What do you do if you have a gig in a swamp...
And you've dragged your wife & kids along with you for a picnic while you play?...
You've lathered everyone up with Deet Mosquito repellent when you arrived...
But 4 hours later you forgot to re-apply that Deet Mosquito repellent...
And suddenly all have been attacked by hungry mosquitoes...
What do you do to quickly stop the itch?

Solution:
Dab that same Deet Mosquito repellent on the bite...
Within 15 minutes the itch will be gone...

Caution:
Do not wipe it off...
You can scratch the itch but do not wipe it off.

So the next you play a swamp gig give this tip a try...
But make sure it is a Deet Mosquito repellent

I am a 'mosquito magnet', if there is one mosquito in a full convention hall, she will find me. I guess I'm that sweet

I use Deet only when others fail. There is a product called "Bug Mace" that works well. I spray it on my clothes and it keeps them away. They don't like the smell (I think it masks the human odor). I've also used "Life Stings" which is a spray made from catnip, mint and a few other herbs. In a light mosquito environment it works well, has a pleasant smell, and washes off easily.

If all else fails I'll use the Deet. It does work better than the others, but only slightly better.

I did some hiking in a salt water swamp in the Everglades National Park. Deet didn't work, there were swarms of them. I have a net suit that I put on over my clothes and that was the only solution. I think no chemical keeps the salt water swam mosquitoes from their appointed rounds. And if you kill one, a dozen come to the funeral.

Notes

Better living through chemistry. Here in NC, and especially in the salt marshes, we have some vicious bugs. DEET... the 40% to 100% variety.

Fortunately, the new farm homestead, is relatively free from skeeters and gnats. At least, up around the house. My old place in Sims, you could not step outside in warm weather any time of the day or night with out getting swarmed by both. We used to joke about petitioning the town to hold the annual Sims Gnat Festival they were that prevalent. It wasn't that we were friendly towards the neighbors, even thought they though that we were waving at them all the time..... we were shooing the gnats away.
Several times we went camping in the woods near a lake in another part of the state. All weekend long, outside with swim trunks on. Not a single bite. Home for 30 minutes and had 4 skeeters bite me on one leg. Anyway... the new farm is a very pleasant place. I can set on the back deck in the evening, and even at the fireplace at the woods edge and not have to douse myself in Deet to enjoy the fire and the evening. Along the streams.... well that's another issue totally. Mostly good during the day but a bit problematic in the evening. But, we don't often go to the streams at that time of the evening anyway. Our house sets on a hill so that might factor into the lack of skeeters up here.

Back to music and skeeters. So, many years ago.... we had a gig at a club at the beach. The area was a tourist area with a large area around it with salt marshes. The club was large and didn't have air conditioning so in the middle of the summer, it was hot inside. To solve or alleviate that problem.... they had these big ventilation fans up along the peak of the roof.... they would turn these things on and let them blow the cooler night air into the club....along with hundreds of those salt marsh skeeters. When those things bit you, it was downright painful. And they would itch like the dickens afterwards. Most skeeters can bite with almost no notification of the bite.... but not those things. That was one interesting night. No one got out without getting bitten. We didn't think to bring bug spray..... not in a club.

Oh heck..... lets add some more to this post. Just a few miles down the road from that club a few years later.... at the NC Aquarium.... my wife and I decided to do the nature walk to the overlook and just enjoy the walk and scenery in the middle of the day. Wrong....!!!! We forgot about the appetite and determination of those salt marsh skeeters. We ended up running.... well, more like jogging, back out of that swamp walk. They didn't follow us into the open parking lot.... thankfully. We passed several people walking in who looked at us with quizzical faces..... I thought.... yeah, you might think we're crazy for running on such a hot day..... but you'll find out why very shortly.

For what it's worth, the latest Consumer Reports issue just rated the CVS knockoff brand (Total Home Woodland Scent Insect Repellent) equivalent to OFF! Deep Woods Insect Repellent at a lower price. They were both top rated for both mosquitoes and ticks.

Perhaps the post was misunderstood...

What do you do to quickly stop the itch?

Solution:
Dab that same Deet Mosquito repellent on the bite...
Within 15 minutes the itch will be gone...

Nope, I think we got it; it's just that sometimes these threads take odd turns.

John, I was itching to say that

I've never tried this but I've heard that if you press something about 120 degrees on the bite.... yeah it's hot... but the heat destroys the enzymes in the mosquito saliva that causes the allergic reaction and thereby stops the itch. If nothing else... the pain from the burn gets your mind off the itch.

There's also some stuff sold in drug stores that does the same thing without the heat.... but I've never tried that either.

I use aloe vera, fresh from the plant in my yard. It's good for burns too.

I've heard honey, oatmeal, tea bags, and the old stand-by, calamine lotion. Since I have aloe plants in my yard, it's easy for me to break a leaf and squish some gel on the bite.

But I'm more for the ounce of prevention.

I planted both Citronella grass and Lemongrass clumps near the entrances to my house. They don't work in February because they are still dormant. The first wave of skeeters come in February around here. By march the grass wakes up.

Before I planted the grass, any evening would have hundreds of those tiny vampires on the screens of my back porch. After the grass, perhaps 2 or 3.

Did you know that the mosquito is the most dangerous animal on Earth? They kill more people per year than any other animal, including other people.

Insights and incites by Notes

I haven't seen mosquitoes in a really long time, but I suppose a swamp gig would be buzzing with them!