View Full Version : Sleeping Bag and Bugs?
The situation: I go to sleep in my down bag wearing short socks and when I wake up in the morning something has been biting my ankles around the sock line. This has gone from unpleasent during section hike in year 1 to horrifying during section hike year 2 (considered seeking medical attention).
I should have washed the bag after the first time but I was thinking it was isolated to only that trip, but didn't. I'm going to wash it before this year's hike in hopes of fixing this problem.
Has anyone else had this problem? What is it, tiny bugs living in the down or something?
Alligator
06-06-2007, 09:12
Did it happen on more than one night during the two section hikes?
I don't know about bag related possibilities (are bedbugs possible:confused: ) but did you consider chiggers?
And how was your bag stored?
Yes, every night. Wearing long socks (my spare liners) helped some. Whatever is biting seems to prefer my ankles.
I store my bag in it's big bag (not the stuff sac) in a bedroom closet.
Alligator
06-06-2007, 09:20
If it is your bag, you could test that theory in your backyard or living room. If you are still getting bites, it's very likely the bag.
Are you familiar with chiggers though? Where and when were you hiking?
Chiggers, heard of them but not real familiar. I get itchy red spots plus swelling... like mosquitos but don't stop itching if ignored.
Hiking between Springer and Wayah Bald (split into section hikes), and it was a problem the whole way.
Fiddleback
06-06-2007, 09:31
It does sound like chiggers...or fleas. I'd vote chiggers.
If you think the bag is infested consider multiple washings at about five-day intervals. Hopefully that will get rid of the bugs and any subsequent hatches. Break that reproduction cycle once and the problem should be gone for good unless the bag is picking up the bugs at home...or from you.:D
FB
Alligator
06-06-2007, 09:54
Could have gotten the chiggers on your socks and then they got into your bag. They need a blood meal I think to reproduce, so possibly you got them on each section.
It may be something else entirely too.
i vote for chiggers or ticks....both very annoying! i usually spray my bag slightly with permethrin to keep bugs away, you may want to try that.
leeki pole
06-06-2007, 11:32
Sounds like chiggers (we call 'em redbugs here:D ) Nasty little suckers and it takes a week or so to clear 'em up. A good treatment is peroxide or alcohol on the bite for a minute or two, then chiggerex ointment or gold bond ointment (magical stuff). My dad actually did have to go to the ER with multiple bites a few years back, they can get nasty.
RiverWarriorPJ
06-06-2007, 11:40
Don't wear or leave your sOx out until nite nite time.....sounds like chiggggggggers got on your sox & didn't have 2 go much further north than your ankles ....
x
Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll keep the socks for sleeping only and wash my bag. I'll let everyone know how it works out in a few weeks.
If they itched twice as much as mosquito bites they were chiggers. Usually you get them when you walk thru grassy/weedy/sunny areas. I tuck my pant legs into my socks and spray myself with deet from shoes all the way to my waist when I venture out into such areas. Just tucking pant legs into socks won't work.
My wife emailed this to me today!!!!!!!
Subject: VIRUS!! SCAM!!! PLEASE READ!!!
I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it
myself a couple times unintentionally...but this one is real, and it's
important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list.
If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks
due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance
around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.
I wish I'd known this yesterday. I feel so stupid :banana :banana :banana
smokymtnsteve
06-08-2007, 00:41
Here's to the chigger who's not any bigger,
Than the head of a very small pin.
But the lump that it raises itches like the blazes,
And that's where the rub comes in.
Jester2000
06-08-2007, 00:46
The situation: I go to sleep in my down bag wearing short socks and when I wake up in the morning something has been biting my ankles around the sock line.
Sorry 'bout that.
Sounds like a chigger I get them real bad too. Before you go to sleep wipe down your body with an anstringent Like sea-breeze Or alcohol it helps remove them and helps with the itching. Also take an antihistamine. They will get into any area where your clothes constrict like socks, waistbands, and such. Chiggers are so small that you will never see them until it is too late. I have had as many as a 60 bites (Army days low crawling though a field in Kansas). Some lucky people seem to never get them
Sorry 'bout that.
He won't gnaw on your ankles if you stop putting CheezWhiz on them.
aaroniguana
06-17-2007, 10:50
I must taste bad or something. I grew up in Central Fl and have lived everywhere from Biloxi to NoCA to Upstate NY and I don't think I've ever even had a mosquito bite. I know I've never had chiggers. Had a few ticks though. Of course, it keeps the women away too which I'm undecided about...