No-See-Ums?
This problem has been troubling me since the weather got warmer. Whenever I’m in my house (Garden and Parlor floors with large yard) I feel like I’m getting bitten by something. It isn’t painful, just a little itch, but i never see anything on my skin or flying or jumping around. I have a dog,…
This problem has been troubling me since the weather got warmer. Whenever I’m in my house (Garden and Parlor floors with large yard) I feel like I’m getting bitten by something. It isn’t painful, just a little itch, but i never see anything on my skin or flying or jumping around. I have a dog, but it definitely isn’t fleas (I know what they look like). At first I thought I was imagining it, then I thought it was dry skin, but it only happens at home. I keep my house pretty clean and shower a lot, so I don’t think it is a cleanliness problem. I have experienced no-see-ums in the Caribbean and that is kind of what this reminds me of. Could it be bedbugs? I’ve heard they’ve made a resurgence in NY. Are they visible to the naked eye? Is there some other 100-yr-old house problem that I don’t know about? It is getting very annoying. Help!
My No see-um problem is much the same as others posted here.
We live in the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida area.
Below are my comments and links to products I have tried or will try.
No see-um profile link:
http://www.bugspray.com/article/sandflies.html
The product that seems to have the greatest potential for getting rid of this nuisance is an intermittent sprayer.
I have been using a programmable intermittent sprayer (Model 3000, below link) – intermittent because a single fogger will work only once, no help.
I use six sprayers, each one in a different area, in a two bedroom 1,000 sq ft apartment and have them set to spray a short blast every 10 minutes from 7 PM top 7AM.
Link to sprayers:
http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page1813.html
The product I use in the sprayers is “Konk.â€
Link to “Konkâ€:
http://www.accountwizard.com/clients/shop.asp?web=bugspray&outsidelink=item&value=451224
Before using the sprayers we were being bitten day and night. We started using the sprayers and left the apartment for 9 weeks – the spraying reduced the population but did not eliminate them, nevertheless it helped, now they bite after 7 PM when we give them the opportunity.
I have all the water outlets sealed – except the kitchen sink which I spray each night with
“Clorox,†the objective is to deprive the insects of water which they need to breed. I use a product “Dunk†in the water drain pan of my air conditioner and in my toilets – tank and bowel. “Dunk†poisons the water to kill mosquito larvae.
I buy them on Amazon.com
Link to “Dunkâ€:
http://www.btimosquitodunks.com/
We sleep under a “no see-um net†with very small holes, so they do not bite us at night. The net is attached at 4 points in the ceiling so it completely covers our bed. The intent is to deprive them of blood which they need to reproduce.
Link to “no see-um net†site:
http://store.buyhammocks.com/matrnoseeum4.html
For what it’s worth at present we are not being bitten in the mornings or afternoon. The biting seems to start around 7PM, so we eat early and leave until around 11:30 PM, taking a shower at the gym. Before we enter the apartment we put on socks sprayed with “Off,†wear long sleeved shirts and pants AND a “no see-um†mosquito head net – again with very small holes, the head nets are essential in my opinion.
We take all this off under the net.
Link to head nets:
http://www.amazon.com/Coghlans-Head-Net/dp/B000NE0GZC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1302493372&sr=8-2
I’m not sure how long we (I) can continue with this bizarre routine, not being home at night etc., etc., etc.
I have talked to Orkin and Terminex, neither has a solution for flying insects such as these. I have read reams of material on No see-ums and the inevitable conclusion is “they are very difficult to get rid of.†As this ridiculous experience continues, I’m thinking the only way to rid ourselves of these pests permanently is with TIME and deprivation of BLOOD and WATER. In connection with this, as far as TIME goes, we will most likely rent an apartment for a year and return during the day from time to time to refill the sprayers etc. – to return covered to prevent them from feeding on our blood and starting the cycle over. I thought of putting ererything in the apartment in storage but, chances are some of them would move right along with the furniture. So in conjunction with this radical procedure of leaving, we will turn off all the water and seal the faucets, drains and toilets, use the A/C but poison the drain pan with “Dunk†tablets, also use Dunk tablets in the refrigerator drain pan and continue to use the Sprayers and Konk at night – the sprayers will spray up to about 1,300 sprays per can or about six weeks depending on how frequently and for what period they are programmed to spray – I have them programmed to spray every 10 minutes from 7 PM to 7 AM every day.
andrewtangiers@yahoo.com
I have dealt with tiny biting bugs in the past and know where they came from. A beach by Pensecola. A relative brought back a small container with sand (for a sovenier) and when we opened it, the nightmare began immediately. Our home became infested with biting bugs that we could not see. This was years ago. I have learned some things about them. You can’t see them, they multiply rapidly, bite (bite more in early evening than other times)and are hard to get rid of. I have got rid of them many times. I found out that they lay eggs in carpets, clothes (seams) matresses, even in books and paperwork. They can lay dorment for years. What causes the eggs to hatch is movement. I have opened something that had not been moved or opened for a long time and it starts all over again. I used to throw out clothes and other things. I have used drastic matters to get rid of them each time.
