A couple years back, I spray some DEET on my shoes, 5 seconds later, a tiger mosquito tried to bite me on that spot (and yes on the shoe itself, just insane to see it trying ).
that explains. I was always wondering why in Siberia
(where i worked for 2 summers back then at university times) coming out from house with freshly applied DEET you're getting covered with mosquitos - i was attributing that to the especial ferociousness of the mosquitos there - yet it sounds like the smell of DEET for them in those towns may have become like a BBQ smell for us :)
The simple answer would be to add a natural strongly repellent gentle oil to the DEET spray.
They already loved that shit.
[1] https://www.consumerreports.org/health/insect-repellent/oil-...
"Evolution! Can you give me capsaicin, to deter mammals? I want birds to spread my seeds!"
https://youtu.be/1fW2uTRdUJU
Picaridin gives me worsened tinnitus, so I can't use it unless maybe I slowly try to condition myself to it over a week. DEET doesn't.