Midges

Hi

Do you or have you had experience of midges, if so how have you dealt with them.

Potted

 

Hi where we lived as children , it was midge heaven on the bad days the whole family would have Spike of lavender oil dabbed on your head by my mother lol

 

Do you mean how to eradicate them or how to alleviate the bites ?

 

I live in Plymouth, I moved here two years ago and had no problem with Midges, Mosquitoes or fleas, now within the last two weeks I am being eaten alive; from my shoulders to the backs of my knees look like a dartboard and I itch all over, I have a garden here but I also had one at my last home of 24 years but never once any problems like I have now.

I have no water buts or pools of water such as bird tables, I sometimes leave my kitchen sink full of water to soap dishes over night, but it is my understanding that biting insects do not come from water- they just need water to lay eggs, so it wont be from there.

I keep my windows and doors shut now all the time, but with the summer coming on the heat in here will be unbearable and out of the question.

 

They seem to come out of the hedges here, especially near the watercourse at the bottom of our harden. They get in my hair and bite me to bits. I can sometimes see swarms of them in low evening light. I then go indoors to avoid them.

 

Shop - Skin So Soft

Always works for me.

 

Me too @Tidemark even though Which? mag sneers at it.

 

My midges don’t read Which?.

 

Neither do mine

 

I bought and fitted one of these Pop-Up Mosquito nets two weeks ago because it appeared that most if not all bites came in bed at night, but the bites keep coming to date.

So there appears to be more than one problem, where did/do they come from, were do they stay whilst I am looking for them and how to stop them from biting me.

 

Maybe they're fleas? Or bed bugs?

 

@potted , have you checked for bedbugs? They are increasingly common nowadays and easily carried in with travel luggage or seconhand furniture/ textiles.

Bedbugs

 

That was what I was beginning to think. Night time. Body rather than head and exposed skin.

 

Flea bites are mostly on legs and you can often actually see them jumping.

Been there... my dog apparently got friendly with a fox and brought an enhancement to the house biodiversity years ago in a different country.

We got a prescription for a dog flea shampoo and for house treatment, and went to pharmacy. My husband loudly asked if the flea stuff is safe to use as the wife (me) is pregnant.

Now, it happens that the insect was called the same also when describing the STD pests on human lower hair...

The pharmacy clientele had a field day seeing a foreigner, pregnant and apparently with a STD- certainly something to tell at home that night

(The fleas were gone after one round of treatment thankfully)