I have used Home defense, bug stop on my carpets, underneath couch cushions and under beds. I have used stuff with Pyrethrin (sold in Walmart or Vet’s office, they have stronger versions). It works soon after treatment. Permethrin is longer acting. Another chemical that I was told helps is bug killers with Nylar (stop them from reproducing). There are flea powders, bombs and sprays that help to kill them. While using the bug killers, I used a chemical mask, safety googles, and covered my body as much as possible. I had to do a lot of work to get rid of them, every day. For example, I found a corner to work with clothing, sheets and other clothe material. I would spray each piece with bug spray and layer them on the floor. I would let them sit till the next day to make sure to kill any thing in them. I quickly spray and then stay out of the room. I spray the complete mattress top to bottom. I use flea bug killers on couch and mattress and even in my car carpet. Even though bug killer starts killing the bugs, new ones hatch and others go in hiding where you have not sprayed. (I have had to repeat the process a few times till I felt they were all gone.) I have went as far as going around the house and shaking up different objects to stimulate the eggs to hatch. Such items as books,files or any other items that I think eggs could have been laid. Then use the bug sprays to kill the new baby bugs too. I had to be persistant. Deet helped to keep them from biting.
Hi,
I’ve just found this site looking for a solution for no-see-ums also known as jejeje. Has anyone found a way to effectively get rid of them?
We live in Scandinavia, it is April, the air is warmer (about 35F) and the snow slowly is pulling back. About a week ago I noticed a very small creature flying in front of my computer screen in a nervous-zig-zag motion. Tried to smoosh it, but each time it sped up as I tried to catch it. Then it showed up every evening for about 3-4 days in a row when I turned the pc on. Flew around the screen, my face, my hair, all over. The 1st two days I couldn’t catch it, the next two days I tried to ignore it even if it was utterly annoying.
Now I wish I hadn’t. Because now it is clear that it was looking for a suitable warm place to ensure its offsprings will survive. Since yesterday I’ve been ‘continously’ bit by something(s) very small. I took my clothes off and examined it, (I was looking for lice egg since we got a note from school that there has been found lice), but there wasn’t any. I took a shower and put clean clothes on. Everything was fine for a few hours. Then the small bite-like-feelings and itching started again. Also at night. I vacuumed the entire house, washed all surfaces, still thinking it was lice egg around. We all washed our hair with lice-shampoo, and washed everything we own. But it didn’t help.
After the biting-itching cycle continued, I took my clothes off again and examined them again. This time I found a few very small grey dots on my white longsleeve shirt. I picked one up thinking it was a lint. But it wasn’t. As I smooshed it and rolled it between my fintertips, It turned out that I unrolled a miniature of the same insect that has been bothering me. It looked like it had ity-bity colorless wings and body size of a tip of a needle pin. I went to the washing machine and stripped and washed everything on hot water cycle.
Freshly showered and new clothes on, I feel fine (Exhausted from several days of continuous house cleaning though). Unfortunately, the feel of peace has lasted only a few hours. Now I start feel the small bites and itching again. (Now I wear only white to immediately see the itch-area and pick up possible grey dots.) My new clean shirt of two hours has has several of these grey dots again. Where did they come from? Do these insects lie eggs in the air? And the air brings them and settles them onto my shirt?
I haven’t a solution, but common sense makes me think that I should open all doors, air out, get everything I own in the washing machine, including sheets and blankets, vacuum the floors (yes, good idea above, change the bag), wash the walls and the ceilings, and I will put all mattresses on the balkony in freezing temperatures overnight. If I still cannot get rid of these no-see-ums, then I will find a way that all I own will meet freezing temperatures. (They like warmth, but nobody likes freezing)
My husband thinks that I am absolutely nuts and that I imagine all this. It is only me who is bothered by it. I wonder if these little suckers bite all of us a bit, then choose the person whom they find has the tastiest blood? Something perhaps to do with ph balance, the more acidic the blood, the more interesting and the more alkaline, the more they leave you alone? (Theory: it is most of us women who seems to be bothered by it and we women eat slightly more carbohydrates and sweets while men’s diet is a bit different. And the bugs prefer the smell of our microscopic perspiration and our blood?)
I will try the vinegar, too that someone mentioned above.
This forum has started 4 years ago. Is there anybody out there who found an effective solution? (The problem appears as it may perhaps be global, since there are comments from the U.S., Asia and now from Europe also.)
I look forward to any comments.
I too am having a problem with something invisible to the naked eye biting mine and my husbands feet and ankles in our house. We have all ceramic tile floors with 2 area rugs.
Our dog is recently itching her face often. No where else on her body is itching and she is always on flee protection.
Cat is also on flee protection and does not seem to be affected by the biting menace.
Mainly a problem in the livingroom, near our couch.
I have just ordered some mycodex. I’ll let you know if it works.
I have recently moved to Tuscaloosa, AL to attend grad school. I have been living in my apartment for about 2 months, and I have recently (within the past 2-3 weeks) began to feel like I’ve been being bitten by little invisible bugs. I’m so glad that I’ve found this forum and realized that school isn’t just driving me crazy!
