Mosquitos and other biting pests

Eat more garlic and spices, convince the mosquito you are gay and avoid sitting outside in shorts at dusk.

Take an antihistamine tablet (Ceterizine, Zirtek etc) every day, you will still get bitten from time to time but your system becomes less sensitive to the bites and there’s no reaction, no itching and no scratching, avoiding those nasty inflamed bites that turn in to open sores which attracts the flies… :open_mouth: Trust me, I spent twenty years in the Caribbean and I was working in a damp yard fixing boats. The mozzies were all around my ankles and knees because of the water. Obviously use spray too.
The VapeMat is a great device.

Jamie MP:
Happy new year all!
https://seriale.best/
I’m wondering what you guys use to prevent mosquitos entering the cab during the night in warmer climates, or any remedies as such for the bites, as spring will soon be upon us and I want to be prepared!

The sunroof has a mosquito net but I imagine that more ventilation is neccasary.

Thanks :smiley:

Welcome to the new year. I personally use a mosquito repellent with a high DEET content or turn on an electrical device with a mosquito repellent.

In Italy we used Autan or Autin it works well. Just spray it on your arms and other exposed areas. Thereinafter - don’t lick your arm.

I think you can get it on Amazon on the Internet or just Google Autin. I’ve never been bitten with that stuff on. As mentioned previously I think the UK equivalent is Jungle.

lampa.it/en/articles/39030- … vice-1224v

This is the type of device I use as even a single Mossie would wreak havoc on me. I think I got mine on Amazon or eBay as it will use both liquid bottle or tablets and I prefer the liquid.

EBay search results. ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from … +&_sacat=0

The power consumption is negligible in the truck as far as I can see.

Tablets are only about 10p each anyway and I see the tablet only type on sale in many services and truck stops in Europe.

In my experience mossies only seem to come out as dusk falls and really calm down after a few fours of darkness. They don’t seem to like flying in breezy conditions however very shaded dull areas and or stagnant water are always high risk.

So when parked I always plug in my gizmo at dusk, go for dinner and am happy to sleep with my windows fairly open for the night as long as the gizmo is working.

Likewise for holidays, I would never leave home without the 220v versions and I haven’t been bitten for years.

Jungle Formula or Boots equivalent is required for enjoying a few sundowners outdoors forever. I don’t care for the smell or feel of it but risking a bite is not an option for me.

As well as all the good advice already posted I tend to just carry a tube of Hydrocortisone cream because it can help almost all ailments including insect bites.

Apparently anti-histamine tablets are good to make you sleepy if you want to kill 2 birds with one stone.

‘Raid’ in a blue can kills 'em. But don’t stay in the cab until you’ve ventilated it after the genocide, as it plays havoc with your nervous system :open_mouth:

Mossies need stagnant, or at least still water. At the nymph stage (caterpillar) of their life cycle, the nymph hangs from the miniscus (water suface tension) and breathe through their arse. The body trawles for passing food particles. Moving water won’t have the needed surface tension.

I studied this, among a lot of other stuff, a long time ago. When I lived in Cyprus, they came round every week or so with smokers. I think the smoke was parafin. Two guys carrying these machines, blowing smoke everywhere, especially into drain covers and anywhere water could collect. The parafin settles on the water, preventing the mossie nymphs from breathing. Fire buckets and the like had to be emptied and refilled at least once a week, daily was preferred.

Mosquitoes? Unless you’re in an area where there are likely to be Anopheles mosquitos (see link for geographical areas) then they are no more than an annoyance, but far less of an annoyance than the king of biting insects, the scottish midge, who congregate in huge clouds and vitually eat you alive. Now there’s something you want to keep out of your cab at all costs!
cdc.gov/malaria/about/distribution.html

If you’re in the area of Italy on the A4 between Turin and Novara (other Italian mossie hell-holes are available!) you’re going to be eaten alive if you dare to leave a window even slightly open whilst you sleep at certain times of the year. Some parts of Belgium and the Netherlands were also riddled with the mossie pest.

Back in the day (1980s) we used to use a 12V plug-in device called a UFO, which looked like a flying saucer, onto which you’d put a pastrille. Pastrilles were pale blue oblong tablets just like very thick dry pieces of blotting paper.

You’d then be able to have the windows open a bit once you saw some wispy smoke from your UFO. I also used a fan on low speed for cooling myself, but it had the added advantage of wafting the smoke out of the windows and keeping the hoards of little biters at bay.

A tube of Anthisan was also a good investment.

Happy days once you got the job sussed!! :smiley:

Zac_A:
Mosquitoes? Unless you’re in an area where there are likely to be Anopheles mosquitos (see link for geographical areas) then they are no more than an annoyance, but far less of an annoyance than the king of biting insects, the scottish midge, who congregate in huge clouds and vitually eat you alive. Now there’s something you want to keep out of your cab at all costs!
cdc.gov/malaria/about/distribution.html

Agreed!!

Scottish midges are to be avoided.

Added to my country list of biting/stinging mossie things (I didn’t ask them for their Latin names :laughing: ) are mossie ‘things’ that you’d find in Sweden at certain times of the year. Is there any such thing as a Swedish midge?

Sweden has vast acreages of standing water. :open_mouth:

Zac_A:
Mosquitoes? Unless you’re in an area where there are likely to be Anopheles mosquitos (see link for geographical areas) then they are no more than an annoyance, but far less of an annoyance than the king of biting insects, the scottish midge, who congregate in huge clouds and vitually eat you alive. Now there’s something you want to keep out of your cab at all costs!
cdc.gov/malaria/about/distribution.html

There are two types of mosquito which spread malaria, Anophelene is the main one, I can’t remember the other one.
Other types spread other diseases, which we’re unlikely to encounter in Europe (unless global warming).

