Bug Bites

[kimaru]

I HATE MOSQUITOS!!!!!!!! I have twelve mosquito bites all from one day and I was only outside for 15 minutes!!! Almost everyone in my family are allergic to mosquito bites...including me. So they last twice as long and are about twice as big as when a normal person gets them!

It drives me crazy!!!

[Valerius]

Mosquito repellant is your friend.

[Underwater Ophelia]

I hate thousand leggers. Or as some call them, house centipedes.

[disorder]

I don't do spiders.

Oh, and when I get a mozzie bite I put toothpaste on it. Sounds dumb but it makes them feel better.

[prophecyofdoom]

Where I live is infested with spiders....During the summer, my before-bed ritual is to examine the walls of my room and kill all the spiders I find.....I still wake up covered in bites. I feel bad to kill the spiders- spiders are good, they eat other bugs. Sometimes I get so covered in big, giant, ugly welts I have to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants, regardless of how hot it is. I hear people comment, "Wow, the bugs really love you!" about ten times a day.

[prophecyofdoom]

Tea tree oil is supposed to be good for bites. Otherwise, lighty tickle to soothe an itchy bite, never scratch.

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by prophecyofdoom

Where I live is infested with spiders....During the summer, my before-bed ritual is to examine the walls of my room and kill all the spiders I find.....I still wake up covered in bites. I feel bad to kill the spiders- spiders are good, they eat other bugs. Sometimes I get so covered in big, giant, ugly welts I have to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants, regardless of how hot it is. I hear people comment, "Wow, the bugs really love you!" about ten times a day.

Eh, I'm not sure if the spiders there bite people, but I don't think spiders generally bite people unless you agitate them or something. You may have bed bugs, so I suggest you have your mattress cleaned.

[Crying_Crimson_Tears]

Yes I must say that bug repellant is one of the greatest inventions ever. It's nice to not have bug bites that you constantly scratch at.

[Raptor]

I think bed bugs draw blood and I think they leave a bit of blood behind so if the sheets are ok I doubt thats what it is. I wake up with bite marks sometimes, I have no idea what does it. Spiders do bite though.

[prophecyofdoom]

Originally Posted by Valerius

Eh, I'm not sure if the spiders there bite people, but I don't think spiders generally bite people unless you agitate them or something. You may have bed bugs, so I suggest you have your mattress cleaned.

Spiders most definately bite people. Some kinds of spiders don't, like tarantulas, but many other kinds do. Such as the brown recluse, which can kill you if it bites you, and which is sometimes found in my area. My problem right now is spiders, and I do prefer them to bed bugs. The very worst I've dealt with, bug wise, is that I once dated a guy whose mattress was infested with fleas. Quite unpleasant. Fleas are such nasty things, I never minded squishing them (you have to kind of roll them between your fingers, otherwise they don't die). I have a respect for spiders, though, and I always feel bad when I kill them- which I have to do to avoid being overrun. Sometimes I'll catch them with a glass and a sheet of paper and put them in the back yard, but I suspect they just crawl back to the house. No matter how clean I keep my space, when I'm up late reading in bed, I often see a spider creeping down the wall next to my bed. A few times I've awoken to find one on me. The worst in when there's a hatching. All of a sudden the ceiling is full of a million tiny little spiders- baby ones. I kill as many as I can find. Then I think, My God. What a terrible thing I've just done.

[prophecyofdoom]

I almost prefer mosquito bites to spider bites. Spider bites stay on me forever. I'll often get covered with gigantic red mosquito bites, regardless of how much insect repellant I've used. They disappear within several hours if I avoid scratching. The only problem is I worry a lot about West Nile Virus. In the summer I'm always hiking, camping, at the beach, and going to outdoor parties. I always have mosquito bites.

[Raptor]

I'm pretty sure I'd do the same with the spiders, if there were that many. The idea of bed bugs is nasty, I prefer spiders too.

We have very few mosquitos here, but I have family in minnesota and going out at night in the summer isn't nice lol. Also no poisonous bugs or animals that can kill a person here as far as I know, unless you have an allergic reaction or something.

[Renatus]

Techecaly everyone is allergic to mosquito bites, you just seem to have a bigger reaction than the normal one. You see it's the spit that does it.

[Aaroneet]

My younger brother once woke up with a mysterious, fairly large mark on his stomach. Nobody could tell what it was, or how he got it, so my mother took him to the doctor, to find out that it was a bite received from an uncommon type of spider. We still are baffled as to how it happened; we were thankful that he isn't allergic to spider bites.

