Florida "noseeums" distress

[Ro646a]

This may be an unusual inquiry,
but perhaps someone can provide some advice.
We are finishing a three week stay on Pine Island in Florida. My wife is allergic to the noseeum bites and she has been bitten many times while we have been here. We are scheduled to leave here Sunday and go to Okeechobee for a week, and then on to St. Augustine. If the the bugs are just as bad in those places we are going to cancel outer plans and head home to Michigan on Sunday.
Does anyone know whether or not these bugs are as bad in the rest of Florida as there are Here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[rockhillmanor]

I am highly allergic to noseeums.

I tried everything to get rid of them. They lay in the grass at night. I 'finally' found that if I sprayed the grass around where I was And around and under the MH with Ortho Home Defense Insect Spray, found at Walmart and big box stores.

It was the only thing I found that worked. I sprayed the ground heavily right before I went to bed every night for a day or two and they were long gone and/or all dead. :B

Note: Be sure to buy Ortho Home Defense. Do NOT buy the one called Spectricide. It caused me breathing problems and is harmful around pets.

BTW: come on up to the north central Florida area. Where I am at there aren't even any mosquitoes! Scenery is much nicer and waaay more things to do with all the clear blue springs and rivers. And a mere hour from either coast. IMHO Florida's best kept secret, so shhh don't tell everyone!

There really is more of Florida than the buggy, humid, swamps of the South! :W

[Superbee_Jim]

azrving wrote:
I would choose fire ants over noseeum. Those are the worst sob I have ever run into. You can research them online but they are common in many tidal areas. We didn't have a problem with them when we stayed inland around Lake City Fl during the winter but I wouldn't be surprised if they were around when it warmed up.

We also ran into them in other coastal swampy areas of the gulf. As mentioned above, if you want to be bug free go out to Az and Socal. I have been going out there the last four winters and have never seen a snake or scorpion. If the temps go up there may be flies. I have spent a week or so on Padre Island and dont remember noseum but it may also depend on the temperatures. Others may be able to tell you more about RGV area. I have had a good number of fire ant bites in Texas but only because of working around my sons property.

The fire ants are avoidable but noseeum are relentless. I would live in an apartment or in a downtown city or move out of the country before I'd live in noseeum areas. Life is too short. I have used clear nail polish on them and it seems to help the itching. Mex said to boil water and wet a q tip and touch the area. God I hate those things. Mosquitoes? Kids stuff.

I will give you my take on no-see-ums. I have a rv lot near Mission, Tx in the RGV and the no-see-ums are the worse I have seen in 11 years coming down. Every year it gets worse. If I try to sit outside on a nice calm day, I can count on 20-25 bites! The last few days have been very windy and it still doesn't stop them. I am at the point of selling our lot and going to AZ next winter. I live in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 mosquitoes, I mean lakes, and I don't have anywhere near the problems with them. We are not in a tidal area and 1 1/2 hours from the Gulf. I have tried all the folk remedies and none work, only slathering on Deet. If it sounds like I detest them, that is correct!:M

[John_Joey]

2gypsies wrote:

Ro646a wrote:
UPDATE:
We are now in Okeechobee and being eaten alive. We're giving up and heading back home in the AM.

Gosh! That's really a shame to go home so early and you're going to encounter crappy weather conditions and flooded areas. Why not try northern Florida at least or go over the peninsula to Alabama? Or do some of the eastern coastline above Florida.

X2

Going straight back this early IMO is a mistake. Lots to see and enjoy along that I10 corridor area this time of year.

[2gypsies1]

Ro646a wrote:
UPDATE:
We are now in Okeechobee and being eaten alive. We're giving up and heading back home in the AM.

Gosh! That's really a shame to go home so early and you're going to encounter crappy weather conditions and flooded areas. Why not try northern Florida at least or go over the peninsula to Alabama? Or do some of the eastern coastline above Florida.

[Ro646a]

UPDATE:
We are now in Okeechobee and being eaten alive. We're giving up and heading back home in the AM.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

I'm kind of stunned - our condo overlooks the Intracoastal Waterway (Space Coast area) and we've never noticed noseeums? And a couple of weeks ago we camped at Ormond Beach at Tomoka State Park and had no problems there.

Maybe I'm just not tasty?

[chuckbear]

Ro646a wrote:
This may be an unusual inquiry,
but perhaps someone can provide some advice.
We are finishing a three week stay on Pine Island in Florida. My wife is allergic to the noseeum bites and she has been bitten many times while we have been here. We are scheduled to leave here Sunday and go to Okeechobee for a week, and then on to St. Augustine. If the the bugs are just as bad in those places we are going to cancel outer plans and head home to Michigan on Sunday.
Does anyone know whether or not these bugs are as bad in the rest of Florida as there are Here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Since few of the responses addressed your question, YES, you are going to encounter "noseeum's" in all the places you plan to visit. We have lived throughout Florida for over 20 years, including the places you plan to stop. If the problem is that bad for your wife, heading back north might be a better plan than having her suffer. Chuck

[Ivylog]

pawatt wrote:
And here I was led to believe that winter in Florida was winter in Paradise???

It is unless you are close to brackish water mainly at dusk. If you are a couple miles away the NoSeeums are not a problem. Winter is the dry season in southern Fla...less so the further north you go and skitters need standing water so not a problem in towns but can be in rural areas. Again dusk is prime time for them to be a problem.

[fchammer1]

pawatt wrote:
And here I was led to believe that winter in Florida was winter in Paradise???

Having wintered in the southwestern US, Palm Springs, CA, and the Rio Grand Valley, there are many reasons that I and thousands like me, chose Florida as their ultimate winter destination.

You can lead a horse to water, but...

[Dutch_12078]

So far this winter, we've been in a number of FL state parks spread from Ft Clinch near Jacksonville down to Alafia River east of Tampa, and have not been bothered by any bugs yet. We'll be at Midway NPS Campground near Everglades City next week, and a couple of people I've talked to that were there recently didn't mention any particular bug problems there either. We've been there a few times in the past also with no bug issues. Fingers crossed, although biting midges/no-see'ums like back flies up north only irritate me by flying around my face, my wife isn't so lucky.

[pawatt]

And here I was led to believe that winter in Florida was winter in Paradise???

[Second_Chance]

When I was stationed at FT Stewart, GA, they were a huge problem there (often called "sand fleas"). FT Stewart was home to the 24th Infantry Division at the time. The troops bought Avon Skin-So-Soft by the gallon. This seemed to be the most effective at keeping those aggravating little things away. There were many jokes about a heavy mechanized division going to the field smelling like a French bordello...

Rob

[fchammer1]

We've spent October through April herefor the last nine years. To date, I've been bitten twice by mosquitoes and once by what I assumed was a noseeum, but that's unverified. Maybe it's because we usually have a nice gentle breeze blowing through from the ocean five miles west. Of course, I wasn't bitten in the RGV either, but I attribute that to the wind -- wind so strong that it pushed me 1/10th of a mile without pedaling! We ended that stay four weeks early and made a beeline for Florida where we're been ever since. Bug bites? Heck, they happen anywhere in season -- just less here in IBE where the Imperial River is always moving water.

[bighatnohorse]

rocmoc wrote:
What we use in Mexico, it works!

Coleman came out with a new product two years ago, SkinSmart. Can be purchased at Walmart. We have found in bad no-see-ums, one can will last a week for two people. Good for the mo's also. DEET does not work no matter how strong!

rocmoc n AZ

I can verify this.
Also, here's cure for itch relief (which I haven't tried yet):
Itch relief