Gazillion trillion dollar bounty

What is it that is biting you constantly all day and night.

Tiny little black flying insects. In the US we call them no-see-ums because they are so small you can't see them. Sometimes they get caught in the mesh of a very fine holed bed net and you can study them. They're very typical in the southern US or in the north along water, like the Great Lakes or the Maine coast.

I think they're called midges elsewhere, and I have heard of them referred to as sand flies, but I'm not sure that's accurate. They belong to the family Ceratopogonidae.

When I enter my apartment with an electric tennis racket zapper, I kill about twenty per racket in about twenty square feet before the racket dies. I have rackets constantly charging in every outlet. I probably kill about 200 per day with mop up operations each time I leave the bed at night, in the morning, and each time I return during the day.

I keep thinking there will come a point where I've got them all -- but I'm in a large building and the hallways are saturated. This is still a huge improvement over my last apartment in the north where I killed about 500 per day, so I recognise there are comparative blessings.

Time to move house, I know midges, they are very common in Australia. It's obvious you are living close to water where you reside now.

Is a good deet repellent not working for you? Try wearing light coloured clothing, they like dark colours.

My advice is to get away from the area you are in now and look for a midge-free area. Yogi may have some good advice regarding this.

You're right. I've been living in oceanfront apartments because the afternoon breezes move the pollution and I can breathe. So I can live out of doors now, but not indoors.

I think I need a house away from the water. Do you think that would work? Given that midges don't love everyone. Best guestimates are 1 out of 10, and here I would say probably 1 out of 10,000, because so many have immunity. So they do scent and follow me.

DEET had stopped working, which is why I tried using the local oil repellents (lemongrass, lavender, etc.) and ended up in the hospital E.R. with major burns on my neck and face. That's where they bite me the most, heading for that carbon dioxide they love.

Moving is your best option.

To Mars.

I also get bit by these buggers  -  I grew up on the ocean, they are a member of sand fleas, (in the woods, you call they 'no see ums) once they infest an area, it almost impossible to get rid of them, lucky for me they seem to only like my feet and ankles, so I wear sock to bed.  I have some Deep Woods Off that I spray my feet with, seems to work in Vietnam.  I live part time in Thailand, Pattaya Beach as well as Vietnam  -  They sell a soap in Thailand - DETTOL in a white bottle w/green stripe -  Mosquitos, fleas, gnats, nothing likes the smell of this - it does have a slight petroleum smell to it.  I understand it started out as bathroom disinfectant 15 years ago, but is now has branched out with a body soap under a German company.   Its even advertised on Thai TV as a bug repellant for kids but it is a body soap...........It works for me, no bugs bite day or night here in Thailand - I will be in Nha Trang next week, will bring a bottle with me too test it out.

When I worked in the desert in Australia we made our own mosquito repellent, the main ingredient was Dettol.

The local "Soi Dog Association"  (Dog lovers NGO) spray all the wild dogs on the streets with this, it keeps the bugs off them..........works for me, I am sold on it.

tunnelrat69, you are my knight in shining armor! And thank you, colinoscapee, for backing him up with such useful information.

tunnelrat69, if you would be so kind was to bring a second bottle with you, I will immediately repay you for the cost and your time and trouble. Please PM me when you arrive in NT and have a free moment.

I went to Dalat last weekend under the delusion that getting away from the ocean would improve things - wrong! That had to be the worst bug night ever. I went from hotel to airbnb to hotel trying desperately to find a room that wasn't completely saturated with them. Did not exist.

I learned some useful things in Dalat, however, and I will pass them on here in case it benefits someone else:

1. The little vertical grey or beige pods that most rooms in VN have either stuck to the doors, on the walls, or dangling from the ceiling by a small silken cord are the no see um nests. If you take all of them down and wipe those areas with bleach and water, it dramatically reduces the baby bug count.

2. They like cool weather, unlike their American counterparts. It's the hot and sunny weather that makes them disappear. So following an online suggestion to cool my apartment to gloves-and-hat level was counterproductive.

3. They make invisible nests in the mosquito nets that are different from the wall nests. You only know they've hatched when there's a sudden explosion against your face or feet or arm. Washing them with nothing but bleach solves that for good.

4. Almost no one gets bitten by these bugs except me in Vietnam. It literally is a one in a ten million thing. Bad luck. But they are everywhere, over every square inch of air space in Vietnam, so moving doesn't accomplish much improvement.

5. To the extent that the Vietnamese know of these nests and flying bugs, it's not important to them. They don't know that the grey things are nests. If they do know, they don't know they hatch bugs. If they do know about the hatched bugs, it doesn't matter to them because the invisible hatchlings don't bite or bother anyone. Bottom line: they probably have generations of immunity and frankly don't believe me when I protest. So the Vietnamese medical establishment is not the place to turn for help.

6. One more thing I'm going to try is placing moth balls (camphor) outside my front door in front of the bottom space between the door and the floor. I know that's a popular entry point for them and the large hall space has a lot of them flying around. That way the smell would mostly remain outside my door and the hallway is big enough that it probably won't impact any other apartments.

