There's some nasty insects out this year

axisus

I'm not one for getting bitten much usually, but I've had 6 bloody nasty insect bites in the past 2 weeks. They have all gone bright red and itch like mad for about a week. I got one on the top of my foot 2 days ago, a big swollen lump of a thing it itches terribly all day and night - it's literally waking me up at night! I'm sat at work having a mad scratching fit that I will regret in a few seconds .......

Any insects in my house that look like they will bite are DEAD!

FX_Munkee

Yup, I'm just finishing a course of antibiotics because of a bite which caused my arm and hand to swell up like Mr Stay Puft (and I'm not the swelling type normaly). The Doc made sure they're the sort that would cover Lymes disease and handily I'm also good for Chlamydia too.

ESBlonde

Yes I've been bitten, late evening seems the worst time. I've been using a tip I picked up.
Heat a teaspoon in boiled water, hold in the air 10 seconds to cool a little then place the back of the hot spoon right on the fresh bite, it will be hot! Repeat.
The heat apparantly kills the proteins in the bite. The itching all but stops there and then. Don't do like I did and be a hero, I did the super hot spoon 3 times on the inside of my forearm, no bite itches but a burm blister came up the next day and it looked ugly.
I suspect Mossies are the main culprits. Wheres my can of DDT?

capo4th

You all have the zika virus 

dogload

We had a week in Spain - on the coast between Barcelona and Tarragona - at the beginning of August where it was very hot and very humid. Myself, the Mrs and the son got eaten alive by bastard mosquitoes to a stupid degree! I can usually go three weeks abroad with one or two bites but apparently these are Tiger Mosquitoes or something and somewhat impervious to repellent. We each came away with at least thirty bites, my son had between forty and fifty! Yes, we had a lovely holiday... what a bunch of bloodsucking shitcunts!

roundthebend

The worst bites I've had are from little dark bugs called Blandford Flies. I first encountered them at a local duck pond at dawn, but have also been bitten on my parents' lawn when it was a bit damp.

They draw blood and you can feel the bite/suck as it happens.

Jalapeno

Get an ammonia stick if you can - it's like magic - counteracts the irritant acid from the bite.  First found out about these in Greece for dealing with the fracking mosquito bites.  Not sure if they're available in UK

boogieman

Yup this year seems really bad for bitey things, there's loads of those black flies where we walk the dog that look like bluebottles but have red eyes. They give a bite that doesn't hurt initially but comes up in an itchy lump after a couple of days. Also got a spider bite on my neck a week ago and it hurt like a bastard. 

Iamnobody

roundthebend said:

The worst bites I've had are from little dark bugs called Blandford Flies. I first encountered them at a local duck pond at dawn, but have also been bitten on my parents' lawn when it was a bit damp.

They draw blood and you can feel the bite/suck as it happens.

I think I suffered with these (or similar) in the garden this year.

You feel the puncture and you have to pull them off (no pun) then the blood follows? Horrible dark patches afterwards?

Paul_C

roundthebend said:

I have also been bitten on my parents' lawn .

that sounds like a euphemism, but I'm not sure what for. . .

Dominic

Late September every year my house and garden is plagued by Hornets...........nasty things with v nasty Sting
Called Vespa in Italian -lending the name to the eponymous scooter.
We have never been able to find the nest but late Aug to late Oct we get at least 10 - 15 per day get in the house

Teetonetal

dogload said:

We had a week in Spain - on the coast between Barcelona and Tarragona - at the beginning of August where it was very hot and very humid. Myself, the Mrs and the son got eaten alive by bastard mosquitoes to a stupid degree! I can usually go three weeks abroad with one or two bites but apparently these are Tiger Mosquitoes or something and somewhat impervious to repellent. We each came away with at least thirty bites, my son had between forty and fifty! Yes, we had a lovely holiday... what a bunch of bloodsucking shitcunts!

Tiger Mosquitoes are really horrible and are spreading across Europe, we've been plagued by them the last 3-4 years, all though this year they haven't seemed so numerous.

