Bug bites

[Mintopop]

Also worth considering (especially if it happens all the time) is you might just be extremely sensitive to irritation from bark, plant hairs, resin, stuff like that. I don't know why but after all these years I still get all kinds of crazy bumps and puffs on my skin every time I'm in the garden or handling branches. I have to very thoroughly wash my hands and arms every time I finish doing any kind of outdoor work or else I'm unbearably itchy for the rest of the day.

Might be worth keeping track of what trees you're climbing when you start to break out - maybe there's a handful of common park trees that are setting you off over and over again.

 

[Vicente]

A rash or bumps is far more likely caused by some kind of contact allergen than it is by spiders, spiders will leave you with one good painful bite mark maybe 2, not a bunch of rashy bumps.

 

[moss]

Thank you Moss
Yes , those tacking is very important. When I have a duct tape around i would duct tape up over the grove and pants sleeves too. But when its summer it's kinda hard to do so due to sweat .
Do you have any specific way to ward off Fleas ?

I’ve only encountered fleas indoors when they were out of control from someone’s pet. I suggested (if flea bombing wasn’t going to happen) “How about a flea collar on each ankle!” Seemed like a great idea at the time ;-)

 

[Vicente]

In the spring if I'm in the brush more I use wondercide it's a natural insect repellent, doesn't do anything for mosquitoes but works great on ticks and fleas ticks are usually what I'm worried about.

@moss the fleas are rare but we've had them show up on jobs a time or two it was weird and gross.

 

[dspacio]

I have used CLAY on myself and my son for wasp bites which continued to flame up after a few days, and also on a friend who may have had a spider bite.

The powdered Clay. For a very intense wasp sting you can simmer echinacea root in water, and use that water to wet out the clay. Pack it on, let it dry and it will draw out the toxins. The echinacea will boost your bodies immune response.
You can also use essential oil of lavender to ease the inflammation, yet I am speaking here of wasp stings. The common plant, Plantain (not the banana), is also good at drawing things out and can be a good field remedy, and in the home too.

 

[Dan Cobb]

I don't know what bit or stung me two days ago while I was carrying some firewood, but it sure did swell my arm at the elbow end of my bicep. This is looking down my arm with palm up.

That was almost 3 hrs after being bitten. Started taking benadryl right away. Swelling increased by about 4X later, but was more spread out and not as obvious. Swelling is pretty much gone now. I'm guessing it may have been a centipede bite.

 

[JeffGu]

 

[JCB]

@moss
My doctor says I'm allergic to dust mites & spiders...
and I believe you guys calls what we calls mites as Chiggers and Chiggers are here in all 50 states so... It also could be chiggers too . Chiggers = Mites

And most likely trees around here in a cities those spiders are nesting between barks or the bushes. I see them almost 100% of times . LoL
I'm sorry for my terrible English with broken grammars.
I'm a English as second language individual and I'm not good with writing also . But I can tell you guys are very intelligent to comprehend what I'm trying to say but plz bare with me...

I think you express yourself and write more clearly than most people. Please don't give it a second thought.

We had tiny baby horseflies everywhere yesterday (75 degrees F) after the next-door farmer covered his fields with manure. Every bite turned into an itchy allergic welt, until I finally escaped to the house. Good luck; sorry, I have no advice.

 

[Brocky]

I get bitten frequently by some unknown critters also, thought it was spiders. My bites are mostly above where butt crack starts, maybe they enter shirt and fall down inside pants? Don’t realize have been bitten until warm water from shower causes itching. Don’t scratch and they go away after a few day, all the bumps develop pus.

 

[Mick Dempsey]

I did a big fir the other day, for a week afterwards I had 10 or so really itchy raised marks around my ankles and belt area.

Fleas from squirrels/bird nests imo.

 

[Brocky]

Forgot to add this happens from just walking under oak trees in my yard, as well as when climbing.

 

[Dan Cobb]

Forgot to add this happens from just walking under oak trees in my yard, as well as when climbing.

Your description of the bites makes me think they could be ant bites, though possibly fleas or mites. Seems like whatever the culprits, they're happy just crawling on you until they pinched by clothing. Laying something sizeable and white (towel, posterboard,...) on the ground under your oak trees and watching it for a while might reveal possible perpetrators.

 

[Vicente]

Also, carrying pump style spray bottle with diluted biodegradable dish soap water spray around tree crotches where you gonna be climbing on to kills most of crawling insects including fleas, spiders, ants , mites. Soap water simply steep into thier nostrils and suffocate them quietly & surely.

Because Adding soap lowers the water's surface tension so the water droplets becomes weaker and breaks apart sooner. So, soaps low surface tensions water gets in to thier body instead of repelled by thier waxy body structure.

My house's arborist told me some secret that when they gonna climb insects laden trees they spray pesticides at first prior to climb up to do the work that they told me . But that's kind a health hazard will be later on in thier life so I doubt that I would do the same for myself.

They don't have nostrils they absorb oxygen through their skin, the soap coats it and they suffocate (sort of). Yes I wouldn't spray with insecticide unless it was really really bad even then usually it's just ants swarming and they'll be done in a day or two.

 

[BurOakTom]

Thank you for sharing this. I was not aware of it. A quick search found that most cases of permethrin poisoning in cats comes from people either using dog flea treatments on cats or cats exposed to a treatment applied to a dog. No reported cases of cats affected by permethrin treated clothing.

This jibes with my experiences. I won't let our cats get near the liquid solution but have no concerns (and have had no issues) with clothing and other items once the treatment is 100% dried. Plus I can't believe the pre-treated clothing could be sold if it was a danger, at least not without flashing red warnings. From reading the Fact Sheet somebody posted it sounds like any exposure they get from treated clothing is way too low to be dangerous.

And on the subject of DIY permethrin treatment, I was considering buying plain permethrin and diluting it to the proper concentration for treating clothing rather than buying the permethrin sold specifically for treating clothing, as the cost difference is ridiculous. Anyone have experience with that?

Works well for me, and MUCH more cost-effective. My first attempt was putting the [diluted] solution in a bag with the clothing items so they'd soak it in, then line-drying. It worked okay but was a hassle. It was hard to get the clothing fully treated without wasting a bunch of solution, and it was difficult to avoid a mess.

Now I keep the solution in a small (1 or 2 qt) pump-action sprayer. Lay out the clothing on the driveway, give it a good spray, flip, spray the other side, and line-dry. Works great for me. I treat shoes and backpacks too; anything ticks might jump onto.

I've read that DIY treatments don't last for as many washings as clothing that is sold pre-treated, but I haven't had to re-treat in the last couple years.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

A friend of mine who is a veterinarian asked me about EAB. She told me that imidicliprod (sp?) has been used in flea n tick collars for years.

FWIW

 

[Pinhead Squirrel]