The Best Insect Repellent I Have Ever Used.

[Raistlin]

http://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-Permethrin-Clothing-Repellent/dp/B001ANQVYU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1438212056&sr=8-2&keywords=sawyer+insect+repellent

So I have been using this stuff this year. The first spray I soak the clothes pretty good. It seems to be lasting through washes and even keeps working with dirt or when soaked in sweat.

I got it because of ticks and chiggers. I still have to use Off for skin to keep mosquitoes away though since my clothes are not covering my arms, neck, and head.

I can stay out all day walking through the weeds or woods and come home without a tick or chigger on me.

The big fear everyone talks about is Lyme's disease. But now a bigger fear (at least in my thought) is the other thing you can get from ticks where you become allergic to red meat.

http://www.today.com/news/tick-may-make-you-allergic-red-meat-how-long-will-1D80054116

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20140813/tick-bites-red-meat-allergy

You get that it means no more bacon, steak, or really tasty stuff.

This might not be considered normal collecting gear but it should definitely be added.

[Auspex]

I have been using permethrin to treat field cloths for years: it is THE TRUTH.

Follow the directions assiduously; do not get it on your skin, do not wear the clothes until it had dried completely, and dispose of the empty container at a hazmat drop off (it is a very bad thing to have get into the watershed).

[Troodon]

Ticks always an issue so is West Nile Virus. Rancher in South Dakota where I was collecting, this spring, just was recovering from the virus. I also was visited by a tick. How safe is this stuff?

[Troodon]

I have been using permethrin to treat field cloths for years: it is THE TRUTH.

Follow the directions assiduously; do not get it on your skin, do not wear the clothes until it had dried completely, and dispose of the empty container at a hazmat drop off (it is a very bad thing to have get into the watershed).

Thanks answered my question

[Auspex]

I have yet to find a completely effective Deer Fly or Black Fly repellent; they are persistent ambush predators...

There have been times when I wished I could emulate The Human Torch.

[fossilized6s]

I had a big scare this season with Lyme disease. I bring home a lot of ticks and tick bites whenever I go to Mazon. I had one bite that was pretty large and not healing properly. It's been 30 days and no "bulls eye", rash or sickness. Since then, I've been using 40% deet spray. I'll check this stuff out though. Thanks for posting your find.

[caldigger]

I have yet to find a completely effective Deer Fly or Black Fly repellent; they are persistent ambush predators...

There have been times when I wished I could emulate The Human Torch.

Ya, I suppose dousing your body with lighter fluid and igniting oneself would keep those pesky flies away, however, it is a one time use remedy. The severe 3rd degree burns on your exposed flesh tend to attract the flies after a while.

I always had a theory about OFF repellent. My observations were that it attracts the insects to you and then poisons them once they land. Never had much luck with it keeping the critters at a distance.

[Raistlin]

Yeah OFF only does so much for the mosquitoes. I wish I knew of something better but for the time being that is all I have. As for black flies (buffalo gnats) they are a plague of pain. I recall being bitten multiple times behind the ears a few years back and had days of itching and pain.

[Pagurus]

Yeah, behind the ears. That's where they always got me. When I was in the woods every day, in my youth, I wore a big floppy hat soaked in deet and that helped some. We were quite a sight back then, a dozen kids and I hiking up a big hill (a mountain to us easterners) with bracken ferns bouncing around on our heads to supposedly keep the bugs away.

[Raistlin]

I have heard vanilla extract helps by putting a dab behind your ears but not so sure about that lol.

[Ridgehiker]

I use heavy duty DEET. Perhaps 2 or 3 times a year. Otherwise a quick spray of OFF.

Fortunately no Lyme disease here and rarely ticks until we cross south into Montana. On the positive side, mosquitoes may be bad by a creek or river but once in the badlands it's deserty and dry. Similar in our mountains..mosquitoes thin out as we gain elevation. Not usually an issue at collecting sites.

Not sure if best to wear long pants tucked into the boots or shorts. I tend to like shorts and t shirt so I can see the little %s

[Opisthotriton]

I just learned about Permethrin earlier this summer; great to know you can buy it in bottles and apply it to your own clothes!

