The Secret To Banishing Wasps From Your Campsite Is This Common Pet Product

Even for folks who love getting immersed in nature, the possibility of having to bunk with wasps and various other flying tormentors can make mid-summer camping seem like a bad idea. If the thought of trading your tent poles or Airstream holiday for an Airbnb booking isn't appealing, try adding a flea collar to your camping gear list, even if there are no pets in your travel party. As an off-label wasp repellant, flea collars have long been recommended by experienced campers on RV bulletin boards like Good Sam. That's because most flea collars are made with ingredients like tetrachlorvinphos, permethrin, or imidacloprid, which may not necessarily kill wasps but tend to repel them.

Suggestions for how to use flea collars as wasp repellent are varied. Many RVers like placing them in the exterior hot water and refrigerator vent compartments since wasps tend to love nesting in these sneaky hideouts. To stretch flea collars further, some even recommend cutting each collar into several pieces and stashing a few in each exterior compartment. If you're planning to go tent camping, grab some twine and try hanging a handful of flea collars in strategic spots around your campsite. Just remember to be especially careful about leaving flea collars lying where pets or humans — especially children — may potentially come into contact with them since certain types of flea collars have been linked to serious health problems.

RVs and campsites aren't the only ways experienced campers have been known to use flea and tick collars. The safer herbal versions of these collars are the secret anti-insect weapon of some deep-woods hikers — not to mention loggers and surveyors — who will attach them to their backpacks or ankles or tuck them into pants legs. When wearing them close to the body, the trick is to make sure you're using a product that's completely safe for human use and relies on natural insect repellents rather than pesticides. The best part? These collars also repel other annoying insects like chiggers.

According to a personal account from Reddit poster u/Skydog-forever-3512 on r/AppalachianTrail, using flea collars in this way was common in the U.S. military until around the 1990s to deal with a brutal chigger problem. "We put them on our ankles around our boots," the poster wrote, emphasizing that this worked quite effectively at repelling the miserable insects. Recounting their experience using flea collars to battle Saudi Arabian chiggers, Reddit user u/mzracer54 wrote, "Cut to length drill a small hole in each end and use a small zip tie attach them to a lace eyelet – works perfect. Got black ones so they didn't stand out like a sore thumb." 

If you prefer to use a pesticide-free solution to problems like wasps and chiggers, there are plenty of other handy solutions for banishing wasps and other insects. And as it turns out, some of the most effective wasp repellents are essential oils. One study published in Pest Management Science found 17 essential oils to be effective for repelling both paper wasps and yellowjackets. Spearmint, peppermint, and wintergreen made the list, as did several aromatherapy favorites, including lavender, ylang-ylang, Roman chamomile, geranium, rosemary, sage, and patchouli. Fennel, clove, anise, lemongrass, thyme, and pennyroyal also made the cut.

One fairly effective general-purpose insect repellent can be created using vodka, either alone or combined with any of the above essential oils. This bug-banishing beverage can then be sprayed directly on the skin, applied topically, or sprayed around your campsite. This eco-friendly solution is easy to mix up ahead of time and can be easily chucked in with your essential travel gear. 

For a less boozy option, try out the anti-wasp recipe shared by Jade Shutes via the School for Aromatic Studies. Shutes' recipe calls for a solution of 50% water and 50% vinegar as a base. Next, add the essential oils of your choice — Shutes went with "a generous amount of peppermint and lemongrass oil." To encourage your winged nemeses to find a new hangout, simply spray it all around your campsite.