How to Prevent Mosquito Bites It is that time of year again where the mosquitoes are hungrier than ever. Here are some tips to avoid being bitten by those pesky creatures: Add a vitamin B complex supplement during the mosquito season. Do not eat bananas. Mosquitoes love the way that we digest them. Vick's Vaporub and Avon's Skin So Soft bath oils are reportedly an effective DEET free insect repellants. Other effective DEET free mosquito repellant alternatives include those with essential oils of evergreens (pine, fir cedar, cypress, spruce and hemlock), lemony herbs (lemon, lemon balms, lemon grass and citronella), or strongly aromatic herbs (lavender, clove, geranium, rosemary, eucalyptus, mint and camphor). Marigold flowers give off a fragrance that insects do not like. Citronella candles are effective. The mosquitoes do not like the fragrance or the smoke. This should only be lit out of doors. Of course, the less skin available for the pesky insects to bite the better. Wearing long sleeves shirts and long pants is helpful. Mosquitoes are attracted to sources of heat, so wearing light colors that repel heat will help to avoid becoming a larger target. Encourage the natural predators of mosquitoes in your environment. These include the most birds, especially purple martins, dragon and damselflies during the day. Bats are the greatest natural predators of the insect. They can eat upwards of six hundred mosquitoes per hour! Try to decrease the amounts of standing water in your area. This is where mosquitoes like to breed. If it can not be avoided, encourage frogs and minnows to the water as they feed upon the larvae. An interesting piece of trivia is that it is only the female mosquito that bites. She does not bite for food but for the ability to produce eggs. The information for this article was found at www.livingearthschool.com, www.mercola.com/2003/jun/7/mosquito_bites.htm, and www.futurecottage.com/articles/ssmosquitoes.html.