting. We did see a Flying Fiordland DEER being flown away by a large mob (or whatever you call them) of sand flies, the poor thing had’nt had its monthly DIMP Dip. BTW the No See Em’s that we have here in Florida are in reality a much smaller cousin of your Fiordland Sand Fly, and your sand fly is much more aggressive. Thank God! Have Fun — Bill Dueease Your Internet RASK site