Leaving Home because of Red Mite? Photo: Tony The Misfit
Over the last five or six years, I have been dealing with the dreaded Red Mite in my poultry houses and trying different control methods to get rid of them. Since posting “How to get rid of a serious red mite infestation” (when I found a large number of mites in one of my hen houses: Summer 2009), the comments to my post have been flooding in. It’s a popular post and hopefully it has helped people to remove the dreaded Red Mite from their chicken house.
From the comments that were made, a few people were saying their own house (that’s house, not poultry house) had been infested with Red Mite and many people were asking whether Red Mite can bite / feed from us. From my own experience of dealing with red mite, I have found that they will crawl on me and make me itch but a shower gets rid of them and I didn’t believe that they could feed from us or other species. Unfortunately I was wrong…
Here are some extracts from a comment received from Laura in Ireland for example that really made me think I should investigate this further:
“We haven had a serious mite infestation for the last 6 weeks in our own house brought in probably by the dogs and ourselves, as we were all very scratchy all over and definitely getting bitten by them and no amount of scrubbing would remove them.”
and she went on to say
“…I would really like to know if there is anyone on this blog that has had their own home and body infested and how they dealt with it. We are getting a steamer for the houses and are praying for a very cold winter to kill them off and going to keep our heating off, but so far vets and doctors have very little knowledge about these new breed of red mites that definitely reproduce on and bite humans. It is frightening if this strain of red mite really takes affect in the UK and Ireland, as it is very nasty, tough and reproduces at a bionic rate.”
So there does appear to be a problem here. Laura seemed to think that this was a different type of red mite that would bite humans so I decided to go to the experts at the University of Newcastle to find out more.
Dr George (now with the University of Lancaster) has been studying Red Mite and told me this:
“With regard to red mite feeding upon humans, it seems that this is actually more common than once thought. An increasing number of reports in the academic press are identifying cases of this, where red mite have also been found to infest other mammals (including rats and horses). In my opinion it’s likely that this has always been the case, but that such infestations have ‘traditionally’ been misdiagnosed. That said, I’ve never personally been bitten and I suspect that avian hosts are more preferred by the mites, where they may nevertheless take a meal on an alternative host if desperate. The ‘deserted birds nest in the attic’ is a classic case of this, where red mites (and other avian mites) are forced to leave the nest after the young birds have fledged – often encountering a human meal as they do so!”
Ideas for treating your house for Red Mite.
There are numerous products out there that will treat poultry houses but what can you use in your house?
Well, in commercial poultry houses, red mite are treated with pesticides, although there is growing concern that some mites are becoming resistant and different types of pesticide are used to try to prevent this from happening.
There are pesticide based products that are designed to be used in the home to remove common fleas that can infest the carpets and other areas of the home. These traditionally would have only been available from a vet but now are available from companies like Medicanimal. You spray it around the carpet / edges and under skirting boards in cracks and then vacate the room, leaving the door closed for a couple of hours. Follow the manufacturers instructions and certainly don’t breathe the spray – ideally wear a mask. One I have used is Ardap Spray and another similar product is Indorex spray, available from Medicanimal for example.
There are pest control companies that will deal with fleas in a home. They will have access to knapsacks of pesticides that they can use so if things get too bad, it might be worth calling them in. I would still repeat the spray application every 3 to 4 days. The life cycle of a mite is 7 days – so treating before they have a chance to lay eggs will reduce numbers faster.
Chilling the mites, as suggested by Laura, leaving her heating off over the winter may stop them reproducing and feeding but I don’t believe it will kill them – they can survive in a poultry house outdoors over the winter.
Newcastle University are testing different essential oils since these contain chemicals toxic to pests. For example, linalool from lavender is toxic to red mites. Their latest research shows that red mite mortality rates decrease with time – so the oils need to be fresh to work. My granddad used to hang fresh Lavender bunches in his pigeon loft and I thought it was to keep the loft smelling fresh!
The female red mite lays her eggs after a feed. There is also evidence though from Newcastle University that the acaricidal effect (killing power) of essential oils increases as mites are starved for longer periods of time so could covering yourself in an insect repellent preventing them feeding for a few days whilst treating your house may help to knock down more mites?
Diatom is safe and can be used in the house – dust cracks and crevices – the good news is it will hoover up without leaving a mess afterwards.
