Mossies, bugs & hoochies?

[Martyn]

Silly question really, but how do you guys hide from the twighlight or dawn swarm? I mean especially if using a hooch/bivvi combo? I dont mind the odd criotter saying hello, but swarms of bugs drive me nuts and has always been my main reason for using a tent with sewn in groundsheet, to seal myself away from unwanted visitors. So what do you chaps do? Are you all hardened to the nips 'n stings of winged visitors or do you have some secret device? Is it to do with where you pitch? Any tips for avoiding mossie central, or bug metropolis?

 

[Stuart]

Wear trousers and long sleeves and a head net and they wont bother you
smokey fires can offer some protection (and choke you in the process :-D )

you can also burn cramp balls which seems to work on some insects, easily available anywhere with ash trees

 

[Ed]

Yep!!! cover up is the only way to realy protect yourself.... including gloves. Last year in the brecons they were crawling down the tops of my boots and I ended up wrapping gaffer tape around the tops to seal any gaps..... orrible little critters they were. Insect repelent is ok but not 100% effective against everything..... not giving them access to your skin is the best preventative.


Ed

 

[Gary]

To be honest I've never really been bothered by our winged friends except for out of the praires and there they were so bad we resorted to wearing strips of towel soaked in fuel oil. I kid you not looking at someone 3 feet away from you was like looking through a net curtain the mosi's were so thick.

But as Stuart said long sleeves and a head net usually deal with most beasties. Although the standard Mosi can usually penitrate several layers of cotton - Interestingly enough mosi's hunt by heat sources and carbon dioxide emissions so if your in a basha is away from the fire you should be fairly cool and not such a target.

If like me you cant stand sleeping with things on or over your face you can get head nets with hoops that will keep the netting off your skin or use a full mosi-net that can hang under your Basha.

A smudge fire is good if you can live with the smoke - smouldering birch polypore works well too.

However top tip is siting your camp correctly - find a spot where the wind will work for you, that way if the little buggers do get you they have had to fly hard against a good stiff breeze to earn their snack.

 

[Viking]

There is an old sayin that you should got out naked and let them bite you and then you will never have a problem with them anymore. I never have any problem with them, they bite me but I don´t feel it :-D

They are also drawn to bright colors, another excuse to always wear green.

 

[bigjackbrass]

They are also drawn to bright colors, another excuse to always wear green.

Interestingly, common advice is to avoid dark colours... All of the old campers I know in America, especially in Maine where the blackfly leave nothing but a gnawed and withered husk of the ill-prepared woodsman, suggest neutral to light earthy tones or white. Navy is a no-no. Since I always used to hike in a navy shirt I was well placed to examine the difference when I switched to a pale one, and the instant result was fewer bugs landing on me (I rarely used to get bitten due to the close weave of the fabric).

 

[Adi007]

I'd also add keep lights to a minimum as lights attract the little blighters!
I've read many times that midges aren't attracted by cold light - LED lights - don't believe it! :shock: I came back to a tent in Scotland so filled with midges that had worked their way into it through a small gap in the zip that the kids had left that we were throwing them out by the handful!

Krill lights on the other hand don't seem to attract them as bad (the green one at least) so they are better.

 

[leon-1]

One other thing that you may want to consider is getting a natural insect repellent that can be washed into clothing, hammocks and mossie nets along the lines of PERMETHRIN. The armed forces use this in areas of the world like Kenya and Brunie where there can be rather large swarms of the blighters.

 

[Martyn]

Thanks Guys, thanks for the replies. Generally, round a fire, they dont bother me too much - at least I dont notice them. I didn't get bitten in Thailand and I didn't get bitten in the Dominican Republic, despite a twighlight canoe trip into the Dominican jungle, probably thanks to copious amounts of DEET (one bloke wearing shorts got eaten alive though).

It's those night & dawn swarms that bug me (dohhh, sorry). I've just recently bought a hootch and am hoping to give my first tarp/bivvi outdoor sleeping a go in the next week or two. Does anyone sleep with one of those bivvi mozzie net things? I think MSR make em. Or isn't it that much of an issue? I admit to probably being more concerned than I need to be about this, but I just cant sleep if thiers bugs everwhere.

 

[leon-1]

Although I tend to sleep under a basha, I am normally in a Thai Hammock which has been washed in permethrin and in one of these you are pretty much enveloped inside. I have used hammock and mossie net combination, but that was standard issue and the main problem I found was that some of the smaller beasties got in and once they had had a feed were too big to get out and continued to feed.
You can make of this what you wish, but midges are smaller than mossies.

 

[Martyn]

Found this on the web, it relates to Scotland, but probably applies to the UK generally.

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It is the female midge that bites. It can only lay its eggs after it has had a blood meal; which is where you and I come in. Midges start to become a problem in June and usually last through to August when their numbers diminish rapidly, before they finally disappear with the first real frost of autumn. The numbers of midges vary considerably from year to year, depending on the severity of the preceding winter, the amount of spring rainfall, and the temperature.

