# dangerous bugs and camping



## campingforfun (Jan 5, 2008)

While we all find bugs in general to be troublesome, there are certain types which can be more dangerous than others. Three that come to mind are bees, blood suckers and ticks.

*Bees* - I love bees and do not like to harm them but both my husband and I are allergic to bee stings. One thing that I am really careful with the kids is to make sure they always have on some type of footwear. The bees hang out in the clover in the grass and stepping on one will certainly cause a sting.

*Blood Suckers *- These bugs are pretty ugly looking and are almost impossible to get off your skin. They actually look like black jellybeans. When we were young, we had been swimming before breakfast and one must have latched onto my sister's toe. Anyway as we were sitting later to eat, my mom noticed something and tried to remove it from between her toes. It was impossible to get off. Then my father took salt and poured it on the blood sucker to loosen its grasp and when it fell to the ground, he threw it in the fire.

*Ticks* - Ticks have become more worrisome since people are more aware of Lime disease. You need to be careful for both your human and pet family. It is usually recommended that you wear light colored clothes and for the dogs to have tick medicine for them as well.


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## mailfire99 (Nov 16, 2007)

Down here we have to deal with ticks, and chiggers a lot. Man I hate them things. You may not have heard of them before, i think they are the larvae of mites or something like that. Nasty little things. Very common to get some on the ankles and around your waist. I have had relatives visit from out of town and had no clue about them. They just itch like crazy and you get little red bumps. It may be an old wives tail, but anytime we got chiggers we would put clear fingernail polish on it to get rid of them. Seemed to work to me


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## campingforfun (Jan 5, 2008)

No, I have never heard about chiggers. You say they are the larvae, they must be pretty small which would be worse because you probably can't see them that easily.

Do they bite? Is it common to get them in the bedding and stuff in the tent? That would drive me insane knowing that they might be in my bed. Plus what about your pets? Do they get in the dog's fur?


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## mailfire99 (Nov 16, 2007)

Well, I havent had a lot of problems with them at the campsite. Usually we get them when in the woods hiking or when I am hunting, things like that. I have not had them bother me in a tent or in the camper before. 

No, you cant see them, at least I never have. All you do is start itching like crazy and see what looks similar to a rash of small red bumps, and you pretty well know thats what it is. I guess that brings a new meaning to "dont let the bed bugs bite" huh

Found this for ya, check it out http://science.howstuffworks.com/question488.htm
I learned something from this too, it actually mentions the nail polish. Guess its not a wives tail after all. But it says that it does not kill them, or treat it, it only seals the area from getting air to keep from itching. All this time I thought it was getting rid of them :scratchhead:


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## cricket2 (Nov 16, 2007)

Oh yes, chiggers and ticks. They are like family in the south 
I have known them my whole life unfortunately


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## bill0830 (Nov 16, 2007)

In the South another issue is the Fire Ants. Unless you have gotten into a Fire Ant nest you just can't imagine how fast they attack. About 25 years ago I had my first experience and it developed into a trip to the emergency room, so BE careful and parents keep an eye out. :shocked:


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## ctfortner (Nov 16, 2007)

I forgot about the fire ants, they are a problem. Last year we got into a mess of them, and one of the guys with us got bit and was allergic, his ankle swelled up really bad, he ended up going home a day early


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## campingforfun (Jan 5, 2008)

Yes now that you mention the fire ants, I recall all the articles about that. It seemed no-one heard of fire ants and then all of the sudden, everytime you opened the newspaper or a magazine, there was an article about them. 

And then I kind of forgot about them until you just mentioned it. I wonder why they dropped out of the news........


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