"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:12:09 -0400, wrote:
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:59:06 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:08:51 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:
On Oct 18, 5:28 pm, thunder wrote:
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:04:32 -0700, Frogwatch wrote:
Had my daughter at her crew practice so I took a walk an the nature
trail. By the time I got outta the woods my legs were itching and by
Thur night I had obvious bites all over. Now, I am covered with
itchy
welts. YIKES, redbugs. I used to be immune to them what's going on
here. I'd only get a few but this is major. Now I see why people
hated
them so much. Oddly, my entire family was immune to them but now I
am
not.
What are red bugs? Chiggers?
Chiggers, yup
Try rubbing the bites with ammonia. It's amazingly effective on
mosquito bites.
A paste of baking soda on fire ants, wasps and other acid based venom
critters. The ones that eat you inject some kind of saliva but I am
not sure about the pH of that.
I got ate up down there about a month ago.
Not sure what it was - maybe a combo of no-see-ums and some kind of
little black fly that swarmed me as soon as we entered a nature
preserve in Punta Gorda.
Some nature preserve. Just a place where they put a trail through the
woods, and never spray. Not fit for human beings. Probably the only
thing in there is bugs and the bugs that eat other bugs.
Didn't get a good look as I didn't have my glasses on.
Started to swat them off, but there were too many - so we ran like
hell out of there. Still see the spots on my legs.
Good reason to never wear shorts in the woods.
I tried the ammonia stuff Wayne suggested, among a few other things,
but nothing helped to reduce the itching except time.
Managed to resist scratching through sheer will power, but them things
poisoned me good. All that resisting makes you prone to drinking beer
to make you forget about the itching.
So there is an upside.
Probably lost my resistance to bug bites. Haven't been hit like that
since I was a kid. Hardly got my wife at all, and usually it's the
reverse.
--Vic
Vic,
Try looking like a local next time, the bugs are trained to eat tourists and
condo dwellers. Black socks and shorts are a key ID feature for tourists and
condo dwellers.
All kidding aside, Avon Skin So Soft is great stuff for keeping the bugs
away.
We have a city owned island (only boat access - no bridge) that is a nature
reserve on this side of Florida and the last time we went was during the
week when the place was empty, saw gopher tortuses, armadillo, osprey,
buzzerds, mocking birds, bluejays, finches, etc, etc. during a 1 hour walk.
Daybreak is a much better time to see wildlife but I can't get the boat
loaded (people) that early.