Mosquitoes

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Re: Mosquitoes

Postby jstrubberg » Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:20 am

Stacie Tamaki wrote:
lrrowe wrote:Two years ago I was the victim of Chiggers. That was really not fun. Finally had to go to my doctor for relief.
I do not think the Thermacell would have helped me. I walked through tall grass with shorts on.


Me too lrrowe! The mosquitoes though awful I could deal with. Same with the black fly and deer fly bites I get from time to time but the no-see-um (a specific type of chigger) bites were so bad in June I was losing too much sleep staying up all night trying not to scratch them so my doctor gave me prescription triple strength cortisone cream. That worked well until a few weeks ago when I got 27 mosquito bites in less than 48 hours (21 of them while in the house sleeping) :? The only thing that helped get me through the next few days was to keep ice packs on the bites when they flared up.



Unfortunately, chiggers are a way of life here in Missouri. Two things that really do help...First, wen the bites come up and BEFORE you scratch them open, dab clear nail polish over the swelling. It really does reduce the itching, it keeps you from scratching the affected skin, and it lasts a lot longer than anything else I've tried. Second, the minute a chigger bites you, they are dead. They are evolved to consume dissolved plant matter. The "saliva" they excrete to dissolve cellulose is what causes the extreme itching.

I love my Thermacell, but chiggers it don't help with!
The more stuff I take along, the more time I spend taking care of my stuff!
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Re: Mosquitoes

Postby lrrowe » Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:41 am

Nail polish did not help me. But then again, I had already done the scraching thing.

I was supposed to put the nail polish on my toe nails, right? :lol:
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Re: Mosquitoes

Postby Cosmo » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:07 pm

Regarding the barrier method.

Stacie, Thanks for the suggestion for sealing the bottom. Not sure how I would implement that in a non frustrating way. But I will meditate on it. For the kitchen area – current netting is working out pretty good so far. It vastly reduces the number of attackers. Dinner only takes me 30 mi. to prepare in most cases so its tolerable. The bugs are looking for my breath, heat and other indicators so the juicy exposed upper body is usually what attracts them. I set up a net room when camping in heavily infested areas and eat there. I like the simplicity and quick deployment of the setup.

For sleeping on hot nights I am thinking about making a collapsible curtain rod out of cord that I attach to the trailer with suction cups over the door. Then using the same netting for a mosquito net curtain over the doors for hot nights. Whole thing would fit in one hand (for both doors), no permanent changes required. Cheap, quick and simple to deploy.

If ac power is available a fan blows them away.

Cosmo


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Re: Mosquitoes

Postby typoagain » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:26 pm

Cosmo wrote:For Chiggers - on a bird watching trip to Belize we used this stuff and it worked. The active ingredient sulphur is non-toxic.
http://www.chiggaway.com/


We had to keep our shirts tucked in or the Chiggers would get into our skin. Shorts were not an option no matter how hot it got. Those who remained un-tucked had had ugly red chigger rashes that itched like mad. The tucked who used the Chigaway goo had none. The stuff is not bad to use. It has a romantic sulphur odor that resembles the faint smell of Hell. Also adds a nice sulphur smell to all the clothing you wash with your Chiggaway jungle outfits to remind you of your vacation for months.
We also used sulphur powder sprinkled on my hiking boots. It kept the chiggers from crawling up my leg. The powder added an odd yellow color to my boots that matched nothing else I had in my jungle wardrobe! But it kept the Chiggers away.
http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Sulfur-Powder-DC-Earth/dp/B005H0WA2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440725605&sr=8-1&keywords=sulfur+powder&pebp=1440725621844&perid=1W6M38DKGF15B2VDD038

I did get a Botfly. I will spare you the details of the relationship between the Botfly and its human host (check youtube for Botfly details if enjoy that sort of thing).

Cosmo

Spent a lot of time and country fields growing. From a very young age I was talk to use sulfur powder on my legs for chiggers. It also works well to help prevent ticks. I've never had a problem as long as I used it.
Now that I've gotten older and I just use Deep Woods Off.
Not even sure where to buy sulfur powder anymore.
Shadow Catcher wrote:There is a huge amount of repellant mythology and one of the aspects ignored is that the original skin divers prefer particular blood types, mine O positive is one of them One thing I learned in original research I have done is that you need quantitative (lots of responses) rather than qualitative (few responses more depth).

http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/mosquitosite/repellents-for-application-to-skin
"Repellents with the best track records include the following: DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, and oil of lemon eucalyptus (PMD). The three non-DEET compounds each seem to work as well as or nearly as well as DEET when they are used at higher concentrations (20%)."

A very interesting labratory study, bassicaly how long does it take for hungry unfed female mosquitoes to bite a treated arm.
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band150/b150-6.html
The IR3535 at higher concentration may rival DEET at the same concentration.

The how to test, World Health Organization (WHO). If the study does not follow these guidelines at least in part you need to doubt its validity.
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2009/WHO_HTM_NTD_WHOPES_2009.4_eng.pdf

20% DEET or 20% IR3535
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Re: Mosquitoes

Postby dales133 » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:31 pm

What are chiggers?
And yea the NT mozzies are big!
Worst thing ever though are the sand flies in Milford Sound in New Zealand though
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