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A problem with wild life gardening - multiple strange insect bites

Marianne72

I've been too successful in wildlife gardening as I'm getting bitten in places I can't scratch, and insects I've never experienced before. No one mentions this in the books Angry. Despite wearing cargo trousers, they manage to crawl up the backs of my legs and also in my hat. I'm off to buy jungle-strength insect repellant [recommended by a paramedic] but does anyone else have this problem? It's horrible at night, with the bites itching and hot. I don't know why I'm so attractive to insects - others can walk across a field with no problems but I'll be running in blood! 

  • in reply to DoraXplora
    DoraXplora said:
    please take care of yourself and get that repellant ready! 

    Yes, I have to! It drives me insane sometimes, though I enjoy riffling through my Insect guide and identifying the stranger ones, funnily enough. 

  • in reply to Iain

    Excellent, thanks  . I needed something for immediate relief. The pharmacist sold me some cream but I don't like to use it often as it contains steroids and thins the skin. 

  • in reply to Iain

    Ah yes, I've read about that. Luckily, I've got the cream now too; it only takes five minutes to hold on and not scratch after application. I'll keep that in method in mind though, for cases when cream is not available (which is about very often when am not at home). Brazil sounds very cool (very hot!) and I bet it has more variety of bitey stuff than I know of. 

  • Marianne72 said:
    It's horrible at night, with the bites itching

    One technique I learned where I live (Brazil) to reduce the itchiness is to the teaspoon method.

    Basically stick a teaspoon into hot water to warm it up (think about the temperature of tea that you would drink) , remove it and shake off the water then put the back of the spoon against the insect bite.

    It is important to make sure the temperature is not too hot as it can burn the skin, hence the guide to use a cup of tea as a guide.

    The has an effect of creating a counter-irritant which reduces the irritation for some time, from minutes to hours depending on the person.

    There is a good article explaining it here: https://www.verywellhealth.com/does-heat-alleviate-itchiness-from-mosquito-bites-7554462

    I note that experts advise against it as there are plenty of people daft enough not to check the temp beforehand.

    This is how I cope with the regular insect bites experienced here and it is quite effective for me. 

    In line with the rules this is not medical advice, only my experience and some research into the subject.

  • In summer I mostly do my gardening in shorts and sandals and walk dogs through pastures and nettles in same shorts and sandals. I do get an occasional bite, and the worst reaction I get for mosquito bites, that can itch and burn for over a week, so I use antihistamine cream. Mosquitoes in my experience are one of the worst ones, as they can bite through even thick clothing. Ticks have to be careful with, but they're slow and I do check regularly if there's any crawlies on me if walking through the grassy patches near forests. Gnats are awful as they're tiny, and they do crawl under clothing, and fit through relatively fine nets, but they come out after certain times and in certain weather conditions. Still, insect bite cream is a great invention; as I used to suffer from bites as a child.

    I guess I can't really complain here, as I seem to be the one of those people insects aren't too much bothered about, so please take care of yourself and get that repellant ready!