by devil » Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:08 am
These are probably not mosquitoes but tiny little gnats. There seem to be 2 types. The first is most active from mid-April to end June and has a flesh-coloured body about 1½ mm long and rounded wings. The other type operates through September and October. They are even smaller and are rarely seen or heard, just felt.
There are two ways of treating "bites". The best way is will-power. Resist touching or scratching them and the effect will disappear in about 15 minutes. The point is that their proboscis is so short that they cannot deposit the toxin more than a fraction of a mm under the skin. The skin itself will exude the toxins quite quickly. The moment you touch the bites, you will cause the toxins to work deeper under the skin and the irritation will be far worse and last longer. If you must treat them chemically, you can find what looks like a yellow marker in supermarkets and these help to alleviate the itch after a few minutes.
I try to avoid skin/clothing repellants. The "natural" ones, like citronella (lemon grass), are not very effective and the ones containing chemicals like dimethyl phthalate are quite toxic and enter the body transdermally. Prolonged and frequent use may cause problems: the chronic toxicology and epidemiology of these substances is still quite doubtful.
If we want to watch TV at night, I spray the room 30 minutes or so before entering it, so that we don't get the full benefit of the spray but the beasties do. Same with the bedroom.
