How to make yourself less attractive to mosquitoes

When a group of people are sitting around a campfire, how do those pesky mosquitoes decide who to go for? It often seems like one or two people get the lion’s share of the bites.

Ron & Don’s Rachel Belle and Don O’Neill say the blood suckers definitely target them.

“I get swarmed,” says Don, who had a big run-in with the blood-suckers recently when he was watering his plants. “My little son was out there with me and he didn’t get one bite. I seriously got over 20 bites.”

Rachel found a new report from Smithsonian Magazine that points out a few factors that make some people more tasty than others.

The differences include blood type – type O is bitten the most; metabolism and exercise – those who are hot and exercise secrete more of what the bugs are sniffing for; and body mass – larger equals more bites.

This might explain why Don, a big guy who exercises a lot and has type O blood, is like a mosquito magnet.

But there are a few other factors you can control. One thing that might make you seem more delicious is beer. The report says one study shows one 12-ounce beer can make you a bigger draw for the little buggers.

“Is it that ice frosty beer in your hand that they’re like, ‘Hey, he looks like he’s having fun, I think I’m going to go chomp a piece out of his leg?'” asks Don. “If you’re drinking the beer, you should hide the beer from a mosquito in a brown bag.”

The color of your clothing is another factor. Black, dark blue, and red attract mosquitoes, the magazine says, because these are colors not often found in nature. They make you stand out.

With all this new information, Don has a plan for the next time he goes out to water his plants.

“I need to go out there incognito [no unnatural colors] and have a glass of Chardonnay.”