Eat more garlic! The locals in Charente, France where I sometimes stay eat a lot of garlic and say it stops the mosquitos biting them (and Vampires?)… I give my birds crushed garlic (2 or 3 cloves) in their water to keep them healthy and I am sure this is why I have had far fewer problems with red mite this year. I mentioned this to Dr. George and he replied:
“…some work has been going on there recently to control red mite using garlic in either feed or water, so the fact that this has worked well for you should be of particular interest to them.”
I look forward to finding out more about this and will share it with you when I do but it may help you to get less bites.
If sofas or chairs are infected, I would get rid of them. There are just too many places for them to hide. (Sorry!)
I hope this gives you some ideas of things to try around the home, if I come across any more information, I will share it with you here.
Have you had Red Mite living in your house or biting you? Please leave a comment to help others who read this.
#1 by Viviana on September 16, 2011 - 8:49 pm
Could there be a connection with red mites and one hen with white ears? Maybe she had them this colour before the mites arrived and I did not noticed, but could it be that this is a sign of the hen becoming anaemic? On another blog I saw a picture that said white ears are normal, but now I am not so sure.
Thanks
#2 by smith on September 21, 2011 - 10:44 am
We have never had a problem until this year and i thought i was alone on this but how wrong was i. My daughter 7yrs has been showing poultry for two yrs and this year she has been over run herself by the horrid mite, we found them laying in her hair and what we thought was exma turned out to be the mites nesting under her skin. Personally we found that treating with strong nit solution and leaving it on for 2 days and then doing this 7 days later has worked. In-between treatments she uses tea tree spray and we repeat until the cycle is broken. The key is to defiantly break the cycle. Bedding has to be washed daily, until they are gone. I always make her strip off at the door and shower as soon as she comes in from being with them. I also used Red mite spray in the house zapping them if i saw them. You can defiantly see them though even if they haven’t had a feast i used to go in her room with the lights down and spot them. You will be pleased to know that she is free of them and so is the house but our poor hens are still suffering.
#3 by Maggie on September 22, 2011 - 12:25 am
I have been keeping chickens for 3 years and recently (for the first time) found red mites living in my chicken house…this must be the reason why my hens are not laying. The chicken house is situated 300metres away from my house in a field where there is no power or mains running water (only an old bath catching rain water). Therefore, I can not jet wash the chicken house. Instead, I borrowed my husband’s hand held blow tourch and burned those little B’tard to ashes. I have done this for the past two days and will carry on for a couple more days. I have not use any other products, one to keep the cost down and secondly trying to be eco friendly. So far so good. fingers crossed.
#4 by Jane on September 28, 2011 - 1:12 pm
I’ve tried everything suggested above – and these are what I feel helped – epsom salt baths and head lice treatment, boiling my clothes, moth treatment in wardrobes, diatom in my bed/furniture/carpets, insecticidal sprays with permethrin and pyrethryns.
I still have an itchy rash which moves around my body from one place to another. As soon as one patch clears up it flares up somewhere else. But no sightings of mites in house or on me now.
Read somewhere that red mite can carry chicken pox virus so wonder if I have developed shingles after being bitten by them. So, off to chemist now to get lycine supplement which apparently may help fight this virus.
Will report back after Lycine!
#5 by Arthur Chipouras on September 29, 2011 - 6:37 am
My house has been infested with(I think) red mites for 3 month now. I’ve had it tented, set off foggers and sprayed many types of insecticides. None of these things worked. My body has also been infested for 3 month. Ive tried almost everything. A friend told me about a roomate she had about5 years ago. She said the bites looked the same. Then she said clear fingernail polish. To my disbelief that has worked better than anything else i’ve tried. I’ve just started so I don’t know the final outcome but it looks better than anything from anywhere else. Including doctors.
#6 by Penny on October 4, 2011 - 9:46 pm
Hi have been reading all the posts with interest. This is our first year keeping 3 chickens and they have mites. We have been treating them with Jeyes buut it didn’t do a lot of good. We have started to use Poultry Shield dor the coop and diatom for the girls. But I have noticed mites in the house and it is freaking me out! I have even found mites on my clean washing and by the sound of it are impossible to get rid of. I don’t know what to do! So far no one has been bitten and the mites that I have found in the house are still brown so they haven’t found anyone to feed off yet. We have a cat and a dog, both of which I am treating with Frontline spot on because I thought it treated all mites and ticks but from the posts this is not the case. Am also waiting for the household spray to come as have ordered it online but I don’t know if its going to work. I don’t know what to do it seems not a lot works
Am really worried now, we have just moved into our dream house and suddenly we are threatened with a nasty insect that can’t irridicated all for the sake of 3 hens bought for our son who is chicken bonkers. If I had known the trouble mites bring I would not have got the chickens.
