if u can't repell them the most important thing is not to touch them - the day after is the worst - if u don't scratch or touch them they'll go away - u rub and u gt them for a week or more
Bastard is spot on the money, it's the urine that causes the problem. Rid & bushmans work well for me, but having a mate with more attractive blood seems to work better. Have a mate they go after all the time, and they will eat him sitting next to me while leaving me alone.
Best treatment is to wash the bites immediately with fresh water. It washes the urine off, hence no irritation.
Beer! Lots and lots of it. Failing that - skin-so-soft; dettol, metho and babyoil; 50% black tea and metho; vinegar; dry soap works on mosquito bites; sit in water up to your neck whilst downing Bundy rum or wear light cotton or calico clothing.
It's a matter of trial and error. It seems that not one thing will work for all but I give skin-so-soft the 'thumbs up'.
Remember that fishing in estuaries and the beach beats sitting around a campfire in the dry west while some a**sehole plays a banjo at ya.
Try increasing your intake of Vitamin B if your going to be subject to being bitten my son and little girl break out in big red spots from them but now i give them a teaspoon of vegemite a day ('coz it's high in Vitamin B) and now even though they are probably bitten you can't see where and it never bothers them.
A chick at the chemist said vitamin B is the best way to prevent bites being bad
Works for them
Cheers
like i said give that product called "off" ago! best thing it is non oily!
Enough bites and you will become immune!Originally Posted by INDUNA
Lumps disappear very quickly, itch disappears. vegemite neutralizes the urine once bitten.
When the flood of '90/91 hit CQ these black flies appeared (species unkown) and they could drive you mental! I found citronella and dettol with baby oil an effective mix.
The new Bushmans in the RED can with 40% DEET works best of all the commercial products I've tried.
http://heritage.scotsman.com/ingenui...?id=1819182005
Avon's spray finds calling as midge repellent for Royal Marines
ARTHUR MACMILLAN
THEY are famed for their ability to operate at sea, in the jungle or in the Arctic wastes and freezing cold of Norway. Battles throughout the centuries have won the Royal Marine Commandos a reputation as one of the world's elite fighting forces.
And as the last line of security in guarding Britain's nuclear weapons, they are pivotal to the Defence of the Realm.
But it appears that on the home front our toughest soldiers are prepared to pander to their softer side to combat Scotland's most persistent foe: the midge.
For years the Marines at Faslane who guard nuclear missiles and the submarines capable of firing them have looked for an answer. They've finally found it in a brand of women's skin cream.
Instead of using mosquito repellent issued by their unit, soldiers and workers at the base are buying Avon body lotion to repel midges on the West Coast. The company traditionally associated with images of well-dressed women selling cosmetics door-to-door is experiencing an unexpected boom thanks to the pesky insect. Neil Smith, a Royal Navy spokesman at HMS Clyde, near Helensburgh, said: "It's not official kit but nothing works better and the Marines are buying it themselves because the midges are so bad up there."
The wonder cure is a £5 bottle of dry oil body spray from Avon's Skin So Soft range. The midge problem at the base where Trident missiles and Vanguard submarines are stationed is so bad it recently installed a MidgeEater machine at the front gate. Workers at the camp can often be seen wearing midge nets on their heads.
Royal Marines are also taking the skin cream on field training exercises outside the base. But although it is the answer to their prayers, they have not been able to buy it at the local chemist.
Smith said: "There has been a lot of group buying because you can only get the stuff from Avon. Some buy it online and others are ordering it through local Avon ladies."
A stores sergeant at 45 Commando, based at Arbroath, said: "There is nothing effeminate about it. The reason the Nods [Marines] are using it is because it is good kit. It works. It's as simple as that."
It is thought that the oily base of the body spray is the ingredient that repels midges. Made with shea butter and vitamins, Avon's packaging boasts that it will "ensure your skin feels velvety soft, hour after hour".
Sales of the spray have gone through the roof this summer with several Avon ladies selling hundreds of bottles.
Anna Brown, Avon's area manager for the West Coast of Scotland, where the company has 353 sales representatives, said word of the body spray's ability to repel midges has spread since the wives of servicemen discovered its hidden qualities.
She said: "We sell it as a body moisturiser but many people tell us they are only buying it to get rid of midges. We don't market it as an insect repellent because its primary use is to soften your skin. But it is undoubtedly one of our best sellers, with our best agents having to order up to 200 bottles every three weeks."
But like the best boots, clothing and equipment which soldiers buy out of their own pocket, there are no plans to make Avon's cream standard issue to troops.
And it is not only the military who are taking advantage of Avon's beauty products. Word of the spray's ability to fight midges has spread throughout the entire West Coast, with sales being picked up in Dumbarton, Campbeltown, Oban and Dunoon. It has also been claimed that both the US army and the SAS use it as mosquito repellent in the jungle.
Brown said: "We don't ask people why they are buying it but some people tell us it is because they have heard it is good at combating midges."
Scottish Water engineers in the Highlands and forestry workers are also placing orders. In recent years a more terminal approach to tackling midges has been the MidgeEater range of traps, which generate carbon dioxide to mimic the exhaled breath of humans which are the midge's favoured haunt. Once fooled into coming within range, the hapless insects are then sucked into the trap at high speed.
But despite its dry oil body spray's midge-fighting ability, Avon seems reluctant to sell the lotion to the British public as an insect repellent.
A company spokeswoman said: "We cannot do that because UK pharmaceutical laws ban us from doing so, although there has been talk of it being marketed as an mosquito repellent in America where the rules are different."