The bites seems a lot more itchy

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/CDC-Gathany-Aedes-albopictus-1.jpg

ToneControl

watch out for horseflies, you can get a very bad reaction from them, we nearly had to cancel a holiday, my Mrs' arm all swelled up from one bite on her hand

Kebabkid

Watch out too for False Widows. They leave a very nasty bite that swells up.

victorludorum

Get some Lemongrass/Citronella essential oils and burn them in a burner in the bedroom a couple of hours before you go to bed. It's not perfect, but it helps.

axisus

Kebabkid said:

Watch out too for False Widows. They leave a very nasty bite that swells up.

We seem to have a fair few of them in our garden/garage and sometimes even in the house. We had a massive one on our bedroom ceiling the other morning! The mrs caught it in a jar. I have a policy of not killing spiders but she whipped it outside and stomped it.

Hertz32

We have a pair of cats who have gotten covered in fleas every summer - the house is starting to get infested again  in fairness, last year was worse. 

I swear these fleas are getting resistant to whatever is in the anti flea treatments they get. Tried every known brand of over the counter flea treatment (seriously) and even the prescription level stuff wasn't touching them. 
Bastard things bite in the night after infesting your bedsheets. I saw one on my foot the other day, by the time you realise, it's gone. 

Tried homemade flea traps too. Not a single one... 
The terrifying statistic is that for every flea you see or feel, there are 80 you don't... 

RandallFlagg

Hertz32 said:

We have a pair of cats who have gotten covered in fleas every summer - the house is starting to get infested again  in fairness, last year was worse. 

I swear these fleas are getting resistant to whatever is in the anti flea treatments they get. Tried every known brand of over the counter flea treatment (seriously) and even the prescription level stuff wasn't touching them. 
Bastard things bite in the night after infesting your bedsheets. I saw one on my foot the other day, by the time you realise, it's gone. 

Tried homemade flea traps too. Not a single one... 
The terrifying statistic is that for every flea you see or feel, there are 80 you don't... 

We had issues with regular flea treatment for our cats being ineffective, we switched to Broadline which we get from the Vets, it's expensive but we've no issues in over a year now and treat them every 5 weeks.

The Vet has warned that it could become ineffective in time so may need to switch to an alternative they have.

Hertz32

RandallFlagg said:

Hertz32 said:

We have a pair of cats who have gotten covered in fleas every summer - the house is starting to get infested again  in fairness, last year was worse. 

I swear these fleas are getting resistant to whatever is in the anti flea treatments they get. Tried every known brand of over the counter flea treatment (seriously) and even the prescription level stuff wasn't touching them. 
Bastard things bite in the night after infesting your bedsheets. I saw one on my foot the other day, by the time you realise, it's gone. 

Tried homemade flea traps too. Not a single one... 
The terrifying statistic is that for every flea you see or feel, there are 80 you don't... 

We had issues with regular flea treatment for our cats being ineffective, we switched to Broadline which we get from the Vets, it's expensive but we've no issues in over a year now and treat them every 5 weeks.

The Vet has warned that it could become ineffective in time so may need to switch to an alternative they have.

That was the stuff they gave us the didn't work, guess we'll have to go back and see what else they have that might work... There are other cats in the area and have been for years. It wouldn't surprise me if they caught their fleas from them that were already resistant. 

Iamnobody

I remember in the old days when flea treatment was reactive - your cat got fleas and you sorted it after.

Nowadays it's all about preventative treatments and it's big business. Are the treatments really that ineffective?

I've got to admit I've let ours lapse on both the cats and dog and
touch wood they haven't got them. For example if the treatment says it lasts 4 weeks I'll spin it out for 6 on the basis that they've included a factor of safety and want to generate profits with more frequent treatments.

We also forgot during the upheaval of a new baby and house move last year - probably for months without consequence.

menamestom

We use Advantage on our cats and they have not had fleas for ages.. Costs a fortune from the vets but much cheaper online.

As for general biting things, it's been pretty bad at home and abroad.  Spain we got eaten alive.