UKC

Just got back from a long weekend in Assynt. Great trip, but we camped in a spot that turned out to be plagued by harvest mites. About to air out the tent, and realised it's probably still covered in the buggers.

We're current in a flat and so not much scope for hanging it outside or anything, but don't want them to colonise the place. I presume they will live for some time. Any suggestions about what to do about it? Preferably not involving setting fire to the thing!

In reply to jonny taylor:

tumble dry or freezer- maybe?

In reply to John Kelly:

Good suggestion with freezer, unfortunately we don't have one. Would tumble drying not be bad for the tent? Would be worried that e.g. taped seams weren't intended to stand high temperatures, or even that some of the materials might melt.

In reply to jonny taylor:
Moth balls may do the trick

In reply to jonny taylor:

If you are sure they are harvest mites (i.e. something like neotrombicula autumnalis (check my spelling...)) then fipronil (found in frontline spray) will kill them.

However I have no idea what it may do to your tent.

Just a thought.

In reply to jonny taylor:
they bite only in the early stage of their life after that they need vegetation to live. They will not colonise your flat.

I've been bitten by harvest mites on the same day we had quite an epic at swanage, both of us found it one of the itchiest things we can remember and for several days after. Their 'bite' dissolves your skin!

If you didn't get the itchy bites it was probably something else IMO.

50 : 50 tea trea and lavender oil applied neat helped things massively. Most poeple are OK with this mix but you can dilute it another 50 : 50 with pretty much any carrier oil if you want (olive oil is fine).

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Hmm, maybe they're not. I'd always assumed they were. Wikipedia suggests larvae are 0.2mm long, these were about twice that size I think. Don't think they were ticks though, too small. These were straw-coloured crawly things that had a reasonable turn of speed when they wanted it, very flat and hard to kill. Buried their heads to bite, but didn't leave massive itchy weals, just little red marks that seem to be fading ok without unbearable itching (and I react badly to midges). Seemed to be based in bracken, and would find a dozen of them on a crawling on an arm or leg after brushing against something.

I'd always thought these were harvest mites, but perhaps they are something else?

Agree that "colonise" the flat was a bit overly dramatic, but I suspect they might loiter around for quite some time still alive and waiting to bite us? (and the cats)

In reply to elsewhere:

Oh, and just to make things difficult, we are paranoid about keeping the tent scent-free due to use in bear country, so probably intense use of mothballs or insect repellents might not be a great idea.

Maybe it will have to be tumble drying. Makes me nervous for the tent though!

In reply to jonny taylor:

sound like ticks from your description

In reply to John Kelly:

Hmm, I think you're right. Don't know why I was so convinced they were, I think perhaps I thought the larvae didn't bite.

OK then. "Tent full of tick larvae... what do I do?" !

In reply to jonny taylor:

Take it to the park and give it a good shake?

In reply to jonny taylor:

pray they are not harbouring Lymes disease then tumble/freeze or poison

if you get the flu tomorrow it would make sense to visit gp and explain circumstance

In reply to John Kelly:

In the interests of speculation rather than firm medical advice, any thoughts on whether the larvae carry the disease? They would have to pick it up from somewhere (unless it's transmitted from parent to egg), and so first-round larvae might be ok?

In reply to jonny taylor:

thats a tick!

In reply to jonny taylor:

... answering my own question: larvae are safe apparently.
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/lyme/lyme3fold.html


Found two nymphs wandering on me, none biting. The ones that bit were all larvae.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Yeah, don't know why I always thought the larvae were harvest mites.

Shame I can't edit the thread title...

In reply to jonny taylor:
Use google these were almost defiantely nymphs (ticks) or later stages and do carry lymes!

you wouldnt spot ticks in the larva stage IMO, you are probably seeing the difference bettwen engorged and un-engorged nymphs

http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identify_different_ticks.html

In reply to jonny taylor:
any chance your tent would fit in the washing machine?
wash in a lot of salt might do the trick?

obviously not the poles!

In reply to jonny taylor:

best to treat all biting stages with respect - I know of 2 individuals that have required treatment for lymes in n lakes recently - not sure of incidence in NW scotland but someone on here will

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Based on images I would say they looked more like larvae than nymphs in appearance, including in those images you linked to. I'd say the size was somewhere in between.

In the top picture here
http://www.northern-focus.com/blog/ticks-and-lyme-disease/
they definitely looked more like the larvae, with two I noted specifically as looking different were very much like the nymph shown there.
Similarly the poor res picture with dime here:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/lyme/lyme3fold.pdf

Life cycle suggests nymphs not larvae in spring though http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html


Either way, will certainly take the risk seriously. Presume I shouldn't be speaking to doctor without any sign of a rash, I would be going quite regularly otherwise! Certainly last time he was supportive enough to do a blood test, but said he didn't consider it a high risk without any symptoms.

In reply to jonny taylor:
The rash only occurs some of the time, flu symptoms are more common I think.

Ofcourse if there were that many of the blighters around you may have got bitten and not noticed.

I've had a blood test once but came back negative and like you have been bitten quite a few times (not that many though only around 10 I know of)

Luckily I normally feel or see them on me before they bite and I normally wear long sleves and trousers in problem areas.

In reply to jonny taylor:

it's imperative you search your self for them asap and remove them properly http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/about-ticks/tick-removal/

the longer they are on you the more likely you are to get lymes. In some area most the ticks carry it!

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Don't worry we have done plenty of searching since getting home.

In reply to jonny taylor:

Ugh, we had a similar experience in applecross this weekend, in short grass at the beach!
we were covered in the things, but dont seem to have been bitten.. Not sure about the tent, id try hand washing it in cold water with a disinfectant maybe..
Good Luck

In reply to annie le:

Dehydration worked wonders for bed bugs.
I hung my stuff up outside in direct sun for a day when in Malaysia, didn't find or see or experience any issues after.

I realise the UK isn't as bright, but I bet it'd still work.

In reply to jonny taylor:

I'd put the tent up in the park for a day. If you keep it packed away for a while beforehand then with any luck they'll all be dead.