#7 by Jane on October 8, 2011 - 10:40 am
I don’t think my itchy rash can be shingles now as it is not occurring on just one side of my body but centrally now in several patches on my trunk.
So now wondering if I still do have these mites nesting under my skin as several people have reported this – how can I find out, please, if this is the case?
Also – Arthur – what do you do with clear nail polish – do you paint it on the skin?
#8 by Laura Loo on October 9, 2011 - 7:51 am
Hi Jane / Arthur,
I am just checking in on this site on occasion and noticed your message. I’d maybe try liquid plaster first and see if that works before using something harsh like nail polish. We are much better, but the key for me was diet more so than anything else – staying off sugars / refined sugars & caffine, supplements, keeping calm – as noticed the more stressed the worst the crawling etc sensations. doing plenty of exercise, epsom baths and trying not to focus too much attention on the parasite/bugs whatever it is if possible. For me anyway, whatever these bugs, parasite, fungus’s are – still haven’t a clue what they are, I am not sure it is red mite. My main symptoms now would be more internally – twitching under the skin on various parts on body, especially just after eating which does not bother me. Occasionally I might feel the itchy, crawlie sensations on my skin, but it is usually due to eating badly, so do a big clean of house and bedding and once back on proper diet, the symptoms settle down and are less frequent. Thankfully I have my life back – not like the start of the infestation back last summer, which was like a horrific horror movie, so my heart goes out to anyone going through this.
#9 by Andrea on October 13, 2011 - 10:17 am
I have four wonderful chickens and a lovely coop and run for them, i had plenty of room so thought i would get a few more chickens? BIG mistake i bought three more from a local paper advert, they arrived and i left them to settle for a while, on closer inspection they were plastered in mites/red mite,i was devastated it was to late they had been in run, coop and with other chicken, i had to ask the seller to pick his chickens up, i cant see any thing on my chickens and this is eight weeks later but there coop is covered in red mite at night, i have tried lots of product to no avail, i think now the time has come to invest in a new coop, after spending out x amount on products that don’t work you may as well buy a new one
#10 by Sally on October 13, 2011 - 5:57 pm
Hi everyone, my house had been taken over by red mites, i’m due to have a baby in 20 weeks and i’m terrified i’m not going to be able to get of them for when the baby is born, we have 4 chickens at the top of my garden which have never laid eggs and after reading up on red mites i think this is where they r from. I also have 3 cockatiels which live in my house in my living room and there cages and them are full of these things, every night i can feel them crawling all over me on my arms and face around my mouth and nose and on my chest. I’ve cleaned my birds out daily but by the next day there is a fresh nest of these things. 2 of my tiels are a breeding pair and are about to lay eggs but i’ve had to throw her nest box out due to a massive infestation in there and put a new one in but thats just going to end up the same way, I’ve been told to use something called Sevin Dust 5% but it’s only avalible in the US and everywhere wants at least £20 just for shipping and i really dont have that sort of money, I know its only a small amount but my partner only works 16 hours a week and christmas is coming and a new baby on the way isn’t cheap. I’ve now started finding them in my bedroom and i think they r on my dogs! I just want them all gone before i go insane. What can i do???? Please help
#11 by sue on October 23, 2011 - 6:28 pm
can you use this in your home and will it have any adverse effects on my dogs.
#12 by Maggie on October 23, 2011 - 7:20 pm
I have posted a message on 22/9 about using a blow tourch, I thought I got the red mites under control but I was so wrong, everyday when I go and inspect the hen houses, there are still red mites crawling about, everyday, I feel like fighting a losing battle. It is so disheartening. However, I have good news for you all poultry keepers out there. With the warm October weather, there were lots of little flies about in the hen house, so during the day time while the chickens are out in the field scratching, I spray the hen house with LOTS of fly spray (from pound shop), shut the door, return to let the chicken back in the hen house to roost in the evening. The next day, I found hundreds of thousands of DEAD red mites near the perch. However, at the same time, I did put Diatom in the hen house, so try the fly spray to see if you get result. Good luck.