I notice that this forum is quite old, but has anybody found anything that can help?
I’ve tried using foggers, spray, EVERYTHING I can think of to get rid of these things and it is still just as bad as it was before. I really wish there were someone I could contact to get some real answers about this.
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!
So good to find this site of people who are NOT nutz and who do NOT have bedbugs or mental illness about these d%%% bites. And my cats do not have fleas, they are never outside. But I am going to get flea drops (Front line) to put on them to make sure the tiny things don’t hide in their fur, crawling off to bite me at night.
Here in MN these pesky things are awful and we are familiar with them crawling through our tent screening, but I have rarely had them inside my house, UNTIL NOW. I moved to a different house in Aug and since then I have suffered with these horrid things. Occasionally I can see one (sneakier than a fruit fly) and you wonder how something so tiny can irritate so badly. I am very allergic to bug bites and so careful about black flies (that do NOT come inside). But this yard has a dirt flower bed that I have been working in and now I believe that is how they came in, in my clothes, on my shoes.
Occasionally, coming in from outside, I have removed my clothes in the bathroom to shower and there a tiny speck will fly out from my sweatshirt. Or sometimes even HOURS later I have seen the little &*^%%% fly out from under my computer desk. Tonight I am going to put out a dish of beer like they do for other insects.
Now that I have read the anguish of so many of you from so many different parts of the country and in so many different climates, I am convinced that these nasty things hide out and crawl inside our clothing, bedding, etc and BITE. I am a bug Pfobic anyway and have spent hours searching my sheets, mattress pad, etc. It does make sense, like someone said, that they like the water area by the toilet, DW, sink, etc.
And yes, the bite does not really show up right away, only in 24 hours do I see a red area, followed by a blister and then the itching begins and then the mess to look at like I have a disease of bites that take weeks to heal up. They tend to like to bite legs, knees, and right around necklines or where my sleeve shoulder seam is.
It’s just awful when you feel attacked by invisible bugs in your own house, while you sleep, it does make one just crazy to think about it. At least a mosquito has a sound!
Best of luck to everyone and I love your information, it is really comforting to know we are all battling the same enemy. I will keep checking to see if anyone has found any means of eradication. Meanwhile, all clothes will be washed, all shoes left in the garage, all bedding is currently in the washer. Judy
I wrote in Jan 09, and finally after all these years, I think we have a handle on the noseeums…..Ladies, I figure the reason we are the ones that get bit most, is because we sit on the toilet more often than the guys. I have used a wand (one of those battery operated zappers, that looks like a tennis racket) at night on the seat of the toilet and around. It has sparked many times. Knock it about, a bit, so that it disturbs the buggers, and makes them fly. I now use a spray bottle of peroxide and water, and spray the toilet area, around the base, on top, in back, inside, etc. Important to do it at night as well. This method has seemed to have worked for me. Another thing that has been recently done is cleaning the grate in the inside of the dishwasher. We took it right off and cleaned. (two screws) I couldn’t believe the gunk in it. Anyway, I am now able for the most part, to sleep. Every once in awhile I get a bite, but absolutely nothing compared to what the situation was. I have great sympathy for anyone battling this problem. It was just so terrible! Not only do you suffer physically, but emotionally as well. Feel free to e mail me at lighthousecountrycottage@shaw.ca if you have any questions.
cliffdweller
Thank god I found this…I’ve got no see’ums. People think I’m crazy but every night, all night I’m getting bit and itching for hours! I feel them crawling but see nothing there. I’m in Ohio, I’ve come to the conclusion that these bugs bite people who have “sugary skin” such as me, I eat and drink a lot of products w/sugar (sweat sugar) and even though other family members have diabetes, I don’t have it yet, they also go crazy getting bit by these bugs and they live all over the east coast. I have plastic on my windows year round now, I keep minimal decor and constantly clean w/bleach, less fabrics the better. I found that if nobody runs in and outside I’m not bit and they’re only in the paths where the kids come and go so I clean those more often. No pets. Vaccuuming does help but at 3am, well, ya just can’t take it anymore. We’ve tried everything also and for a few days you might get relief but it’s so costly including washing walls, cleaning carpets (every two mos.)and buying new furniture. For sleeping, try a FAN ON HIGH SPEED, after SHOWERING use something like BABY OIL to cover your skin and most IMPORTANT is when returning home have a place near the door to change your clothes so the no see’ums are semi-contained to one spot to clean often. I found doing these things help keep your sanity but I still haven’t found a way to actually rid them permantly. They are most definately a outside bug. And if you too are going crazy itching, go take a drive with the windows down on the highway (drive fast for the wind) and hopefully for a few moments you can stop scratching! One other suggestion is try some HUNTERS SOAP in the sporting goods section, it’s removes all human smells and oils, worth trying for those who get relief from using it. They also have it in laundry detergent. I hope someone finds a fix to this crazy problem.
Oh- and the guy’s name at Mosquitocurtains.com is Kurt, not Scott =)