Kitchen Garden Forum

Well, this comes under the heading of 'pests', even if it's not quite what was intended!

The thing is, I got home from the allotment yesterday to find that my legs were covered in insect bites, and they look suspiciously like flea bites, although I´m no expert!

This has happened before, occasionally, on a smaller scale (two or three bites at a time) , but the number of bites this time is beyond a joke - there were between fifteen and twenty bites, ranging from my ankles to my thighs. To make matters worse, more have appeared overnight on other parts of my body!!!

HELP - has anyone got any suggestions about both what it could be, and what I can do about it?

Hi Mouse (The)

Ouch

I suggest ant bites, almost certainly not fleas.

Yes, I would have said ants to.
I keep a bottle of good old TCP in the shed and and soon as I feel a nip dab on generously. Takes the sting out and reduces the swelling.

Beryl.

We have some horrible little mothlike black midges, only at the allotments though, about fifty yards away in the garden no sign.
They alight on you and sneak around before settling down to feed, similar region to what you're suffering from, I react badly to them and get an itchy swelling the next day which untreated lasts for days. Piriton or an anesthetic spray work well, but jungle repellent seems to deter them.

There were certainly ants about, and I did dig into one or two nests as I was working. However, I can usually feel ants crawling on my skin, and I never felt whatever bit me yesterday. Also, I usually find that ant bites sting me, but these really itch!

However, I really hope you're both right.

Sorry Peter, I missed your answer.

I was bilberry picking on the Yorkshire moors this last weekend and am still suffering from midge bites on my neck and face, despite being doused in repellent!

These latest bites, whatever the culprit, mean that I am now spotty and itcy from head to toe!

All I can say is that I must be very tasty!

The Mouse wrote:All I can say is that I must be very tasty!

What a pity OH is away on holiday

And isn't it quiet without him!

We're covered in bites too this year which are certainly not ants unless they mountaineer - mine were much higher than thigh level some even on my shoulders and neck! They are in all sorts of places and very very itchy.

My husband is being bitten too.

glallotments wrote:We're covered in bites too this year which are certainly not ants unless they mountaineer - mine were much higher than thigh level some even on my shoulders and neck! They are in all sorts of places and very very itchy.

My husband is being bitten too.

Now that sounds like mine.
The ones that appeared while I was at the allotment were below the thighs, but the ones that have appeared since are definitely not. And when you say 'in all sorts of places', I think I know exactly what you mean!

The only difference is that my OH isn't being bitten - but he never goes to the allotment, either!

I think I know exactly what you mean!

Exactly

I went and bought some insect repellent but on reading the instructions it says not to put on under clothing!!!

Mouse - do yours leave a dark reddish patch after the initial itchy period?

glallotments wrote:I went and bought some insect repellent but on reading the instructions it says not to put on under clothing!!!

There's an obvious way round that then

glallotments wrote:

I think I know exactly what you mean!

Mouse - do yours leave a dark reddish patch after the initial itchy period?

Yes, some of them do.

Alan,
I'm thinking of trying the opposite approach - full heavy-duty body armour!!!

Thanks for making me laugh; you can always be relied on to find a picture to suit any topic.

The Mouse wrote:
Alan,
I'm thinking of trying the opposite approach - full heavy-duty body armour!!!

Thanks for making me laugh; you can always be relied on to find a picture to suit any topic.

And you can have it in stainless steel, with handy brush-cutting sword......

alan refail wrote:

glallotments wrote:I went and bought some insect repellent but on reading the instructions it says not to put on under clothing!!!

There's an obvious way round that then

May consider that if I was gardening in the privacy of my own garden!