#13 by sue on October 26, 2011 - 2:54 pm
Hi we have red mite in the house seems all the sofas and beds are infested as well as the dogs. We have pulled apart the dogs kennel and treated it as well as having the house treated with stingray me we had a pest control company to do this, after watching him bought the stuff myself and have treated all the house again. Our clothes and us are washed within an inch of our lives. Not sure what else to do. Any ideas welcome as getting desperate.
#14 by CINDY on November 15, 2011 - 12:18 pm
O.k. how do you know if it’s these red mites and can animals like cats bring them in I seriously think my head is infested with these things. My family keeps telling me Im crazy, but I am sitting around watching them all scratch including the cat. I have bathed in epsom salt put alcohol in my hair on my body and bleached my hair. I have scrubbed with antibacterial soap and bought every kind of deep shampooing product I could find. this has been goig on for months and i am getting a little fraked out not to mentio OCD washing bed sheets vacuuming beds floors shampooing them. But the worst is it genuinly feels like these things are 10 feet deep in my scalp. HELP!!!!!!
#15 by CINDY on November 15, 2011 - 12:21 pm
Sue can you put the fly spray in your hair?
#16 by sue on November 17, 2011 - 11:34 am
Update on our mite problem two more visits from Rentokil setttes in skip as are our beds two very distressed dogs and one very expensive car looking like heading for the crusher. Not sure that i can keep up this pace..
#17 by mel on November 22, 2011 - 3:36 pm
Hi, I have been battling with red mite in my house for about 3 months now. Every time I think I’ve got rid of them – back they come. The worst thing is my partner is not bothered by them and thinks I am imagining it now (especially as I have not actually seen any in a long while). But the crawling sensation is always there and gets worse if I dont hoover and wash bed stuff all the time. I no longer have my chickens because the whole situation has been too stressfull. Perhaps sue would let me know if getting rid of sofas and bed will solve problem? But i have a horrible feeling that they could be all over house.
#18 by sue on November 23, 2011 - 7:52 pm
we also have got rid of the chickens and yes we are also very stressed and the hoover is out two or three times a day, and the washing machine on all the time so i can totally understand how you feel. i can’t say that getting rid of the bed and sofas has helped , but it made me feel better and another place that they can’t hide . our’s are all over the house you can see the little black pepper spots in all rooms.
can you tell me what you used to get rid of them ?. we have also thrown out anything that’s not needed to help eliminate them . have found them in the tv and laptop also.
let us know how things are going and if the men from renokil
come up with a solution i will let you know.
#19 by sue on November 23, 2011 - 7:59 pm
i wouldn’t like to say that you can use fly spray but try derbac m from the chemist you can use it on the whole body. and yes cats can bring it in sorry.
#20 by mel on November 24, 2011 - 3:18 pm
i really sympathise – its horrible when no one in the family believes you and yet i also can sit and watch others members of family scratching away (especially at night) and they’re completely oblivious to it! There must be a way to get rid of them i feel like im going mad and quality of life has been seriously affected as cant think of anything else but mites. i really dont want to be at home anymore.
#21 by mel on November 25, 2011 - 8:00 pm
hi sue
can i ask if you have treated your dogs with anything, i have one dog he has frontline but ive read that this has no effect on red mite.
#22 by sue on November 27, 2011 - 8:16 pm
hi we have been treating them with advocate,our vet said that frontline is not any good for mites but due to the amount of mites they picked up we coated them in vasealine for four days that seemed to help but not very attractive to look at, were now spraying them with apple cider vinegar.
seems to be a bit of a catch twenty two situation they pick them up from the house and then in turn the house gets them back from the dogs
#23 by sue on November 27, 2011 - 8:18 pm
hi we have been treating them with advocate,our vet said that frontline is not any good for mites but due to the amount of mites they picked up we coated them in vasealine for four days that seemed to help but not very attractive to look at, were now spraying them with apple cider vinegar.
seems to be a bit of a catch twenty two situation they pick them up from the house and then in turn the house gets them back from the dogs .not a nice place to be should feel safe at home.
