I have not heard of gnats that bite, capture one or more and take it/them to your local office of the University of Illinois USDA Cooperative Extension Service for proper identification.

Here is a link that might be useful: UI CES

gardenlady, you must be in one of the areas having a larger than usual outbreak of 'buffalo gnats'

I think the only thing recommended are products with DEET. While I would rather not put DEET repellents on my own skin, my friend who is a public health nurse does protect her children with DEET during mosquito season (West Nile Virus concerns) and she encourages my DH who works outdoors to do the same.

Avon Skin So Soft can be helpful for light exposure to mosquitos and our own local no-see-ums...I wonder if that would work for your gnats?

Holy cow, kimmsr, are YOU ever lucky to live in a place where there are no biting gnats! They probably go by different names in various locations, and there are also several different kinds.

One thing that they have in common, however, is that they all need an aquatic (or semi) environment in which to breed. That's the location where the adults lay the eggs.

Another thing biting gnats have in common is that they are all related to mosquitoes. No BIG surprise, there! Like mosquitoes, it is only the females that require a mammalian blood meal. Thus, sometimes those breeding sites can be treated with larvacides such as Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bt-i). That's not often practical, however.

When I lived along the coast of SC, I became VERY acquainted with 'sand gnats', and 'no-see-ums'. It was torture. Many of us bought (Avon's) Skin-So-Soft bath oil to use as a repellent. I learned that it could be mixed with water and put in a spray bottle so that you could keep it sprayed on, clothes and all. Doesn't do much for your hair, but it works as a temporary solution, ;-)

There is a wide variety of natural oil repellents on the market these days. Most of them are a combination of tried and true herbal oils which work wonderfully for many people. Might be worth looking around on the Internet to see what kind of 'elixirs' are out there. I'd be most tempted to try one with Neem oil as one of the ingredients.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Yes, Rhizo, Kimmsr is lucky, because in this part of the woods, everyone is complaining about the gnats being terrible and BITING!!!
Think we will try some of those products oils. :-)

Skin-so-soft actually BEATS DEET for gnats (but DEET's the best for about everything else).

My arms were getting bit up by these gnats today...so I smothered OFF (DEET) just on my arms (I wore pants) and they seemed to die on contact with my shiny arms...just shower as soon as you get inside to rinse all the DEET off! I wouldn't recommend all the DEET all over the body, just exposed areas. Another option...they can't get through clothing....that's why I wore pants!

this answers a lot of questions i had ... i never heard of biting gnats either .... but i would get these itchy spots.. that would then pimple... skeeters don't do that to me.. go figure...

must be another plague of the south.. heading north ... just please keep your termites down there ....

ken