Things that go bite in the night
 

After being here 7 months and pretty much getting through what life has to throw at me, I thought that I could tackle everything.

Oh no

My entire body is covered in so many bumps that if a blind person got hold of me they could braille read the entire works of Shakespear, War and Peace and a couple of volumes of the encyclopedia Brittanica to boot.

To all those not yet here - do not underestimate the power of the mosquito. There are also biting bugs called no-see-ums - wtf can't even swat something you don't know is there. They itch and weep something cronic and I will be glad for the fall!

So my resolve is the next mossie that lands on me I am going to bite to see how he likes it (thats a joke btw but its how I feel) and to use all 4 cans of spray cream and lotion that I bought a half hour ago at regular intervals.

Joking aside these things are awful - do come prepared!!!!!

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Hi Mandy, have you ever tried Avon Skin-so-soft dry oil spray...get the one with the blue lid....everything bites me in Canada...even the bloody ants,...so if you can get hold of this stuff it's great....They seem to hate it:thumbsup:

FK...............x

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

You can buy some stuff called Solarcaine that has Lidocaine in it, along with soothing things. Its the best stuff we have found. It terrible this year, I read that even the deer and moose can't stand it and are heading out onto the roads.

we have scalped our lawn to try and keep the bug***s down, and cut back trees and hedges, but they are out there!! We only have mossies and black fly, no no see ums, so I guess we are lucky....

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

http://www.labservices.uoguelph.ca/l...itoControl.pdf

The mosquitoes are just miserable this year. Our skeeter-vac is barely making a dent, although its keeping the immediate area of the backyard where the kids swings are more or less habitable. Ive even been out spraying methoxychlor around our yard to try and reclaim it. The little bastards are driving me nuts. Even if the pesticide doesn't do a lot, at least I feel like I am fighting back.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

I got bitten by something the other night and the bite is quite small but an area around two inches in diameter is swollen and red...ouch!

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Depends where you're planning to live - no nasty biting critters here :)

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

one bite?? just one bite?? :rofl::rofl:

try 30 or so:eek:

Its really horrid, you just go out the door and get bitten walking to the car. Evil bastards

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Oh I know....I've been lucky...just bit taken aback by one bit swelling up so much - it's huge!

I got attacked in Scotland one year....like a fog of mozzies....eeeuuuw. You have my sympathies.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

This one FK:
http://shop.avon.ca/avonshop_en/defa...oduct_list.asp

assume its the same ingredient base as the uk version . .?

heres the uk one:
http://avonshop.co.uk/shop/product.a...ry=1&pagenum=1

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Before you go spending a fortune on avon stuff, and, not wanting to dismiss personal anecdotes of success, there have been proper scientific studies done, and its good for about 10-15 minutes only...

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN419

Products

Active Ingredient

Average Complete Protection Time

OFF! Deep Woods

23.8% DEET

5 hours


Sawyer Controlled Release

20% DEET

4 hours


OFF! Skintastic

6.65% DEET

2 hours


Repel Lemon Eucalyptus

Insect Repellent

Oil of lemon eucalyptus; p-menthane 3,8-diol (PMD)

2 hours


Bite Blocker for Kids

2% Soybean Oil

1.5 hours


OFF! Skintastic for Kids

4.75% DEET

1.5 hours


Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Plus

7.5% IR3535

23 minutes


Natrapel

10% Citronella

20 minutes


Herbal Armor

12% Citronella; 2.5% peppermint oil; 2% cedar oil; 1% lemongrass oil; 0.05% geranium oil

19 minutes


Green Ban for People

10% Citronella; 2% peppermint oil

14 minutes


Buzz Away

5% Citronella

14 minutes


Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard

0.1% Citronella

10 minutes


Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil

Active Ingredient not known

10 minutes


Skin-So-Soft Moisturizing Suncare

0.05% Citronella

3 minutes


Gone Original Wristband

9.5% DEET

0


Repello Wristband

9.5% DEET

0


Gone Plus Repelling Wristband

25% Citronella

0



If you really dont want to get bitten, then DEET is the way to go. I dont want my little kids to stick deeted hands in mouth, so we buy Bite blocker from the US by mail order just for them.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Janet is so with you on this. She is getting bitten to death. And every single one of them flares up. She was reading here...
http://www.drgreene.com/21_38.html
...sbout taking vitamin b1 to see if that will help but we want to do a bit more research on that first to make sure we are not curing one problem and causing another. The same site talks about the use of cool compresses and certainly, Janet was finding that quite helpful in reducing the need to scratch.

Me?...I get a couple of bites here and there and generally speaking, they do not flare up anything like Janet's, so it is proving bearable for me.

Eamonn

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Nice one Iaink - luckily I dont usually get many bites - they go for my mum or daughter - so wehn we shift over shall stock up on the stuff you have recommended!

I think the avon stuff happens to work a bit over in uk where the mossies dont have the killer instinct!!

