Bugs Bugs Bugs

[Jaylen Brit 1]

Melo me too - I HATE bugs and this thread has me completely freaked out

We don't have Chiggers in the UK (####### are Chiggers?!! They sound like something from 'it came from Outer Space'), the worst thing we have are mozzies, wasps n bees..and bees I dont mind. Wasps can f### off tho.

[munchkins 1]

Please, please what are "Chiggers" you are all frightening the hell out of us still over here

[giddy34 0]

Hey Ive had chigger bites for 3 weeks (im miserable) however they are starting to clear up I also got myself a dose of good ole posion ivy while out fencing witht he hubby to keep my dogs in the back paddock.. Ok what I have learnt fromt his experience call home get pintarsol.. To bath in and aslo aveeno oatmeal bath sachets very nice and you feel liek you have your skin back.. Ive tried chigger ex .. some herbal thing caladryle,benodryl, listerine,alcohol,deoderant, Ive tried every thing .. Nothing seems to work for the scratching.. However the plain old calamine lotion did for some time but you need to keep applying..

I think coming from oz this is like pelican itch if anyone has lived near the beach and has had that before its vertually the same deal.. and by the way certainly feel for ya I dont think its worse then oz ....I reakon they are close

[Chuckles 0]

The US is bigger then the UK and there are plenty of spots where bugs are not a problem. Oklahoma tends to be one of those areas where you are going to have more problems. The south is the worst. The north, most of the midwest, and the far west are as "good" or better then most places around the world for bugs and creepy crawlies.

For the record this is just my experience. If you have a 2 foot long bug that sucks blood in your area and I didn't know about it, sorry!

[giddy34 0]

Oh and I got myself some geese to kill the bugs and spiders around our house and land they are great for clean up and weeds

[Chuckles 0]

This thread is freaking me... I can't deal with bugs/insects of any kind other than butterflies and ladybirds... I am seriously paranoid... did not visit dear friends in Brisbane coz of the unmentionables there... I do not know how I will manage when I eventually get there... I am already feeling afraid.

And I am in the same boat as Melo, I don't mine the little things we get here in the UK, spiders don't get too big, ants are no problem and I never get bit by mosquitos, but I am getting really wary of what I will see when I get over there!!

What types of these horrible things live in the north of Florida, all I have ever seen there are the love bugs, some of the fire ants and a couple of snakes, (and they were not in the garden of my daughters house )

And would someone please enlighten me as to just what a "chigger " is and do they have them in Florida

oh man... I hate to say this... but Florida is BAD for bugs You should talk to your significant other about this...

[Jaylen Brit 1]

I'm gonna be in NC - which from what you lot are saying is Bug central

Ive already met bitey ants, they dont live long against a nice dose of Clorox, and Ive seen things which are about 2" long not fuzzy n cute like Mr Bumble, but dive-bombing stripey satan-spawn. Apprently these are American 'bees'. Wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that they have formed a terroist cell and are armed with Exocets.

I've a spider, the size of which almost caused me several years loss of life, which I was told was a 'good one, cos the small ones are the ones that are venomous' and now there are Chiggers.

What next?

MP5-toting cobras?

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I got a bad case of poison ivy my first summer down here - not from actually touching the stuff myself but from washing my husband's clothes after he had mown it down in the process of getting rid of it. He isn't susceptible to it, but I sure am. Yipes - nothing, and I mean nothing, worked on the itching until I started putting ice packs on my legs and stomach. Ah, relief. I slept that way for nearly 3 weeks until the worst of the itching stopped. I hope you have a speedy recovery because it sure isn't fun.

Chiggers, btw, are almost invisible, tiny mite type of bugs that live in grasses and fields. Yes, they are in Florida too:-( but if you stay away from long grasses you shouldn't have a problem. I have found 'Domeboro" aluminum acetate solution one of the best treatments for the itching caused by chiggers and mites. It comes in a powder and you make it up with water than leave a cloth soaked in the solution on the affected area. It works really well but is a bit awkward since you leave the cloth on for 15 to 30 minutes each time. But - it works!

[CarolineM 0]

Dude...

Australian bugs are MUCH worse...they are UNRELENTLESS.

When we were on the Great Ocean Road...I wanted to buy one of those hats with the netting on it to keep the damn flies out of my face...

Stewart gets chewed up by mozzies over there to no end.

SO MUCH WORSE in Oz.

[irishgirl73 1]

Not a fan of bugs but there is one that I can tolerate..................fireflies(lightning bugs). I think they may even be Pennsylvania's state insect(I could be wrong).

One of the many reasons I love Ireland.....................no freaking bugs, at least not as many as we have here. If they were around-I didn't see them. Unlike here in the US where they are everywhere.

Edited June 13, 2006 by irishgirl73

[Reba 2]

I'm gonna be in NC - which from what you lot are saying is Bug central

Ive already met bitey ants, they dont live long against a nice dose of Clorox, and Ive seen things which are about 2" long not fuzzy n cute like Mr Bumble, but dive-bombing stripey satan-spawn. Apprently these are American 'bees'. Wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that they have formed a terroist cell and are armed with Exocets.

I've a spider, the size of which almost caused me several years loss of life, which I was told was a 'good one, cos the small ones are the ones that are venomous' and now there are Chiggers.

What next?

MP5-toting cobras?

When we lived in Lenoir, one night I was home alone and James was at work. I was sitting watching TV and a BIG HAIRy spider started crawling across the TV screen. I went and got the vacuum and sucked it up with the hose. Then I put the vacuum outside on the porch in case the spider decided to crawl back out again. Then I sat on the couch with my feet up and wouldn't touch the floor for about 2 days because I didn't know what kind of spider that was and I didn't know if it was a poisonous one or not.

When my hubby got home, he saw the vacuum outside and said "have you been cleaning the porch or something?" And I told him about the spider and then asked him to carry me to bed

Turns out it wasn't anything poisonous. The big hairy ones here aren't, but brown recluse are apparently small things with a nasty bite. Here's the Wiki entry on it. And the black widow spider is nasty too.

We have a 4 types of poisonous snakes too. Check 'em out here

Here's the Wiki page on chiggers.

[mary&tom 0]

Not a fan of bugs but there is one that I can tolerate..................fireflies(lightning bugs). I think they may even be Pennsylvania's state insect(I could be wrong).

One of the many reasons I love Ireland.....................no freaking bugs, at least not as many as we have here. If they were around-I didn't see them. Unlike here in the US where they are everywhere.

fireflies are great! when tom visited here in michigan last june he saw them for the first time in his life. I showed him how to catch them and hold and then let them go. it was a fun night. we played like little kids.

the UK freaks me out.. no screens on windows!!! there isnt really any good way to put a screen on most of the windows i have seen... certainly not on the ones we have in the Gravesend house.

mary

[Ban Hammer 14,171]

fact sheet on chiggers

freaking chiggers!

[almaty 19]

when i was young..i use to get chiggers on my nuts...damn...

[mary&tom 0]

when i was young..i use to get chiggers on my nuts...damn...

Eek!