[kimaru]

I was wearing repellant when I got all the bites. The mosquitos just love me, repellent or not. Now I'm at about 18 bites...there's even one on my eyelid, its terrible!

[Pancakes of Doom]

Jeez, I hung my arm out of the window for a ten minute drive last night; and when I got home my arm from slightly above my elbow to about halfway my arm was covered with mosquito bites. It itches so bad.

[biohazard]

I really hate mosquitoes in general. Every day, I get around 5 or 6 bites and I am just in my bedroom, with the doors and windows closed. I am not sure how those wicked creatures get inside, but they manage to. And the worst is at night, they keep buzzing and never let me sleep unless I put on my fan (because it makes a lot of noise and I cannot hear the buzzing with it).
And kimaru, I pitty you. Imagine if I were alergic to them..I would probably not live to tell the tale.

[Delicate_Torture]

You can buy a gadget that plugs into your wall socket and emits a high pitched sound that repels insects and spiders. They really work, only you can't use them if you have certain pets like ferrets, mice etc. Another option is a citronella candle, which burns just like a normal candle (so don't leave it unattended) but the smell of it repels insects.

If you have a mosquito bite (or anything else that is itching) you shouldn't scratch it because this heats the area and brings more blood flow to skin level, which in turn irritates the bite and makes it even itchier. A great way to stop this is just to put an ice pack on the area. The cold constricts the blood vessels and decreases the blood flow to the area, in turn soothing the bite mark. It will also take away any swelling. Using rubbing (or medicinal) alcohol (like an alcowipe that they use for injections) will have the same effect as the skin is cooled by the fast evaporation of the alcohol from the area.

It surprises me to see people talking about spider bites like they are just another bug bite. I'm in Australia and our spiders are highly poisonous. If you get bitten by a spider here it means an emergency trip to hospital for anti-venom so that you don't die, or at the very least hours of intense pain, nausea and vomitting depending on what you've been bitten by. We have a spider here (the White Tailed Spider) which bites with a venom that causes a skin reaction and necrosis, which means that the tissue dies. There still isn't an anti-venom for this spider and if you get bitten it effects you for the rest of your life. It will heal up for a while, but then the bite will break down again and you have to go into hospital for antibiotics and debridement so they can cut away the dying tissue from the bite site.

Apparently we have 8 of the 10 most poisonous spiders on the planet here, and most of them aren't found out in the bush (you American's call it 'the woods', :P ) but they are found in city areas, in peoples yards and gardens and their houses. I live in Sydney and so I often find Funnel Web Spiders and Redback Spiders in my house.

[Senor_Sadomachism]

Auntie Yolandas homemade solution. Meh... um... hmm... first you dab some Vicks Vapor rub on the spot, then put some salt in it. The swelling and itching will go away and the salt should help disinflate it. I think... Try it! Worked for me. I recommend sleeping with it

[prophecyofdoom]

Originally Posted by Delicate_Torture

It surprises me to see people talking about spider bites like they are just another bug bite. I'm in Australia and our spiders are highly poisonous. If you get bitten by a spider here it means an emergency trip to hospital for anti-venom so that you don't die, or at the very least hours of intense pain, nausea and vomitting depending on what you've been bitten by. We have a spider here (the White Tailed Spider) which bites with a venom that causes a skin reaction and necrosis, which means that the tissue dies. There still isn't an anti-venom for this spider and if you get bitten it effects you for the rest of your life. It will heal up for a while, but then the bite will break down again and you have to go into hospital for antibiotics and debridement so they can cut away the dying tissue from the bite site.

Apparently we have 8 of the 10 most poisonous spiders on the planet here, and most of them aren't found out in the bush (you American's call it 'the woods', :P ) but they are found in city areas, in peoples yards and gardens and their houses. I live in Sydney and so I often find Funnel Web Spiders and Redback Spiders in my house.

I am now officially terrified of finding myself in Australia.....

[Senor_Sadomachism]

Oh wow 0_0 that must suck! You must be high alert at all times. *shrugs*

[Valerius]

I'm well aware that spiders do bite people in self-defense, but I've never heard of a spider that would bite a person in the night like a bed bug.

[PutridLily]

I'm quite fond of spiders, the only thing I kill are flies. DIE FLIES, DIE! As for mosquitos, I just got back from portugal and I'm not bit even once.

[prophecyofdoom]

Not on high alert at all times, I just figure it'd be my luck to be groping in the dark for the remote and put my hand on a poisionous spider....

[Senor_Sadomachism]

0_0 what would you do if it were to happen? *shrugs again* Just thinking about it, spdieys are cute, but scary at the same time. It would be all hairy and... :O