Columbia brand sportswear has a line of clothes called "Insect Blocker" that already have the permethrin. It is supposed to last for 70 washings. I have only worn my Insect Blocker clothes a couple of times, but they do really seem to work! I don't have a statistically significant sample yet, but I am pleased with my purchases. The clothes are fairly expensive, though, so I'm certainly interested in being able to add Permethrin to the field clothes I already own!

I have seen some comments online about Permethrin being hazardous, but that was on typical alarmist websites that say everything is toxic and bad. My opinion is that even if it's a little bad, it is still WAY better than coating myself repeatedly with high percentages of DEET. I know that DEET is nasty stuff (dissolves paint and plastics), so I am much happier to use the Permethrin.

The Wikipedia page for Permethrin say that it is toxic to cats. Is that true? I'll try to keep my Permethrin clothes wrapped up and hidden from my cat.

[squali]

Some years I spend over a thousand hours

In fields and forests. I don't like to spray insect repellent on skin.

Ticks are definitely my number one concern. I have a set of permethrin clothing but it is too expensive

For every day use, so I spray 100% Deet

On my boots, high socks and pant legs, knees down.

A spritz around my waist. I tape or rubber band the pants to the boots.

Remove clothing before entering the house and wash separately from other people's

clothes. Look for stragglers. Even if your bit, it supposedly takes 24 hours to become infected.

If you think you have become infected with Lyme get to a dr.

I know several folks with chronic , life changing, problems caused by not knowing they had it.

The symptoms are far from obvious and vary individually.

Emulating the cultures that work in extreme heat, I too wear long sleeve shirts.

Believe it or not it is cooler than exposed skin and keeps the fliers

off.

Deer flies will still attack even if you leave the dead ones on your neck.

Edited August 9, 2015 by squali

[Mike Pocock]

Boy Im glade I live in damp old England, haven't had much trouble with insect bites other than a few Knats.

I sure hope you all take precautions when out in the field.

Regards

Mike

[Troodon]

I picked some up and getting ready to zap some of my clothes for the fall collecting season. The bugs will not get the better of me this fall.

[taj]

I've been bitten countless times when younger , but the recent epidemic frightened me into making the test ... Fortunately I did not seem to have it .

That being said , my mother had it , my father has it , my brother in law got it twice ....

I don't use chemicals, but no exposed piece of skin , and when I'm finished , I change clothes as soon as possible , followed by close inspection of sensitive areas ( repeated )? Even bitten , there is a 24 h delay . Even like this , my son caught one in June . In France now many doctors are prescribing a simple antibiotic for any bite as a preventive treatment .

What is this other disease you have invented over there again ?? No meat ???

[Raistlin]

I recently had a bout of what I can only believe to be a mild case of West Nile virus. Two days of headache, body ache, back ache, fatigue, and light occasional fever. I never once felt sick but this was like having the sore and tiredness of the flu. Only this seemed like my body hurt way worse. We have a ton of mosquitoes around here and they have been so bad that when letting the dogs in or out a few get in. Needless to say I have been bitten more than I like in my own home by mosquitoes. Next year I am looking into planting some plants that are supposed to help repel them. I do not want to go through a few days of that again.

[squali]

I think West Nile virus is a one and done type of infection.

It is dangerous to folks with other ailments but symptomatic to the rest of the population.

[Ptychodus04]

Wow! You guys have some horror stories. I've only been bitten by a tick twice in my life and both times were when I had not used my 100% DEET spray. That's all I use. Spray it on everywhere but the eyes and inside my mouth! It even seemed to keep away the biting flies this summer in Colorado.

+1 on the long sleeved shirt. Everyone thinks I'm crazy but it really is better. Also, the long sleeves keep mud from building up on your arms while excavating due to the combination of sweat and rock dust!

[aplomado]

I had a big scare this season with Lyme disease. I bring home a lot of ticks and tick bites whenever I go to Mazon. I had one bite that was pretty large and not healing properly. It's been 30 days and no "bulls eye", rash or sickness. Since then, I've been using 40% deet spray. I'll check this stuff out though. Thanks for posting your find.

