Insect Query

[Doc_Ralph]

I know most of you have fought off plenty of insects in your time. On the "battlefield" or at home. I have had wonderful nature encounters with ground bees and ticks and Spotsy skeeters. I have also met up with chiggers - horrid little buggers. As well as all the flies and clouds of gnats. What I have not had the pleasure of meeting is something called a "no see em" Can anyone enlighten me about these invisible varmints?
Thanks ,
OTC
Spotsy CH

 

[Kurtlg]

They are very small biting midges . The females need blood to develop their eggs like mosquitoes do. They itch longer than mosquitoes . In my long ago camping days you always looked for a tent with "no see um" mesh that was fine enough to keep them out.

 

[Tanglewood]

My friends in coastal Georgia told me way back that the go-to product to keep the no-see-ums away was Avon "Skin-So-Soft". It smelled good and the little bugs seemed to stay away. My cousin liked it better than actual insect repellent for himself and especially for his small boys who played outside all the time.

 

[John Winn]

I remember those from my childhood (in Georgia). No-fun-um.

Feel lucky you've never experienced black flies (i.e. it could be worse).

 

[Bonny Blue Flag]

Green -bottle flies and black flies, they bite! We were raised with the knowledge that no-see-ems were tiny insects that bit and made the little places on your skin hurt and itch....from an insect you could not see. Was never convinced these were actual critters.

--BBF

 

[Johnny Shafto]

I was also curious about the no-see-ems so I looked and found this image on the internet…

 

[Nebraska Lawdog]

Good rendition, but the teeth are actually much longer.

 

[Kurtlg]

Blackflies can nearly drive you insane. I experienced them in Ontario on a fishing trip and several times in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Our Canadian neighbors have written a few songs about them .
"And the blackflies , the little blackflies
Always a blackfly no matter where you go
I'll die with a blackfly pickin' my bones
In northern Ontario"

 

[Belfoured]

Although black flies are definitely near the top of the list, I'll go with mosquitoes early July in the Wind River mountains following melt out of a big snow year. It's hard to imagine those numbers they give you about how many mosquitoes there are - unless you're in the Winds when this happens. I have a climbing friend who routinely brings his dogs in with him. I recollect one year staying glued to Fido because for some reason they seem to prefer dogs for their bloodsucking ways to humans. I felt bad ... but not THAT bad.

 

[Belfoured]

Blackflies can nearly drive you insane. I experienced them in Ontario on a fishing trip and several times in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Our Canadian neighbors have written a few songs about them .
"And the blackflies , the little blackflies
Always a blackfly no matter where you go
I'll die with a blackfly pickin' my bones
In northern Ontario"

They are brutal in northern Maine, as well.

 

[DixieRifles]

Avon "Skin-So-Soft"

That works the best.

I got approval to buy Skin-So-Soft for our aircraft crash investigation Go-Kits. I was a member of the FedEx accident Go Team. It is also great at cleaning & removing clay-based grease and the smell of jet fuel.

 

[Patrick H]

My friends in coastal Georgia told me way back that the go-to product to keep the no-see-ums away was Avon "Skin-So-Soft". It smelled good and the little bugs seemed to stay away. My cousin liked it better than actual insect repellent for himself and especially for his small boys who played outside all the time.

I knew a couple of Canadian fishing guides who swore by this stuff, too. I used it with success. Later, I also rubbed it on my dog and it helped her.

 

[bankerpapaw]

My friends in coastal Georgia told me way back that the go-to product to keep the no-see-ums away was Avon "Skin-So-Soft". It smelled good and the little bugs seemed to stay away. My cousin liked it better than actual insect repellent for himself and especially for his small boys who played outside all the time.

I helped a Forrester mark timber once. He used Avon, Skin so soft.