There are more than 30 species of midge in Scotland but it is the female Culicoides impunctatus variety that causes torment. It is the only type of midge that bites. The crew responsible for the final episodes of Monarch of the Glen set at Ardverikie estate, near Loch Laggan, wore anti-midge body suits and veiled headgear while filming.
BUT: since I posted this, another piece of research has said:
"For decades rumor has held that Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil is an effective counter to mosquitoes, yet a Consumer Reports analysis found it ineffective for that purpose. Because so many people were buying the product for its purported mosquito combating properties, in 1994 Avon added a non-DEET repellent and a sunscreen to the popular bath oil and began marketing the new concoction as Avon Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Repellent. Avon disputes the 2002 results posted in the New England Journal of Medicine study, claiming its Bug Guard Repellent works for three hours, not the 10.3 minutes for its Bug Guard Repellent and the 22.9 minutes for its Bug Guard Repellent Plus the study found, but a 2003 Consumer Reports analysis found the Skin-So-Soft repellent deterred mosquitoes for only one hour.
I've researched a lot as the deckie gets consumed by 'em and also scars from the bites. I've used dettol based concoctions and all sorts but my conclusion is that DEET based are the go and the higher the deet content, the better.
Get a look at this enlightening long thread as it dispells a lot of myths about
"home-grown products" Even vitamin B1 appears to be a myth
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/me...1&showall=true
DEET seems to be the go and is also safer than some think
Last edited by kingtin; 02-11-2007 at 03:19 PM.
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A study which examined the risk factors for testicular cancer found evidence that use of insect repellents "mostly containing N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET)" were associated with an elevated risk of testicular cancer.
Source
M. Walschaerts, A. Muller, J. Auger, L. Bujan, J.-F. Guerin, D. L. Lannou, A. Clavert, A. Spira, P. Jouannet and P. Thonneau (2007). "Environmental, occupational and familial risks for testicular cancer: a hospital-based case-control study". International Journal of Andrology 30 (4): 222-229. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2605.2007.00805.x.
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Live at the beach and the better half is the best bait attractant for the sandflies.
She has tried all the repellants, but the dettol babyoil metho mix seems to be the best. She still gets some bites though.
To get rid of bites she uses Mosquitoclick and little gadget available from Kmart and most camping shops about the $19 mark. Just a few clicks and the pain and lump gone in minutes.
Tried everything but thats what works for us.
Trev
Fish for the future, enjoy the present but think of your children.
"Despite the substantial attention paid by the lay press every year to the safety of DEET, this repellent has been subjected to more scientific and toxicologic scrutiny than any other repellent substance. The extensive accumulated toxicologic data on DEET have been reviewed elsewhere. DEET has a remarkable safety profile after 40 years of use and nearly 8 billion human applications. Fewer than 50 cases of serious toxic effects have been documented in the medical literature since 1960, and three quarters of them resolved without sequelae. Many of these cases of toxic effects involved long-term, heavy, frequent, or whole-body application of DEET. No correlation has been found between the concentration of DEET used and the risk of toxic effects." Mark S. Fradin, M.D., and John F. Day, Ph.D.
Comparative Efficacy of Insect Repellents against Mosquito Bites
New England Journal of Medicine,
The list below shows the products tested, along with their active ingredients and the average amount of time that each product repelled mosquitoes.
- OFF! Deep Woods (DEET 23.8%) - 301.5 min.
- Sawyer Controlled Release (DEET 20%) - 234.4 min.
- OFF! Skintastic (DEET 6.65%) - 112.4 min.
- Bite Blocker for Kids (Soybean Oil 2%) - 94.6 min.
- OFF! Skintastic for Kids (DEET 4.75%) - 88.4 min.
- Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Plus (IR3535 7.5%) - 22.9 min.<
- Natrapel (Citronella 10%) - 19.7 min.
- Herbal Armor (Citronella 12%; peppermint oil 2.5%; other ingredients <2%) - 18.9 min.
- Green Ban for People (Citronella 10%; peppermint oil 2%) - 14.0 min.
- Buzz Away (Citronella 5%) - 13.5 min.
- Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil (Uncertain) - 9.6 min.
- Skin-So-Soft Moisturizing Suncare (Citronella 0.05%) - 2.8 min.
- Gone Original Wristband (DEET 9.5%) - 0.3 min.
- Repello Wristband (DEET 9.5%) - 0.2 min.
- Gone Plus Repelling Wristband (Citronella 25%) - 0.2 min.
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I have always used 50/50 baby oil and detol mixed in a spray bottle. I also have one of those hand held insecticide srayers and make a mix and spray the camp site for about 20 SQ meters and never have any problems but make sure to apply well and dont worry about having oily skin. To get rid of the itch i use Vicks vapour rub or stop itch/stingoes.
Hopoe this helps
Rod....
try rubbing rum over the legs and arms and roll around in the sand before hand. when the bastards bite you they get pi$$ed and throw sand at each other knocking themselfs off, works for mozzies too.
Just marry one. then you'll have love bites!
Bushman is by far and the best bug repellent . It has the highest concentration of DEET (80%)and lasts for hours. The army even uses bushman cause its so good.
The Gel version is the best, but its potent stuff. It melts plastic(eg sunglasses,tacklebox etc). and never ever put it on your lips
A thing alot of people forget is, repellents DONT stop alot of itch after you've been nailed by 10 thousand sandflies. You need to apply it BEFORE you get hammered.
Another point, if someone has never really been drilled by sandflies they usually come out in nasty welts. AFter that your body does build a small amount of immunity and subsequent bites aren't as bad.
So remember to use repellants BEFORE you get drilled and you'll be fine.
all those detol,metho etc mixes help alleviate the itch AFTER you've been bitten and dont work aswell as DEET in keeping em off in the first place.
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