Since coming back from Dalat I think I've really made progress given my new understanding of causes and effects. I'm optimistic. But I still have to wear repellent, and refreshing it every hour is like a chemical peel.

tunnelrat69, I thank you so much for your effort in letting me know about what works in Thailand. See you soon.

Jane

Sure, I'll pick up an extra large bottle..........I will be staying in a Hotel on Trinh Phong Street and we can meet on Saturday maybe.  I come in Friday night.  You might even be able to find it in The Big C in Nha Trang, go have a look and let us know...............The Big C is  Thai Supermarket.

You can buy it online, get a local to help you.

https://www.sendo.vn/nuoc-rua-da-nang-d … 93320.html

I will definitely try Big C this week. They're about the only place I haven't hit up so a good call in every respect. Will let you know if I find it. Ty!!

That's a very good thing to know. Thank you, colinoscapee. If tunnelrat69's sample - or Big C's if I find it there - works then online ordering will be my followup.

Hi Jane

It sounds like you have the same problem my wife has. She got bitten at lease 50 times on her legs in phi phi island, Thailand on the beach by these invisible bugs but I didn’t get bite once even though I was right beside her.

After that, she told me to find a solution or else she wouldn’t travel again to se Asia. We tested a lot of products and different ingredients including deet up to 80%. Nothing worked except 1 special ingredient. I mixed it into a specially created lotion that not only smells great, but helps act as a secondary barrier. Now that’s all she uses and never gets bite again.

We are coming to Vietnam next week with our 7 month old baby and this repellent is safe for babys 6 month plus where as deet is not safe up to 2 years. My wife wouldn’t let us go with the baby if she didn’t trust the repellent with all the viruses mosquaitos are carrying in Vietnam.

We will be mainly in Saigon and vung tau but will be stopping in Da lat and nha trang if you would like me to bring you a bottle?

I’ll pm you my contact number.

No, thank you, Souett.

So whsts the special ingredient?

picarin

That is the same ingredient in Skin-so-soft which is said to work on no see ums also.

It is a little odd she doesn’t want a solution

Hello? Souett saying it's picardin is news to me, as he hadn't said it anywhere before. The last post I read was "what's the special ingredient?" and he hadn't answered as of yesterday. I just checked this forum for the first time since then. Please reread Souett's post which is why colinoscapee asked that question. Am I meant to be a mind reader?

I do not put unnamed mystery ingredients on my body and anyone who does that is a fool.  I politely declined, while what I was thinking was that Souett came across as a con man: Here's my mystery ingredient and my phone number and let's get together ASAP! Now that you have revealed the mystery ingredient, Souett, I urge you to do so sooner in future correspondences.

I have Skin So Soft on order from amazon. It gets shipped to my address in the States, picked up my neighbours and reposted to a local friend's hotel here. I'd tried it many years ago when the Wall Street Journal first did an article on it and it didn't work for me, my family, or my dogs at the coast or during the summer evenings. I'm certainly eager to try it again.

THIGV, please ratchet down the animosity, especially while you are living in another country. I am not a worthy target for it. This is my first encounter with online trolls since I am not on social media and it is kind of fascinating how people spend their time and their need to be splenetic. Souett, communication skills need revamping. Perhaps you're not as awful as you sound.

Yesterday I tried moth balls in front of every door jamb, two new repellents including one from China, a new cortisone strength, a new repellent clothing patch for children, removing my mosquito net tent, rewashing all of my loose bed nets and linens in bleach for a second time, buying five new mosquito racket zappers as mine lose the ability to charge after about 500 bug zappings. I would gladly live without this "attention."

I am done with expat.com. THIGV, it's all yours. Knock yourself out, buddy.

First, wow.

I wrote 1 post in this tread before which I forgot to put the name of the ingredients because I forgot the name. Second post right after someone asked, I found it and posted the name.

Than accuse me of getting together ASAP? I’m in your area in a couple of weeks, it’s called planning ahead.

No one asked you to put unknown anything on you. Your free to ask any question.

Than insult my communication skills?

And “not seem as awful as I sound”?
By offering a solution to your problem and delivering it to you?

All I tried to do is help your “gillizion dollar bounty”, and you insult everyone.

Good luck with your endevers.

Ps. Please don’t ruin Vietnam with your western “American” attitude.
I assume your older since your retired, you should know better than that.

Ps again. I’m not angry, just wanted to enlgihten you on your response. In good spirit, i was going to offer another solution.
Search for “co2 traps”. They may work for your situation.

Extensive research has been done on CO2 traps by university entomology departments in the regions that are effected by no see ums. Their response is to try and get the FDA to remove them from sale as they have no measurable adverse effect on mosquitoes or no see ums, but do effect beneficial bug populations. The companies change their names and re-list.

tunnelrat69, please PM me when you arrive in NT. They did not have anything except the two VN brands of repellent at Big C today. Thank you. Jane