#24 by Stacey on December 1, 2011 - 7:23 am
Hi everyone, i have recently found red mite on my canaries, i have moved to this house 4 months ago and have lost 6 adult canaries already including 2 this week and over 20 babies and only upon checking one last night that had died i found red mites all on it. So i wondered if perhaps the other canary and quail that died this week was the same and decided to check out the birds outside ( i have 80+ birds outside over 10 aviaries) to my disbelief i found them in all the cages! Since being on the phone all afternoon to places trying to find something to get for it i suddenly wondered if these are what have been in my house (or furniture) i had this little tiny bug that you could only see upon focusing really closely on a white speck to see if it moved in my bedroom 8 years ago before i left home, i have moved 3 times since then and every time i would move over summer i would find this same bug everywhere all through my things and in winter would disappear. I have just learnt that this is what it more than likely is and because they dont get to feed all the time is why they appear clear/white. i have been advised to fumigate my house. For a good 8 years i have been suffering extreme dermatitis, and itchy scalp and really just feel itchy all over and reading this makes me shudder. I never thought these little critters would live off us or feed off us, can they really feed on humans? I am really at a loss as to what to do, not only have i got 10 aviaries to treat and 80+ birds but my whole house! and the stuff i have been advised to get for the birds costs $50 a bottle which only makes up 10L at a time! I could be using quite a lot especially when they said i should treat 3 times in the forst week then weekly for another 3 weeks and then monthly!!
Im however glad i am not the only one and that others feel my pain – many people i have told think i am crazy and im the only one that can spot the bugs!
#25 by Sharon on December 9, 2011 - 6:33 pm
Got Rid of – Cure – Remedy for – Success – Biting Mites
Dec. 2011
I woke up this morning and could honestly say: I’ve got my life back! Last night I I didn’t have to:
~ vaporize menthol crystals in my bedroom for two hours before being able to get any sleep;
~ spray down my plastic-covered mattress with 25% ammonia;
~ spray the baseboards and floor around the sink with the ammonia so I could brush my teeth;
~ wash my hair with Selsun Blue while soaking in an Epsom salt bath;
~ make up the bed with freshly washed and bagged bedclothes just before getting in;
~ I didn’t even do one load of laundry yesterday with ¾ cup of Borax and 1 cup of ammonia – high heat, washer and dryer – packing straight from the dryer into plastic bags.
Last night, for the first time in seven months, I sat comfortably on our upholstered sofa and calmly watched television – knitting – never once having to spray a bite with 1:8 Bug Arrest! The mites(?) are gone! Don’t give up hope. It can end, and when it does, you won’t believe how quickly peace can come back into your life.
As you hunt for help, you will find that there are people suffering similar symptoms from what seem to be different pests. In particular, I had the type of pest that simply cannot be seen with the naked eye, so that is all I can speak to. If you see mites on your pillows or walls, you may want to check out birdmites.org. There’s lots of great advice there for everybody. Yes – it’s scary. And yes – if you’re early into this you’re going to want to run away (Like I did, many times, before I gave in and kept reading). It’s so depressing to find there are people who have suffered this for years. The web needs more posts about people’s successes. Here’s mine.
First, I must offer my eternal thanks and gratitude to Shannon and Jacob of the Shanspirations blog [http://www.shanspirations.org/?p=112]. They have moved on from this topic (bite-free for years) but have left their hard-earned knowledge posted for those of us who came after who are suffering this same nightmare.
Also, on their site I came across the godsend post by Chelz [http://www.shanspirations.org/?p=107]. (Thank you!) It turns out I had already conquered the mites but didn’t realize it due to the fungal skin infection that comes along with them. I had been misreading the fungal movement as mites for at least a week or so. Anti-yeast diet change, supplements, and 1% clotrimazole all over my body, morning and night, is calming those feather (and sometimes sharp) itches. (The sores and bumps are still there, probably Morgellons-type symptoms [www.morgellons.org]. I’m hoping I’m treating it early enough to avoid full-blown Morgellons.)
I believe the biggest, most important factor in getting rid of the mites was spraying the house with Nylar. I used Martins Insect Growth Regulator (IGR).
~ This product does not kill the mites. It only keeps the young from being able to mature and reproduce. The adults and the nymphs are still living and biting for several weeks.
~ Vacuuming everything, moving all the furniture around, and spraying everywhere seemed to lower their numbers for a couple of days, so be warned: It’s very discouraging when the numbers increase again shortly thereafter.
~ Try not to despair. For me, it took four to five weeks after the initial spray to eliminate them. I sprayed twice – two weeks apart. I don’t know that the second spray was necessary, but the dip and then increase in their numbers panicked me.
