The ongoing mozzie battle

Jakarta = mosquitoes. No escaping that undeniable fact. There are days I sit on my bed at night and point out all my bites to The Man. Usually he's reading his Triathlon magazine and isn't even listening... But so far, the record is 27 bites. Yup. I counted them all twice to make sure. Kiddo's record so far is 15. That was when we first arrived here. Hence our ongoing battle...

We've tried most remedies, including the esoteric ones you read about on the net. Some actually do work! But as I sit here scratching my fifth bite of the evening , I realize that my goal is actually to protect the kiddo. I've pretty much acknowledged that the mozzies have me beat. 'Sweet blood' the folks say. I'm probably the best mozzie repellent you could have. Put me anywhere within 5 feet of you and I guarantee none will bite you. They'll all come for me.

Anyway, getting back to anti-moz solutions. I've tried to include everything that worked for me. If anyone has anything else, please, PLEASE speak up. As they say in Defender Chronicles, 'We may have lost the battle, but we can STILL win the war!!' (Yes, I agree, I'm somewhat obsessed with that game)

Checking the house for stagnant water
When we first moved here, we used to get attacked by swarms of mosquitoes. Nothing we did worked. Nothing. I looked over the whole house, but there were no empty flower pots or buckets. I was stumped. Then came the water leak into the service area. It was eventually traced to the air well that we weren't using. When they scooped up the pretty, white, decorative stones, I saw 6 inches of soaking wet mud. Yes, MUD! Cue swarms of mozzies headed straight for me. Well, Madam legged it straight for the car yelling, 'Tak mau batu!! Buang semua batu dalam rumah!! Lumpur juga!!' (Don't want stones! Throw away all the stones in the house! Mud too!) For sure they thought I had lost it, but hey, no way was I sticking around to see if the mozzies would pick me over the work men... Well, no more swarms after that, just insidious sneak attacks mixed in with some lightning strikes.

Electrified mosquito bats
This is sanctioned violence at it's best. The bats are rechargeable, and when you hit an insect it gives this really satisfying pffffsszzzttt sound accompanied by a mini explosion (the more blood sucked, the bigger the explosion). Hah! Die you bloodsucking spawn of evil, die!!! In Hubby's hands though, it's a weapon to rival a light saber. Witness the lunging and swiping as he attacks the little blighters... mosquitos, flies, whatever... bring 'em on. Then he bounces (flies usually) them on the bat a few times... pfffzzt, pffzt, fzttt, zzt... spark, spark, spark. And looks up with this beatific smile. 'I got one, Babes' Huh. I'd be cowering under the table by then... People, word of warning, it bloody HURTS to get hit by one of those things!!! I DON'T CARE if it's an accident!!!

Mosquito repellent
For kiddo we use Zwitsal, which contains citronella. DEET free. Slather it on many, many times a day and usually there won't be many bites. But you have to keep up with it. Advantage is it soothes the already existing bites too. For us adults, we used to use Off. But it contains DEET. Jungle formula, if you can get it, is great. There are various roll on formulations. Generally they're quite effective if you remember to keep applying. I didn't like the idea of having kiddo slathered in chemicals all day, so the search went on for something else.

Mozzie patches and bands
Right now, this is our method of choice. I stick a MozzOut patch on her uniform before school and it keeps her bite free there. Although the patch supposedly stays effective for 8 hours, I've found that a new one after school will take her through to bedtime. So I reckon 5-6 hours max. They cost about Rp50,000 for 24. Available at Dharmawangsa Square. The band I bought at Mothercare also seems pretty good. It's bright pink, so kiddo's more than happy to wear it. Around her wrist, or ankle, or dangling from some toy... Smells really strong though (not unpleasant, just eye wateringly strong). I'm pretty sensitive to smells, and it was just too strong for me.

