I’m living in Brevard County, Florida, and something has been biting my ankles and forearms over the last week. I’m pretty certain it’s not mosquitoes - I haven’t heard them buzzing around, I haven’t seen any, and the bites I’m getting are not typical of mosquito bites.
With mosquitoes, each individual bite is relatively large and is distinctly raised from the surrounding skin. They often (on me) are the same color as the surrounding skin. The bites I’m getting right now are much smaller, not raised much (if at all) and very clearly much more red than the surrounding skin.
And they itch like CRAZY! I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night seriously considering taking a rasp to my skin and scraping off the entire epidermis. Surely the pain involved couldn’t be any worse than the itching. Hydrocortisone cream provides some temporary relief, but not much.
So - what am I dealing with here? Are these the infamous “no see ums”? I don’t remember them being like this in previous years. Anyone else having this problem? Suggestions for how to deal with them? (I’m being much more diligent about using insect repellant, but I’d like a more permanent solution, if possible).
I don’t think so, based on some of the web searching I’ve done. I don’t have any bites in the areas most commonly mentioned (waistband area, groin, back of the knee, etc.), and I haven’t been walking around in wooded or even overgrown areas; just hanging out on our screened-in deck.
Whatever they are, I wish them to be eradicated from the planet (only slightly kidding).
Wooden deck? Chiggers notoriously infest (older) wood. We used to get them from sitting on logs out in the woods, for example. Also when picking raspberries…been doing that?
Do you have pets? If so it might be fleas. Flea bites are usually clustered where clothing fits tightly to the skin, like the band of socks or around the waist.
If not it could be scabies. Scabies looks similar but is just about the worst itch ever. I got it from sleeping in a nasty hippie crash pad in Arizona. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scabies
Yeah, my guess is fleas. Wash your bedding in hot water, use a flea killing pesticide spray around your bedroom, and treat any pets, and their bedding.
If you think it’s fleas, after bathing the pets, the most important thing to do is vacuum thoroughly and throw the bag out. Repeat every few days. That works just as well as poisoning the house.
Fellow Floridian here. Have you noticed any bugs that look like this, recently? I’ve found a couple in the recent past, and have never seen 'em before. If my very anecdotal evidence is any indication, assassin bugs are on the upswing.
The good news is that they prey on other nasty bugs that bite, bad news is that if they can’t find any of them, they bite YOU!
We just got back from a trip to Florida and my wife had the same bites. Even though the pool at the house we were staying at had a screen over it.
We assumed it was no-see-ums.