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Picking up on iaink's helpful post, we can certainly agree that the following is pretty effective...we just hate spraying poison all over ourselves!

OFF! Deep Woods
23.8% DEET
5 hours

Eamonn & Janet

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Vit B1, Thiamine ..... isn't that in Marmite? Maybe we should eat more Marmite, or simply apply it externally ...... :unsure:

Can I buy Marmite in Canada? :blink: :rofl:

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

yep some of the ones i've bought today are the deet ones - didn't go for the deep woods one, wished i'd have known. But the Off brands that I bought, one has 15% deet and the other 10%.

Woohoo by my reckoning if I put em both on that adds up to 25% (again thats a joke).

Poor Mr MMC suggested a walk last night as it was so hot, we got to the end of the road and had to run home, he got bitten over 25 times in 5 mins - they just love him.

I know what you mean about spraying yourself with poison but there comes a time where you would spray yourself with neat diesel fuel if it did the trick.

And Carrie - the English mossies may not love you, but these guys out here show no mercy - to coin a Daft Batty phrase

"The little bastards" ;)

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Hmmm, neat diesel fuel...we'll give that a try!:D

And Morwena, yes Marmite is available here. Janet loves it and we have two jars of it in the pantry. (Yuk!)

Maybe we can do a comparative test of the two proposed solutions and report back. She'll hardly look freaky at all!

Eamonn

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

I think every now and then a super mossie gets you, and then the spot swells up to the size of a second head. Maybe the super mossie found you!! my sympathies, I suggest gin as a cure


My Canadian friends have a fool proof method of avoiding being bitten, they invite the English people round so the mossies feast on us and not them!:eek:


A theory? based on where the mossies seem to prefer to bite, do they like luminous untanned English skin best, rather than these tanned Canadians??:confused: possible? an infrared thing where they can see more veins??

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Some reading material to go along with Iain's post.;)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/co...osquitoes.html

and

http://www.cfpc.ca/cfp/2003/Aug/vol4...critical-2.asp

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Aaaahhh that would be why Mr MMC was devoured then - the lilly white leggies - me on the other hand did a spot of fake tanning, moisturising, oily type girly stuff before our walk - it must've been the stalwarts that bit me as the others just slid off and waited til I was asleep and got me then :(

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

dunno about the fake tan, as the mossies are supposed to like scent and perfumes etc, and fake take has a distinctive aroma. You could call it the smell of summer, well that and DEET :rofl:

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

I have just read this thread with interest - I spent half of this morning in the Urgent Care department, because my mosquito bites had swollen up so badly and one on the back of my heel had also formed a huge blister.

I always do react quite badly to bites, but not as badly as I have this weekend - I can hardly walk because the one with the blister hurts so much.

The doctor gave me antibiotics because the bites have caused cellulitis in my lower leg and heel - with the threat that if the redness and swelling doesn't start to go down within 48 hours I will have to go back, possibly for intra-venous antibiotics.

OH is down at Canadian Tire as I type, buying a Skeeter-Vac and some "Deep Woods Off" for me, because I was covered in the "Family Off" when I got bitten.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Mmmmmm yes we'll all be smelling veritably scrumpcious by the end of summer!!!!! (Marmite - check, Deet - Check, fake tan - check, neat diesel fuel - check, sick bag..........)

Will seriously let you know how these two pan out tonight though, one is the dry spray at 15% the other is the lotion at 10%.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Tell Mr MMC he has my sympathies and you too of course.

I as you know have been here 45 years and unless I use a product with DEET in it I still get eaten alive by the little buggers. Like Saturday evening over at a friends for his annual BBQ, 15 bites around my ankles in about ten minutes when the wind dropped in the early evening.:eek::eek:

We have some Muskol liquid that was purchased a number of years ago that contains 95% DEET none of this 10%-30% crap. :p No I am not going to share.:D

No mossies will come near you for at least 8 hours.:thumbup:

Seriously though the Deep Woods Off with 30% DEET does work well.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Christ that sounds bad....the bite my leg sounds like it's going the same way.....eek. GET WELL SOON.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Ooh Lisa - you have my sympathies :(

I just go everywhere with my hubby and he gets about 15 bites to 1 on me ;)

Daughter number one came home from a brief walk last week - dotted all over with bites galore - poor thing - it's not a nice time of the year. But I don't think they are that bad here compared to some people's reports :(

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Thank you!!

I am hoping the combination of antibiotics, antihistamine tablets and cream will mean that I can actually sleep a bit tonight (especially if I wash all the tablets down with an extra-large glass of Baileys!)

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Usually works the other way with us - I get 10 bites to every one of OH's!!

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

I have to say that I really seem to attract Mozzies and have been a regular user of the above product since 1998 (a Kenyan Safari - with not a single mosquito bite!) I can definitely say that it lasts longer than 4 hours...much longer...as I found that application in the morning was still reliably effective by the evening time.

