View Full Version : thinking ahead..
Wont need to worry about this for a few months but wondered how to keep the ants and spiders from crawling down the tree, onto my support ropes, and on into my hammock? Got any ideas? Thanx ahead, Bill
I never actually thought of this as an issue. Why are you concerned? You will be inside the hammock. When I use to tent, I would get insects on the bug screen under the rain fly, not in the tent. The same would apply to the hammock. I suppose a bad problem you could run into, would be to attach your hammock to a tree with an ant's nest at it's base, which might lead to a large number of ants on the exterior of the hammock. Of course, I am assuming that your hammock is fully enclosed like a HH.
Youngblood
12-01-2004, 21:42
Wont need to worry about this for a few months but wondered how to keep the ants and spiders from crawling down the tree, onto my support ropes, and on into my hammock? Got any ideas? Thanx ahead, Bill
Spraying your support ropes with a permithrin solution is all I can think of. It is used on clothes and fabric (like the body of your hammock) as a mosquitto repellent and in some insecticides for ants, fleas, mosquittos, etc. It is also used in gardens and agriculture. I don't know off hand if it will repel spiders. I use it around the house and in the yard, but I have seen determined ant colonies outdoors that seemed to walk right over it a few hours after I had sprayed and killed the ones that were exposed, but that doesn't mean that those that walked over it survived that exposure, only that if they are determined it might not repel them.
Have you had a problem or are you just trying to cover your bases?
Youngblood
Thanx for the replies. I have a Speer type hammock so its not enclosed. I will be hammocking in Fla this summer and based on past experience ants, spiders, and other critters will go wherever they want to if they smell the tiniest bit of food. Easy to say, "dont carry food to bed", but even a crumb on my beard for leftovers is up for grabs to them. Permethrim is a thot! Keep them coming.. thanx
Shredder
12-02-2004, 14:52
Thanx for the replies. I have a Speer type hammock so its not enclosed. I will be hammocking in Fla this summer and based on past experience ants, spiders, and other critters will go wherever they want to if they smell the tiniest bit of food. Easy to say, "dont carry food to bed", but even a crumb on my beard for leftovers is up for grabs to them. Permethrim is a thot! Keep them coming.. thanx
OK whats a thot??? Shredder
Youngblood
12-02-2004, 15:28
OK whats a thot??? Shredder
In the south, that's what we come up with sometimes when we do a little thinking, you know a thought.
In the south, that's what we come up with sometimes when we do a little thinking, you know a thought.
I thot thats whot he ment.
Youngblood
12-02-2004, 15:38
I thot thats whot he ment.
Yeah, you know since the ugh is silent, you are free to make it invisible as well.
Yeah, you know since the ugh is silent, you are free to make it invisible as well.
I utter alot of UGHs on uphill climbs, but I assure you, they are not silent. :D
MedicineMan
12-19-2004, 00:16
good idea about the insecticidal.....
though after many,many,many nights in a hammock the insect thing has never presented itself
steve hiker
12-19-2004, 00:47
Ants, spiders, and crawlies OH MY!~
i have never had a problem with crawlies,but as previosly mentioned spray permathin in area of concern should work:sun neo
The only problem I had with bugs this past summer was cicadas. I think it was the "bad" 17-year cycle for them, and I'll say they were pretty bad. When it rains cicadas while you're cooking dinner, it becomes a problem.... Anyway, I'd wake up in the morning to cicadas and cicada husks all over the hammock, and all over my pack, which I hang up beneath the rain fly at the head end (of my Hennesey Hammock). But since I was inside the hammock, they couldn't get to me, so I'd just brush them off in the morning. I was only in cicada territory for two weeks or so, and after that I never had any other bug problems.
Haiku.
them cicadas are a real pain every 14 years here in tn too:sun neo