The Shanspirations blog [http://www.shanspirations.org/?p=112] with their step-by-step instructions is an invaluable resource and is the place to begin. I can’t thank them enough for their loving and generous spirits. They fought wisely and tenaciously and then took the time and effort to share their knowledge with the rest of us. They have, no doubt, been an inspiration to hundreds (thousands?) of desperate seekers. I followed many of their suggestions.
A few things I didn’t do that were on the list:
~ I didn’t dust the house with Diatomaceous Earth (DE) and/or pyrethrum powder.
~ While I got rid of every bit of fabric that I could, I wasn’t able to clear all cloth out of the house. I was the only sufferer of three people living in the home. I did limit my clothing choices to clothes I had washed and bagged. The rest sat unused in closet and drawers. (I haven’t had the courage to try wearing any of those yet.)
~ I wasn’t able to vacuum everyday. Maybe the weeks till the Nylar worked would have been less trying if I had vacuumed more.
~ I didn’t wash hard surfaces with bleach, but I did spray ammonia solution everywhere.
~ For me, the Vicks VapoRub was a mistake. The sensation was horribly unpleasant – cold and burning at the same time – even making me feel like my skin was suffocating. And, the bugs were biting my now greasily uncomfortable skin within the hour. I had to get up and take another shower.
~ The menthol crystals worked best in my bedroom (to lessen the number of bugs, but didn’t get rid of them). The other areas of the house didn’t seem to permit the vapors to become concentrated enough to be effective. In the car they may have worked, but spraying the car down with ammonia solution with windows shut every night also seems to have gotten rid of them (now that I’ve stopped re-infecting the car everyday).
~ With too much heavy furniture in a tiny, downsized home, infusion-cleaning the carpets was too overwhelming for me to attempt. It was going to be my next effort, though, when I began to think the Nylar hadn’t worked.
It could be that change in diet and supplement taking was equally important as the Nylar in this fight. Like many others who suffer this problem, I was candida compromised before it started. We tried to investigate why I was infected while two others in my home were virtually bite-free. A pH test showed my system to be unhealthily acidic in comparison to their healthy alkaline status. There are lots of good books available on this topic. By now, you’re an expert at researching. You’ll certainly find some that seem most useful to you.
I couldn’t walk away from this unbelievable misery without offering up my success and hope for others who are still in the throes of it. My prayers and heartfelt best wishes go out to you in your battle. I am changed. I know all of us who live through this life-altering hell are. But it’s change for the better, I hope… I believe.
[I’m planning to send this to all the sites I found useful. Thank you to all of you who are reaching out to others to help in this struggle. Please excuse the duplicates.]
#26 by Tim Daniels on December 9, 2011 - 7:55 pm
Thank you for sharing this – I hope it will help others…
One thing I am doing is re-writing the main poultrykeeper.com site and adding 5 or 6 more articles about Red Mite and how to remove them (from poultry houses) I will also put together a page on Red Mite in the home and try to summarise the most valuable information for people looking for help. Once this is done (We plan to launch the new site – April – May 2012) I will let you know here as comments on this article from people who have been through this will be invaluable to others I’m sure. The poultrykeeper.com site gets far more visitors than the blog.
#27 by Sharon on December 9, 2011 - 9:11 pm
Thank you for this forum, Tim. I know you’re helping many people. Best of luck with your new site and, of course, your chickens!
#28 by Jane on December 12, 2011 - 2:12 pm
Thought I’d pop back here with some good news! My rash began last January and no amount of visits to doctors or pharmacies and their treatments had any effect (if anything made the condition worse). Then I discovered we had red mite in the hen house so I changed direction and began treating our home and myself regularly with pyrethrin and malathion alternatively. That and epsom salt baths every day. Today I just have one small patch of infection remaining – so not clear but almost there. But am sleeping at night – bliss!!
#29 by sue on December 13, 2011 - 9:22 pm
Jane. Where did you get the malathion from, I can only find it on American sites. I have just ordered some Nylar as Sharon seems to think this is good
#30 by sue on December 14, 2011 - 7:27 am
update on how things are going home much the same but as soon as the nylar arrives i will try this (thanks for the info sharon) . Dogs seem to have improved they have had 3 lime sulphate dips, double up on advocate at vets advise and garlic capsules 4 a day for 2 days then down to 2 a day also coated them in vaseline for the past couple of weeks fingers crossed this has helped them . will update on the nylar when we have used it.