I basically cannot recommend it highly enough.

Anyone who is interested, you can read about it's effectiveness here: http://www.sawyerproducts.com/resear...%20formula.pdf

We get it from http://www.rei.com/product/730353

We have spent a small fortune with REI over the last 10 years and found their customer service to be faultless, and shipping to Canada (and previously, the UK) quick and pretty reasonable, as long as you're not just buying single items (as it costs $19 min, for orders up to $50 I think.)

The 6oz $7.95 bottle lasts for ages and everyone I've persuaded to try it is converted. It is messier to apply than a spray, but you definitely need to apply far less frequently than other 20% products to get the same protection and you get less DEET exposure, too.

Hope this helps someone!
Alex

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

I do the same.....Bitten in the UK and France same thing happened.

Returned from Canada 10th June this year wheel chaired off the plane, straight to Whiston Hospital, anitibiotics, painkillers and antihistamine. Six bites on one foot and five on the other. Under threat of having to stay in hospital or having to return for intra-venous antibiotics, but luckily did not have to.

In a lot of pain could not walk for one week, could not wear shoes for three, am planning on buying an all in one suit to wear in the summer. ;)

Worst experience of my life.......

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Iain, how far away from the swings or the house do you put your skeeter-vac?

We got one yesterday and last night it was on the edge of the patio just below the balcony of the house, so probably about ten to twelve feet away from the house.

OH thinks it should really be further from the house, then it is drawing mosquitoes away from the house, rather than towards it. He is thinking of putting it much further down the garden, saying it covers over an acre anyway (we got the V35).

So I just wondered what sort of distance you found to be best?

Thanks.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

My next door neightbour actually wears an all-in-one suit to do the gardening in and I sat and watched him the other day thinking he must be roasting and must be mad.

But I take that all back now, he has the right idea!!!

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

that or he is a bit or a weirdo!! ;)

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

I only mentioned Marmite as I wanted to morph this discussion into yet another vacuous Marmite thread.:sneaky:

We use the OFF-sports version, and the first year we were here playing field hockey in the evening the mozzies were terrible so I sprayed it over all exposed skin and rubbed it on my face, neck and ears, and didn't get a single bite EXCEPT below my knees, where I hadn't sprayed because I was wearing knee high socks and shin guards.

Well my shins were fine, but the blighters bit right through my socks at the back, and I ended up with around a dozen bites on each of my calves!!! :curse: :cry:

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

With all these sprays and lotions, would you put your sun protection lotion on first and then spray your mossie spray over the top?

We were over in NS last summer and never used any sprays, none of us got bitten at all, do you think we were just lucky or do the little swines generally just bugger off by then?

Thanks, Karen

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Its about 20 feet. I dont like it closer to the house than that because it will draw the little buggers closer, and much as they are attracted to it, they are attracted to me more! We have a fairly large yard (3/4 acre), so move it to where its needed most ever few weeks.

Remember, it will take a few weeks before it starts to make a good difference, but every skitter it catches now is one that wont be breeding later. It takes a bit of fiddeling to set the chemical bait to the optimum level. I hope you bought one of the models with the internal electric fan to suck them in..the cheaper ones without it are not nearly as effective. I think the 35 is what we have.

If its any consolation when I first came here I used to get huge golf ball sized lumps where I was bitten, but over time I guess my immune system has adapted and now the bites are just small bumps. Maybe it just seems like you are all bitten more here, because the bumps show up worse?

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Bug spray, then sunscreen. The sunscreen need reapplying a lot more frequently.

Generally a good long hot spell will kill off most of the little buggers, unless you venture into the woods.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Omg, we are not alone then :thumbdown:.

We don't have no-see-ums here but bloodsucking black-flies :(.

Ewwww, makes my skin crawl just writing about them.

Our bites tend to come up to golf-ball size and they drive you mad, what ever you do don't apply 'Afterbite' after you have accidently scratched them :eek::eek::eek:.

Even the poor dogs can't lay out inthe garden because they get attacked by the bugs!

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Can you still buy the Muskol that was basically repackaged 100% pure DEET? That stuff worked. If any dripped down the bottle it dissolved the ink, but it kept the mosquitoes away.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

Dindnt think that Muskol was ever more than about 30 or 40%?...same as the "Deep Woods" Off now. You used to be able to get that in a 90+% DEET in a small pump container. Probably not healthy at that concentration anyway. "Jungle Juice" was another brand.

Its nasty pungent stuff...wrecked more than one pair of cheap sunglasses....But its usefull to carry in the bike saddle bag in case of a serious mechanical failure in the woods. I guess hunters and the like would go for it too.

Re: Things that go bite in the night
 

No, Muskol comes with a maximum 30% DEET nowadays.

http://www.muskol.com/en/product/classic_liquid_40ml/

As I posted above I still have a bottle of the 95% stuff that I use sparingly. ;)