Midgie Relief

Tea Tree Oil.
Dab on the bite - or wipe over affected area.


Good Luck

Spray bite with the cheapest fly spray you can find. Black and Gold is best. Instant relief. Give it a go and see how you go, trust me. I dont carry Bushmans or Aeroguard or anything for them , just black and gold fly spray. Fish year round in the mangroves and it works a traet.

Try a mixture of equal parts Dettol, Babyoil and methylated spirits put in a trigger spray bottle,shaken vigorously and sprayed on before venturing out into the great outdoors is a excellent repellant and can be used on the affected bites for relief, some initial stinging may occur .

Hope this helps

Welldone

The best relief I have come across bare none is MIDGIE MAGIC.

Available from Hidden Valley Handcrafts Broome.

Contact/Order 0891307036.

Lavender oil

The juice from bracken fern usually works well on stings and bites, but I guess you gotta be in an area with the plants. The fiddle head tops have the most juice.
Cheers

Best way [ other than not getting bitten ] ??
A: midgie,s dont actually bite , the itch is caused by midgie urine on the skin.
B: Taking a mega vitamin B capsual every day when in midgie and mossie country stops the little buggers from wanting to settle on your skin in the 1st instance .

Try freezing cold water. My legs were covered in bites several years ago and I was to the point of cutting my legs off. I kept going over to the shower block and running hot water as hot as I could stand on them. This gave me very good relief only to be told recently that it was after the hot water cooled is when the relief came. Thinking about it now it could be right so try freezing cold water and see how you go.

G'day All

When in mozzie/sand fly country I do the following,

Take mega vitamin B capsule daily, usually start a week before going to the area, they just don't like the taste on the skin I think.

Repellent

As Welldone says, mix the equal parts in a spray bottle - baby oil, metho, detol plus a glug of citronella oil, shake well, works well.

For the Itches

I use tea tree oil or lavender oil on affected area, but friends in Gove use alcohol swabs available from the chemists in boxes of 50 for about $5.00, all help stopping the itches.

Remember

Don't scratch the affected areas in the first place, put up with it, the itch will soon ease up.
If you have scratched the affected areas and the bites become infected, being in the tropics you could end up with problems, see a doctor or at least a chemist.

Cheers

Thanks Guys,

Sounds like Mega B vitamins

I am smeeling like a t tree at the moment to.

Cheers

Matt

When I was a young bloke, 40 or 50 years ago, we found the best thing was to give your skin a coat of diesel. It was extremely effective.

When we were up north we used listerine mouth wash. Dilute in spray bottle and spray on. Worked a treat. Also sprayed around the trailer to keep insects out..

Josh

As per my previous, It is the bite (sucking blood) by the female Midgie that causes the problem. Male species don't suck blood (bite) the Midgie thrives close to where they habitat near moist areas & waterways wetlands. They are out in force at dawn & sunset but not on windy days they prefer to shelter from the wind. The best cure is prevention by covering up with clothing & use a repellant. What type well that's up to you there have been interesting types suggested on this forum. Unfortunately what works for Jack might not work for Jill just like the Vitamin B tablets!! Some people have a very bad reaction to the midgie bite and develop blisters. This problem is solved by self medicating antihystamenies. If you would like to know more. Google Sandfly.com.au

Hey Matt, i live in Port Hedland and we use Bushmans. i have tried the baby oil mix, too greasy and in the sun it cooks you. vit B works for some and not for others, my wife still gets nailed even after taking them for months. Bushmans is the only thing that seems to work for everyone, i keep it on both my boats and visitors spray it on and have no problems. once bitten, to relieve the itch we use Pinetarsol (i think thats how its spelt). you can get it at any chemist as with the Bushmans. hope this helps

Deano

My wife is a major sufferer from these little buggers and has tried most of the 'home style' remedies.

Baby Oil, Dettol etc worked OK, but left her greasy all day and dramatically increased sun effect. She reckons it only worked because when they landed on her, they got stuck in the oil.

Before one trip to NT, she took Vitamin B1 for a couple of months and continued for a further couple of months, but no noticeable impact. The following year she got some Vitamin B patches, which are supposed to continually leach the vitamin into the body. Again no impact. I have no doubt vitamin B helps some people - clearly no all.

We now have two remedies that seem to help:
The first is continued exposure. After a number of years of exposure - 6 months per year for past 5 years in Northern Australia, mostly NT) has raised her immunity. She still gets bitten, but only comes up in welts when they swarm and she is a bit lax with remedy 2.

The second remedy is Bushman's 40%. We buy it wholesale by the case. Have only used about 8 or 9 cans this winter, probably due to the impact of remedy 1.

In trying to find a solution for her, I did a lot of research, including reading a few scientific papers.

Midges DO NOT PEE on you. The females bite. Like mosquitoes, it is the female that bites and needs blood. It is the saliva she injects that causes the sting and 'allergic' reaction in many people.

DEET is the best repellent. Within reason, the higher the concentration, the longer the protection. But once the DEET concentration passes 30 to 40%, there is no real gain. We still have a couple of tubes of the old 80% DEET cream, but since reading this, we have not used them. DEET concentrations of 20% (like in Aeroguard Tropical) work, but just not as long.

Strangely, Bushman's 40% does not work well on Flies.

When Midges are swarming, you need to cover up very well and spray very well, including under the edges of clothing. The Midges are so competitive for a feed, it seems that any small area without good clothes cover or spray will be bitten. We fish up small mangrove creeks and have proven this many times.

The is no scientific evidence (that I could find) that DEET is harmful when applied to the skn, but there is anecdotal evidence. Only one country has regulated DEET. In Canada, it is illegal to supply personal insect repellents with a DEET concentration above 30%. Their Health Dept web site at the time said it was a precaution. They also advised not using it at all on babies. I think they figured that since there is evidence that going much above 30% does nothing anyway, they might as well be cautious.

I posted this link in a follow up above. Have repeated it here for completeness.

NT Health Dept re Bloodthirsty Midges

As for remedies after the bite. Kathryn uses some Sandfly Salve she got in Broom. Also another one based on Honey and other stuff - not sure of the details. If she has nothing else, she rubs some deodorant on (probably the alcohol does something). All give some relief, but not total. Sometimes a few glasses of wine (administered internally) can also help.