You can get Lyme even if the bullseye rash doesn't appear!

[FossilDAWG]

A few comments on this thread:

Permethrin is a very effective repellent for ticks and mosquitoes, less so for deer/horse flies and blackflies. The latter rely more on vision and not so much on olfaction, so there are no really good repellents (that I am aware of anyway) for them. They also like to go for the head/neck, so maybe a permethrin-treated hat would help. As has been said, permethrin is applied to the clothes, never directly to the skin. Besides the liquid formulation, I have seen it in spray cans you can use to treat clothes just before going to the field. Deet is still pretty good for mosquitoes and some other things. Vanilla is useless, and there are some studies that suggest it may attract some things.

About 40% of people who get Lyme Disease do NOT develop the bulls-eye rash. In a way, it's nice if you do as you know there is a problem at an early stage. Later symptoms include (depending on how far it progresses before diagnosis/treatment) arthritis-like inflammation of the joints, and neurological symptoms such as facial paralysis, memory impairment, and other problems. For the most part these symptoms do not fully reverse with treatment, as the damage is permanent or very slow to heal (nerves grow slowly if at all), even if the pathogen (Borrelia burgdorferi) has been killed off by antibiotics.

Lyme disease is transmitted only by nymphs and adults of Ixodes scapularis in the East/Northeast, and Ixodes pacificus in the West. Ixodes scapularis is "offically" called the Black-legged Tick, but people more commonly call it the Deer Tick. These ticks must be firmly attached for about 36 hours before the Borrelia begins to be transmitted, which means you have a window of time to check yourself and remove the ticks. Note that this applies only to Lyme Disease, other tick-borne diseases may be transmitted sooner.

There are several tick-borne diseases in the US, including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (a very serious disease, potentially fatal), which is transmitted by Wood Ticks (Dermacentor andersoni and Dermacentor variabilis), Monocytic Ehrlichiosis (transmitted by Lone Star ticks, Amblyomma americanum), human Anaplasmosis (transmitted by Ixodes scapularis), and Babesiosis (a malaria-like parasite, also transmitted by Ixodes scapularis). I am not aware of any major human disease transmitted by Dog Ticks (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) though these ticks are common. As you can see, not all ticks are the same as far as disease is concerned. It's a good idea to learn to recognize the various genera (there are not too many) so you can figure out if you need to be worried when you are bitten.

If you are young and have a healthy immune system, you probably won't even know if you get infected with the West Nile virus. However if you are immunocompromized in any way you are at greater risk. This is true of any disease, of course. You should be aware that after 50 your immune system gradually deteriorates, and your risk of serious complications increases. Also if you have had an accident that resulted in your spleen being removed, you are immunocompromized. There is also some evidence that West Nile can reappear as people age, causing polio-like symptoms, so you should not be too complacent about it even if you are young and unlikely to develop symptoms at the time of initial infection.

In all cases, it is best to avoid being bitten and infected, as much as possible. Cover up as much as you can, and use appropriate repellents. Culex mosquitoes that are the major vector of West Nile mainly bite around dusk, so avoid being in mosquito territory at that time of day as much as you can. If you get a tick on you and it is attached, remove it by grasping the mouthparts as close to your skin as possible with fine tweezers (or your fingernails if that is all you have) and pull it straight out. It's not a big deal if the mouthparts break off, the salivary glands (where the parasites are) are in the tick body, and the mouthparts will act like a small splinter. Put antibiotic cream on the bite, and wash your hands with soap if you have to handle the tick. If you can, save the tick for identification so you (or your doctor) can know what (if any) disease to watch for. Folk treatments, such as dousing with gas, burning with a match (don NOT do these two at the same time!!), or smothering with vasoline, irritate the tick and cause it to increase salivation, potentially giving you a last shot of pathogen before the tick dies.

BTW I am a medical entomologist in my day job.

Don

Edited October 3, 2015 by FossilDAWG

[Pagurus]

Thanks, Don!

Mike