Sound wave pest repellents
In KL, there are these little gadgets for sale, apparently they emit a sound wave that humans can't hear, but that disrupt the nervous system of pests. Including rats! Well, we have them everywhere. It seemed to work really well in KL, but I'm less convinced it's actually beneficial here. No real difference to my spot count with and without. Ditto for the key chain version that you can hang on yourself when you go outdoors. We do it anyway, just in case, but even when I forget, there aren't any more or less bites on the kid.

Mosquito nets
There is no doubt these work. You can get beautiful drapy ones that hang from the ceiling and make your bed look all princessey, but beware the dust trapping, mozzie trapping, and tripping that can happen. Also if it doesn't hang well, the mozzies can get in anyway. Totally not an option for dust sensitive, asthmatic kiddo. Until we found the Javan bed canopy... This is the ultimate!! A tent-like mozzie net that folds into a circle (yay for holidays!) and springs out like a tent (yay, no folds to trap anything!). It sits snug on top of the bed (single, queen AND king sizes), is accessed by zippered openings on each side and has the added advantage of stopping a restless sleeper from hitting the floor. Although I'm sure if you rolled fully against the side, the floor would be the final destination anyway, though perhaps a prolonged sinking rather than a crash. Initially we had some toilet emergencies while kiddo got used to the whole zipper system, but we seem to be over that. So now I might only occasionally hear the zipper through the monitor as she's goes about her way in the middle of the night.

Light bug traps
Another fantastic invention. Varying sizes. Usually a uv light followed by a fan underneath and a bug reservoir. They're great. You can get super big ones, or cutesy animal ones like kiddo has in her bedroom. Doubles as a night light too. We empty them out periodically, and although I would say kiddo has the most mozzie free room in the house, we still get at least a dozen or so in there at every check.


Plug in chemical emitters
These are the ones where you plug the liquid canister into the wall or use the hot plate and chemical mat. Kiddo is sensitive to the liquid ones. They were effective, but she kept wheezing. So no go. She's ok with the vape mat, so that's also on in her room every night.




Blocking doorways
I really have no idea if the mozzies fly under the door to kiddo's room. Perhaps I give them too much credit for strategy and planning. But just in case, I sewed up a long tube, filled it with prefrozen green beans and plugged the bottom of the door. At least it keeps the air conditioning in...




Outdoor burners
You can get lovely burners and torches for citronella oil in most stores here. They look great, smell great too. But I don't think they work. I don't like smelling of smoke, so perhaps I'm just not near enough. Mozzie coils work well, but beware the feet. Accidentally brushing against one is funny only to your mates as they watch your frenzied leaping about.

Dishwashing liquid
I got an email from my mom. There was this article floating around saying that if you put lemon (only lemon, not lime or anything else) dishwashing liquid in some water in a WHITE dish, all the bugs would fly in. I did it. Bugs of all sorts did go in. Can't say it changed my life any though. Apart from having to avoid dishes of water in the room. If you do this, be prepared for very strange looks from your staff. Trying to explain it to my maid didn't work very well. Could be perhaps because she already thinks I don't play with a full deck.

Listerin spray
Another email gem. Dilute original (original 'cause the other flavours apparently leave a sticky residue) flavour listerin half and half in a spray bottle and spray around all entryways and where you're sitting. All I can say is if it's a hot day, the evaporation of the Listerin pretty much guarantees all living organisms in the vicinity end up rather dopey. Humans included! I ended up feeling like I'd had a couple of glasses of wine (I was VERY liberal with the spray). Maybe I was bitten, maybe not... Dunno. Hee... Couldn't even see straight... Suppose it could be effective in the open where the fumes are less likely to overpower you.

So far, that's all I've tried. Since I suppose you can't really avoid all bites, I have tubes of Eurax (see photo above), the most effective anti-itch cream around, all over the house. At last resort, there is also the pool. Our water supply comes from underground, and maybe it's the minerals, maybe the temperature (it's usually freezing even at noon), maybe both, but it works wonders at reducing the redness and swelling of bites.

Again, if anyone has any other methods of mosquito prevention, PLEASE TELL ME!!! I'll happily try (almost) anything...