To avoid midges, it helps to know a little about their likes and dislikes. They like the cool indirect light of dawn and dusk, and dislike direct strong sunlight. They like damp conditions and dislike dry conditions. And they like still air and dislike anything above a fairly gentle breeze. All this tends to mean that midges are less common the middle of the day than in the mornings and evenings; that they are rarer on exposed hills than in sheltered valleys; and that the can be fond of woodland and forest areas. Finally, it is worth knowing that midges prefer dark coloured clothing to light.
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Pretty much what's already been said. :-D

Oh, I also read that the majority of swarming midges and gnats DO NOT BITE! I didn't know that, I assumed they did. I believe some varieties of midges bite, but most dont. Interesting.

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Many people believe that all midges bite, this is a common misconception. Most species of midgies are actually harmless. These "friendly" midgies belong to the Chironomidae family, and have no piercing mouthparts. Lots of harmless midges, such as the "dancing midge", are mistaken for biting midgies and are often killed by wary people.
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and....

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Biting midges tend to be especially small, and typically have a wingspan of less than 2mm across. Their small size is an advantage, as it allows them to feed undetected. Biting midges can be identified by inspecting their wings. All of them have very characteristic dark spots or blotches on their wings. The pattern of these markings can help identify which species of the Ceratopogonidae family that the midge belongs to.

Only a few of the biting midges actually feed off humans. Many of them feed off other warm-blooded creatures - such as mammals and birds. Some even feed off other insects!

Only the female midges bite - they do so to feed their eggs. The males have a different type of mouth, suitable only for feeding from vegetation.
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[george]

Interesting article in the paper the other day. Apparrently eating lots of marmite can help keep midges and mozzies away.

Its a yeast extract thing - they dont like the smell that comes through your skin if you eat yeast extract. People have known for ages that brewers yeast tablets help but personally I've never been able to take them for long as the taste is horrible!

So this year (Its going to be an awful midge year - very very wet spring and mild nights!) I'll give the marmite toast for breakfast a shot and see if I get any result.

George

 

[EdS]

not wanting to be to alarmist have any of you guys read the health and safety & environmental stuff on permethrin?

I used to collect effluent samples from the wool industry including mothproofing baths - it not good. Amongst other things it has been linked to the stripping of the mylin (spelling?) sheath from nerves as well as asthma.

 

[maddave]

Interesting article in the paper the other day. Apparrently eating lots of marmite can help keep midges and mozzies away.

Marmite!! :yikes: Orrible stuff...I'm sure it was once used to waterproof coracles!!

Just the smell of it makes ME queasy

I'd rather let the midgies get me....

 

[Viking]

If toy sleep in a tarp or hootchie a mosquito net that covers the head part of the sleeping bag maybe can solve some of your problems.

That the little creatures is drawn to dark colurs was new to me, read that they are drawn to red colours. Are the midges diffrent over there?

 

[Adi007]

I used to collect effluent samples from the wool industry including mothproofing baths - it not good. Amongst other things it has been linked to the stripping of the mylin (spelling?) sheath from nerves as well as asthma.

Add to that the fact that they mix it with DEET that also has some nasty myelin stripping powers too ... in fact, I'm sure that both are cholinesterase inhibitors (meaning that thye work in a similar way to nerve agent ... but for bugs) :yikes:

Nasty stuff ... I really don't trust anything on my skin any more that can melt plastic!

 

[PC2K]

not wanting to be to alarmist have any of you guys read the health and safety & environmental stuff on permethrin?

nope, got a url for that info ? I was thinking of getting a couple of bottle's so it would be nice to know the risks.

 

[Ed]

Yes.... Please post a link. I was under the impression that it bound tightly to the fibres in clothing that absorbion into the skin was almost non-existant.

Isn't it the main insectiside in headlice shampoo!!! If its realy that bad, why do we put it on childrens heads?

Ed

 

[Adi007]

Isn't it the main insectiside in headlice shampoo!!! If its realy that bad, why do we put it on childrens heads?

Ed

Search the web and you'll find that permethrin is now not as popular as it once was for head lice control. :shock:

As to how it binds to clothing, IIRC, permethrin works in insects (the nervous system) by binding to a channel called the sodium channel on nerve endings. By doing this is interrups the organ functiosn and leads to paralysis of the nervous system, failure of metabolism and then death. If permethrin was so well bound to clothing, it wouldn't be able to work properly.

I'm not saying throw away the DEET and permethrin (although if you are sensitive to cholinesterase inhibitor you should anyway, just be aware that they probably don't just work on insects, it's just out mass that protects us.

 

[Kath]

I'm totally alergic to DEET - won't go near the stuff ever again if I can help it. Gave me quite a few weeks misery ... :yikes:

The best I can do now is a mossie net. Feel a bit daft walking round in one though, so I just tend to put it on when settling in for the night. Of course it never quite stops ALL the bugs getting in. But then bivvying seems to me to be all about comparing your bites the next day!

(BTW the biggest critter I ever had trying to get into my bivvy bag was a cat. Scared the life out of me seeing this paw push open the drawstring followed by its head! :shock: I won't tell what I did next (for fear of the RSPCA knocking down my door!) but I will say that the cat went away very quickly and didn't bother me again!! )