For me, nothing short of high concentration DEET will do. The added bonus of DEET is that it actually causes pain to mosquitoes. The little blood suckers have their scent receptors in their feet and as they near a DEET covered surface, it hits them like a dose of pepper spray in the face.
For area coverage, I've discovered this...
...It's a lemon grass oil based fogger, that not only seems to work very well against Louisiana mosquitoes, but it's also pet safe and has a very pleasant scent.
Deet works well. In Chiangmai we have some geckos climbing our wall inside and out and they eat a lot so nobody tries to chase them off. Long sleeves and trousers are necessary. However, going crazy screaming, waving madly at the air and slapping my arms doesn’t seem to do much good as I have tried it many times.
I believe I am O pos myself, at least o at any rate. I didn’t know that blood type made a difference.
Bugs will go for me even after dowsing myself in DEET. DEET only slows them down.
People love standing or sitting beside me as they know which of us the mosquitoes will choose to snack on!
As I've developed a terrible physical reaction to most repellents as they are quickly absorbed from my skin to my body so I've looked for and found a number of "slow absorption" repellent creams.
I can attest to the fact that garlic DOES work. I take a couple of garlic capsules, go outside and work in my flower garden and for at least an hour or more, those deadly little vampires steer clear of me - unfortunately, I frequently get heartburn from the capsules.
Cutter has one out that uses Chrysanthemum oil and we have been using it for a couple of weeks now. We are out in the woods all the time. It works great.
But, will it work on ticks, chiggers and fleas?