View Full Version : HH bug help
Went camping this weekend and my wife slept in her tent and I slept in my HHULB. Slept awesome. One problem I have that I also had when I first used my Jungle hammock from Brigade Quartermasters is the next morning I have red bug bites on my back along my shoulder blades. No one else got more then 2 or 3 sleeping in tents. I have like 50. Is it cause I'm in the hammock. If it is how do I treat this problem. It didn't make for a bad sleep, its just making for a bad week now cause I'm at work and people can't figure out why I keep rubbing on door frames.
:banana
Just Jeff
05-01-2006, 11:15
Either soak it in permethrin or put something underneath you to block the skeeters from biting through...underquilt, pad, even a sleeping bag (it won't provide much warmth when it's compressed, but it'll probably be thick enough to stop the skeeters.
A sheet of tyvek between you and the hammock may also help to block the skeeters without adding too much bulk to your load.
I should have been more spacific. The Skeeters anrn't the problem . Its the red bugs, Chiggers as we call them. I think they art climbing down my rope and coming in threw the bug net.
:banana
TN_Hiker
05-01-2006, 12:11
OMG......didn't know chiggers would do that. How do you prevent them from going thru your bug net when you are tenting?
I don't know if they do that or if they get on me before I get in the hammock. I don't tent but I used to bivy back in my military days and we used permatin. Might have to take my Hennessey for a dip. That will fix those little bugs.
:banana
Just Jeff
05-01-2006, 12:33
Hrm...I've never heard of that before. I'd be surprised if they crawled down your ropes and into the hammock, but I guess it's possible.
Did you lay your pack down in a chigger-prone area, and they got on it (or the gear inside) before you used it again? Or maybe you laid your jacket or shirt down in the wrong place? Seems like that's more likely than them crawling down the ropes.
Odd that they ended up on your shoulder blades instead of the usual places, though. Looking at the bright side (if there is one) - at least it's only your back you're rubbing on the door frames...
If they did come down the ropes, I don't know of any way besides permethrin, short of changing out the bugnet.
jazilla,
chiggers are weird critters... i've been camping with my daughter, and she's been eaten when i've never had a single bite... never did figure out what happened. and we were together the whole trip... sorry you got so ate up... they'll fester for about a week... but you probably already know that. nail polish on the bite is supposed to help, but if it's your whole back, you may be out of luck... ammonia will work too.
glad you slept well though.
i've been using my HH-ULBA up in the Kisatchie National Forest for a couple years, and have never had chiggers come down the rope... i think either you accidentally set your hammock down in a herd of them and they got in that way, you had them on something else that you put into the hammock at some point (pillow, stuff sack, boots, whatever), or they fell in through the top (like if your tarp was on the ground with some chiggers before you set it up).
i've never had skeeters bite me through the bottom nylon, but a foam pad will definitely stop the bastiches... (shootin' 'ems easier though. skin 'em out and hang 'em at the head and foot of the tarp, as a warning.) :D
seriously, permethrin is good... set your stuff up in the yard (including boots/shoes, socks, shorts, shirts, hats, and pack) and hose it down. i re-treat my hammock, net, and pack once a year, and my clothes every other trip in summer. Not exactly the safest chemical, but better than itching like that...
Sounds like the chiggers did what chiggers do, crawled into the warmest, wettest, tightest place they could find and snuggled in. That was between your shoulder blades and your pack. In all likelyhood, they were already there when you went to bed, but hadn't burrowed in enough to start pumping out the anticoagulant that makes the itch.