#31 by sue on December 14, 2011 - 7:27 am
update on how things are going home much the same but as soon as the nylar arrives i will try this (thanks for the info sharon) . Dogs seem to have improved they have had 3 lime sulphate dips, double up on advocate at vets advise and garlic capsules 4 a day for 2 days then down to 2 a day also coated them in vaseline for the past couple of weeks fingers crossed this has helped them . will update on the nylar when we have used it.
#32 by mel on December 14, 2011 - 9:36 am
#33 by mel on December 14, 2011 - 9:38 am
sue where did you order the nylar from? having trouble finding it.
#34 by sue on December 19, 2011 - 6:46 pm
Just an update on our situation. Having vaselined the dogs and giving them garlic capsules, it seems to have helped them. Thought I would give it a go also and have had 2 good nights without feeling too much ( vaseline doesn’t do the sheets a lot of good though, but what the hell ). Still waiting for the nylar to arrive
#35 by Jane on January 4, 2012 - 7:05 pm
Hi Sue, I’ve used Derbac M which contains malathion – it’s a treatment for head lice, crab lice and scabies mite. Used it all over body every 6 days. And then used Lyclear (permethrin) on itchy spots in between treatment times! Still got a couple of itchy areas, but is a whole heap better than it used to be. I’ve a feeling these little blighters are lying dormant and the eggs not being killed by the chemicals
#36 by Sharon on January 11, 2012 - 4:10 pm
Hi Sue, I saw your post to the site and have been waiting to write back until I had something more positive to report. Your post came during a re-infestation. If you read Shanspirations, you will remember that they had a few of these after ridding themselves of the mites the first time. As they said:
“Using these methods, we became free of the mysterious bugs. We found that re-infesting ourselves through some forgotten clothing not washed with the correct cleaner could happen easily. But we now had the tools to treat these minor resurgences quickly and easily before they had a chance to get out of hand. Gradually things got better and better. We never went back to the misery of what we had started with and had endured for over 2 and a half months. We pray that others will have similar results.”
I knew it might happen but hoped it wouldn’t. Well, it did happen, and it lasted a couple of weeks, which was longer than I expected. I was terrified that it was going to keep escalating. Thank God it is now back to almost zero for the last few days.
As it got worse, I did have to go back to: washing sheets every day; spraying kitchen and bathroom floors (especially around baseboards) with ammonia solution before spending any time there; not sitting on upholstered furniture; spraying chair (especially cracks and crevices) and floor around it with Bug Arrest solution before sitting; spending more time out of the house; being very careful to immediately bag all clothing I had contact with; sometimes needing a second set of clothing during the day; washing all laundry in borax and ammonia and bagging straight from the dryer; extra vacuuming; Epsom salt baths every night and showers in the morning. But – I did not have to spray the house with nylar again (though I was beginning to consider it); I was able to sleep through the night every night; I could be out in public without feeling like they were all over me; my car never got re-infested. It was never as bad as what I had endured for half a year.
I still believe it’s the nylar that makes the difference and I’m very interested in hearing your results after you use it. Remember, as I mentioned, it does take a few weeks to take effect after applying (after an initial couple-of-days drop in activity).
Keep the faith! I’ll keep reporting on my situation, too. Unfortunately, I realize I’ll probably have to go through this again a time or two before it’s all really over, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Best of luck to all!
Sharon
#37 by mel on January 16, 2012 - 11:16 am
thought i would post an update – have been having a lot of sucess with lavender essential oil, i had heard it could reduce their numbers and this has proved sucessful, but i havnt been able to get rid of them completely. i spray it all over the carpets furniture and bed and have my life almost back to normal. But I really want to get rid of them so am ordering the nylar and waiting for that to arrive (hoping that this will have worked for sue.) will update hopefully with good news.
#38 by Sharon on January 16, 2012 - 5:25 pm
Hi Mel,
Wishing you the best of luck with the Nylar. My situation here is still getting better since my last post five days ago. Got home late last night, didn’t have the energy to change the bed clothes or take the Epsom salt bath. Slept like a baby. Let’s all keep posting our outcomes, and hopefully help others not to have to suffer as long as we did.
#39 by mel on January 23, 2012 - 9:18 am
thanks sharon
fingers crossed we will all be back to normaility soon!