Scottish, and potentially Swedish (if there is such a thing :open_mouth: ), midges also require still water to lay their eggs near. For the same reason as mosquitos.
A lot of other biting insects need the same, for the same reason.

Further useless trivia for you. It’s only the females who bite. They need blood for their egg fertilisation system.
Any blood, but ours is easy, no thick fur coat to get through. And the itchy lump is from the anti-coagulant they inject, so they can drink enough blood before the tiny hole they cut is blocked by coagulation. The males are vegetarian and live on sap, so they have the same mouth parts, to cut into the sap bearing parts of the plants.
Like I said, useless, but interesting, I thought :slight_smile:

dieseldave:
If you’re in the area of Italy on the A4 between Turin and Novara (other Italian mossie hell-holes are available!) you’re going to be eaten alive if you dare to leave a window even slightly open whilst you sleep at certain times of the year. Some parts of Belgium and the Netherlands were also riddled with the mossie pest.

Back in the day (1980s) we used to use a 12V plug-in device called a UFO, which looked like a flying saucer, onto which you’d put a pastrille. Pastrilles were pale blue oblong tablets just like very thick dry pieces of blotting paper.

You’d then be able to have the windows open a bit once you saw some wispy smoke from your UFO. I also used a fan on low speed for cooling myself, but it had the added advantage of wafting the smoke out of the windows and keeping the hoards of little biters at bay.

A tube of Anthisan was also a good investment.

Happy days once you got the job sussed!! :smiley:

I used those tablets you plugged into the cigar lighter quite a lot. For the most part they were very good. I remember one driver in Tangier docks grinding tablets into an ash tray and setting fire to them. You didn’t get the slow-release benefit that way :laughing:

Simon:
Further useless trivia for you. It’s only the females who bite. They need blood for their egg fertilisation system.
Any blood, but ours is easy, no thick fur coat to get through. And the itchy lump is from the anti-coagulant they inject, so they can drink enough blood before the tiny hole they cut is blocked by coagulation. The males are vegetarian and live on sap, so they have the same mouth parts, to cut into the sap bearing parts of the plants.
Like I said, useless, but interesting, I thought :slight_smile:

I don’t think that’s useless trivia Simon… I knew that it was the females that did the biting/stinging, but it never occurred to me to wonder what the males ate. Now I know. :smiley:

Within a minute or two after the mosquito starts to ‘feed’ on a human, she then urinates and defecates on you to make room for your blood.
Ick

OwenMoney:
Within a minute or two after the mosquito starts to ‘feed’ on a human, she then urinates and defecates on you to make room for your blood.
Ick

Yeah I’ve met women like that.

the maoster:

OwenMoney:
Within a minute or two after the mosquito starts to ‘feed’ on a human, she then urinates and defecates on you to make room for your blood.
Ick

Yeah I’ve met women like that.

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

OwenMoney:
Within a minute or two after the mosquito starts to ‘feed’ on a human, she then urinates and defecates on you to make room for your blood.
Ick

Meh…That will just be food for the tiny little creatures that live on our skin, things like Demodex that live inside the follicles of your hairs, there’s thousands of other things like that too, we are each of us a walking ecosystem of little beasties, as gross as that might sound.

The really unpleasant thing about mosquitoes (if we’re talking about Anopheles mosquitoes) is that she shares her “passengers” with you, the single-celled organism Plasmodium that lives inside your liver and red blood cells, and which causes malaria.

dieseldave:
If you’re in the area of Italy on the A4 between Turin and Novara (other Italian mossie hell-holes are available!) you’re going to be eaten alive if you dare to leave a window even slightly open whilst you sleep at certain times of the year. Some parts of Belgium and the Netherlands were also riddled with the mossie pest.

Back in the day (1980s) we used to use a 12V plug-in device called a UFO, which looked like a flying saucer, onto which you’d put a pastrille. Pastrilles were pale blue oblong tablets just like very thick dry pieces of blotting paper.

You’d then be able to have the windows open a bit once you saw some wispy smoke from your UFO. I also used a fan on low speed for cooling myself, but it had the added advantage of wafting the smoke out of the windows and keeping the hoards of little biters at bay.

Sounds like my experiences back in the day.I did use the pastilles but I usually found a fan to be good.I had been told that mozzies don’t like turbulent air.
The worst place I recall being bitten was when I overnighted at a tank cleaning place between Antwerp and Brussels (name forgotten).That was horrendous and exhausting.

dieseldave:
Agreed!!

Scottish midges are to be avoided.

Added to my country list of biting/stinging mossie things (I didn’t ask them for their Latin names :laughing: ) are mossie ‘things’ that you’d find in Sweden at certain times of the year. Is there any such thing as a Swedish midge?

Sweden has vast acreages of standing water. :open_mouth:

Yes, standing water, perfect for them, bad news for us.

Apparently Sweden has 47 species of mosquito, 45 of which bite, but they don’t cause malaria, so just an annoyance really. The Swedes call their mossies “mygg”, which sounds a lot like midge, confusingly.

Sweden has midge too apparently, which they call ‘knott’, though they are lightweights compared the scottish midge and generally found in the north west of the country only.

A friend of mine at Uni did his PhD all about midge (chironomids). For studying their flight he had to rent a special camera from Kodak to be able to film the wingbeats, which average 800 per second :open_mouth:

Gidders:
The worst place I recall being bitten was when I overnighted at a tank cleaning place between Antwerp and Brussels (name forgotten).That was horrendous and exhausting.

Lockeren :question: :question: :question: