THE ITCH! I hate mites

[The Snark]

Finally, the first real monsoon of the year. My wifey made it happen. Desperate to pick up her motorcycle before the week end I dropped her off at the repair shop. Half way home the rains hit, leaving her 10 km of ride in a deluge. Of course it stopped about a minute after she got home. Not sure which is worse, her in that mood or the mites.

 

[schmiggle]

Getting rid of them just isn't in the cards. Most of us here on AB know how resistant arachs are to pesticides, though the pest control companies will be delighted to hand you a BS sales pitch along with a monster bill. A reasonable attempt to reduce their numbers would involve multiple sprayings with a powerful commercial insecticide which would eradicate just about all our local critters while giving the mites something to giggle about.

I meant the mynahs

 

[Smotzer]

I was in an apartment in newjersey and it was hot in new jersey during the summer and I had a window unit installed and running, I hhad a sleeping pad under the air condidtioning unit, and I came home from my GF house my clothhes off down to my boxers and layed down on thhe surface. all most withhin a minute I felt my skin crawling, it felt like it was alive, but I couldnt see anything moving, I started freaking out and my mom thhought I was haulicinating. It was one of the worst unnerving intches I had ever had, and then I saw something tiny move out from beneeath a hair and disappeared in a split second behind anothher one. I kept yelling somethhing was all over me but my mom couldnt see anything. I yelled to my mom to get a ziplock bag, she brought me a bag and I caught whatever it was and placed it in the bag. I had just come from her house and in my confusion my mom told me to tell her in case I hahd fleas , and me being meall i said was "i dont know whats going on but some sort of thing is all over me, I think you should wash your sheets" lol. after hhouirs of thhis feeling I just couldnt take it, and drive to thhe hhosptial at about 1am, with a ziplock bag with one tiny dot in it, and went it to thhe ER in boxers, boots, and a tank top, raving about somethhing crawling on my skin hiding in my hhhair folicles, armed and ready to show the doctor what I found but this tiny insect was in a gallon freezer bag and when the nurse came to see my and I said "LOOK this is what is on me" shhe saw nothhing in the bag and said "Are we having an episode tonight!?? whhichh I said no im not having an episode theres somethhhing in my hairs. She looked up my file which consists of pysch experiences and the doctor came in and said I thhhink you are haulicating but "heres some cream feel free to use it if you want, but I dont think it will help you, you need to call your psychiatrist. I went home and lathered myself in cream all over my body and in my hair and layed back down under the air trying to sleep, tossing and turning all night as near invisible things crawled all over me. In the morning after pitiful sleep I look over at the AC unit and I see it littered with little balck dots crawling out of the vents and all along thhe side of thheh walls and AC unit. I was like "WTF IS THAT!??" I took thhe unit out of the wall and on thhe outside I found a bird nest with dead baby birds crawling with thhese black mites, a cesspool of thousands of black mites. I sent images to thhis entomologist and he confirmed it was a species of bird mites that hides in the hair follicle. Jeez and I was just getting them blown all over me from thhis AC unit, and them hiding in every hhair follicle I had. By this point I hhad bagged up every article of clothing I hahd incase of bed bugs or fleas into black garbage bags to be safe hense why I wore only boxers to the ER at 1am. They said thieyd die separated from their hhost in 24-48hhrs. Worst two days of my life, Ill never touch a wild bird or bird nest again for the rest of my life, I thhrew thhat unit right in the garbage .....my family loves to retell thhis story about thhe time I had bird mites.

 

[The Snark]

I meant the mynahs

DOH!

@Smotzer ........................................................................ yup.
Want to add injury to insult? The hospitality business is onto the air cons harboring critters, as well as using the air cons to disperse mosquito killer insecticide. They liberally spray the into units, sometimes with industrial grade insecticide. Had 4 people end up in the hospital last year here from that, and a couple of years ago 2 people died. Major ministry of tourism push to sweep that one under the rug. Down in Indonesia I checked into a hotel room to get chased out by the fumes a minute later. Spent a couple of hours riding around in a taxi to find a room that wasn't a gas chamber.

Lets cover those windowsill air cons when not in use folks. Down SE Asia way it is probably a good idea to do the coal miner canary trick too. Install your bird and come back in an hour and see if it's still alive.

 

[The Snark]

@schmiggle The Mynahz. Invasive opportunists in rural and urban areas. Similar to pigeons but with greater mobility and of course, full on omnivores plus a preference for carrion. They build nests anywhere but prefer nooks, crannies and holes in human habitations where they share their load of parasitic joy very freely.

@Smotzer I got then in my chest hair and I'm very furry.

 

[The Snark]

@Smotzer They dion't crawl, they scamper. Spent last light vacuuming every inch of my office. This AM I have a new infestation on my right hand and wrist where they escaped the vacuum and ran up the attachment.
I'm trying to find a chemical combination like Tiger Balm or vaseline mixed with powdered sulfur that can penetrate the pores and hair follicles. without poisoning myself too much.


He's just trying to get rid of his mites.

 

[Smotzer]

@Smotzer They dion't crawl, they scamper. Spent last light vacuuming every inch of my office. This AM I have a new infestation on my right hand and wrist where they escaped the vacuum and ran up the attachment.
I'm trying to find a chemical combination like Tiger Balm or vaseline mixed with powdered sulfur that can penetrate the pores and hair follicles. without poisoning myself too much.


He's just trying to get rid of his mites.

@Smotzer They dion't crawl, they scamper. Spent last light vacuuming every inch of my office. This AM I have a new infestation on my right hand and wrist where they escaped the vacuum and ran up the attachment.
I'm trying to find a chemical combination like Tiger Balm or vaseline mixed with powdered sulfur that can penetrate the pores and hair follicles. without poisoning myself too much.


He's just trying to get rid of his mites.

It is truly horrible the feeling of mites all over you......!

 

[The Snark]

My entomologist friend just called and gave me very sound words of wisdom.

Vacuuming surfaces is ineffective for most mites. They are photophobic. You must vacuum on the undersides and locations that don't get light.

So vacuum your bedding and launder your clothes until the cows come home. The furniture must be scrupulously vacuumed underneath and all the nooks and crannies.

 

[The Snark]

Holy crap~ That has to be one of the largest mites in the world! Oh... it's a flea. Hey cats! I've got enough problems without you chipping in!

 

[The Snark]

 

[Scp682]

Muy bien, pequeños bastardos. Esto significa guerra

Sulfur lye soap. Check. Sulfur exfoliant ointment. Check. Locally made firecrackers. Check. (Sounds roughly about .44 mag ka-bang). Tea tree oil-dishwashing liquid in water spray for window sills and doors. Check. Laundry detergent washed and wetted porch and roofs eaves. Check.

Sulfur and slaked lime, the tried and true red spider mite biocide.

Turns out one of these mites packs a venom. The itch lasts for several days. Firecrackers are, of course, to show the Mynas my un-appreciation for transporting the mites.

Try putting mint toothpaste on the bites

 

[The Snark]

Try putting mint toothpaste on the bites

By itself, in combination with full strength mouthwash, and a third version with 1/3rd isopropyl alcohol. Also tried Wd40, silicone spray, vaseline with 15% SULFUR AND 5% ZINC OXIDE, freeze spray, and a few other things. It appears when they are feeding, mouth parts attached to the victim, they don't respirate and ignore any and all substances on their body. Thus the reason that permethrin insecticide must be left on for at least 12 hours. When they take a break from gnawing.

 

[The Snark]

A little addition. The mites came back thanks to our cats roaming outside, I got a load more bites and the anaphylactic reaction has returned.

So I went to check with my doc as to if I should put off getting the second Covid shot until my immune system calms down. He thought that was wise then insisted I see a colleague, a dermatologist. So I went. She was on track and on the ball.
The mites give a little extra bonus. She found 17 places where mites had pooped under the skin. Nifty nasty glops seen under the microscope in the interdermal layers.

 

[Conor10]

That’s not good.

 

[The Snark]

That’s not good.

Nopes, tis not. Like walking around with a built in allergic reaction trigger. On the bright side, she had a grand old time zapping them with her laser.

 

[The Snark]

If you are interested in seeing a strange completely alien world, go to a dermatologist and get them to show you your skin under a microscope while using those special lights and filters.

 

[Scp682]