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Post by luehdorf on Jan 20, 2022 6:21:54 GMT -8
jshuey that is amazing. Do you have a website link? It is easy to order stuff from the US to Panama, where I am currently located, and I think for the rainy season in lowland, having that against mosquitoes is definitely better than just spraying insect repellant.
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Post by exoticimports on Jan 20, 2022 7:19:41 GMT -8
Some new good info here. I'm wary of chemicals, but of course use Permathrin, albeit sparingly. I do not put it on my skin, instead I take a shower after returning from the field.
My field clothes only get washed once a week, I take them off in the garage so they do not come into the house. After a week they are pretty ripe. After the wash they get new Permathrin- maybe it's too much?
Chuck
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Post by jshuey on Jan 20, 2022 12:42:21 GMT -8
jshuey that is amazing. Do you have a website link? It is easy to order stuff from the US to Panama, where I am currently located, and I think for the rainy season in lowland, having that against mosquitoes is definitely better than just spraying insect repellant. There are several companies that do this - here is the one I use, www.insectshield.com/products/insect-shield-your-clothes-easy-packs. They don't "treat underware" - which for chiggers is a big deal. So I treat those myself using the spray permethrin you buy at the store. I've seen videos about how to treat your own clothing as well by soaking them in the stuff. But nothing jumps out when I google it (and at work, we decided that for staff safety, we would rather have this professionally done for us to ensure that it lasts the entire summer). John
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Post by exoticimports on Jan 20, 2022 13:37:09 GMT -8
John, you treat your skivvies? I'm afraid to do that. I got chewed up by chiggers when I was too lazy to put on long pants. That was a brutal lesson. But never got a single one ever when wearing untreated long pants. Chuck
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Post by luehdorf on Jan 20, 2022 13:56:09 GMT -8
jshuey really appreciate the link! It is a real coincidence but this morning I was roaming through grass just outside of our gated community, very dry grass and some bushland which fallen leaves, nothing higher than 20-30cm, and when I was coming home I found a tropical tick on my trousers, which was quite big 4-5mm big, and crawling super fast. Definitely need those permethrine pants and spray from the US, and I can get that faster than my European supplier. Have you had experience with tropical ticks in central america? I was actually really surprised to find one right away....
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Post by jshuey on Jan 21, 2022 8:20:34 GMT -8
jshuey really appreciate the link! It is a real coincidence but this morning I was roaming through grass just outside of our gated community, very dry grass and some bushland which fallen leaves, nothing higher than 20-30cm, and when I was coming home I found a tropical tick on my trousers, which was quite big 4-5mm big, and crawling super fast. Definitely need those permethrin pants and spray from the US, and I can get that faster than my European supplier. Have you had experience with tropical ticks in Central America? I was actually really surprised to find one right away.... Oh yes - I have experience with giant ticks in Belize. But this is mostly an issue during the dry season. And since I discovered permethrin, I really have not had any issues at all. The other issue this has solved - bot flies. I used to get them regularly on the back of my neck and head. But treating my ball cap with permethrin, I have eliminated that problem. And yes, I treat my underware as well. I'm way past the age of caring that much about the family jewels. And there is nothing quite like having about a thousand chigger bites to tip the scales. john
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Post by wingedwishes on Jan 30, 2022 18:53:55 GMT -8
For some reason, I am distasteful to ticks. Found them on me but never attached. Chiggers on the otherhand.... Nasty SOBs! I let my long hair down when collecting and this keeps stuff off my neck but I'm sure the cigar or pipe smoke helps too. I used to use Adams pet flea spray because the permethrins (man made pyrethrins) worked well and the piprynil butoxide made it penetrate the fabric faster. They may not use that formula any longer. Getting ready for a July/August Belize trip also this year.
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Post by jshuey on Jan 31, 2022 12:50:58 GMT -8
For some reason, I am distasteful to ticks. Found them on me but never attached. Chiggers on the otherhand.... Nasty SOBs! I let my long hair down when collecting and this keeps stuff off my neck but I'm sure the cigar or pipe smoke helps too. I used to use Adams pet flea spray because the permethrins (man made pyrethrins) worked well and the piprynil butoxide made it penetrate the fabric faster. They may not use that formula any longer. Getting ready for a July/August Belize trip also this year. Just had to post this Belize photo - and note that cigar smoke only goes so far! This photo was from the trip that produced my avatar - 10 days on Doyle's Delight. The British military helicoptered us up there. And the trip was organized by Sharon Matola, founder of the famous Belize Zoo (recently deceased - Sharon, not the zoo). It rained every day we were up there. And we pulled out around 15 country records for butterflies. And thanks to the rain, man did I plow through the cigars. That's me on the right, Paul Labus in the middle, and a mycologist from LSU on the left. As I recall, I had a CAO Brasilia box with me, and Paul picked up a bunch of Cuban cigars at Brodies department store to supplement his Alec Bradleys. By the way, Paul is a co-worker, now retired, who loved collecting leps, but didn't really collect leps. All his bugs were in support of our inventory efforts in Belize. He had an eye for "never seen that bug before" species, and accompanied me on at least 10 trips over the years. Man - he nailed some great records. He did a couple of trips without me - spent two weeks hiking through the Bladen Reserve with the rangers (Agrais aedon at a couple of spots) and loved Las Cuevas, where he would take off a dawn, and return after dark with a couple hundred dead bugs. A true friend! John And here I am the moment we arrived (clean pants!). By the way, the helicopter is literally sitting on the highest point in all of Belize!
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Post by wingedwishes on Jan 31, 2022 17:50:01 GMT -8
Great photos and history. I will be documenting the next trip pretty well when it comes. The last trips video and photos are in iphone formats and I'm used Windows. They don't seem to migrate from my phone to computer well.
The cigars I used were not good on a breezy day but worked well on the porch as I sorted the catch in the evening.. I do get Cuban cigars from a Cuban friend in the states. SHHHHHHHH! I don't want to be charged under the 'Trading with the Enemy Act.'
I made videos on orchids, termites, hummingbirds, preservation, butterfly farming, equipment/clothing, documentation etc.. My next step is to change cellphone service and upload them raw to utube then download from youtube into a format I know.
We were there at the transition from dry to wet season. The change in species density and appearence of other species was very interesting. The termite swarm the night before the rains started was a magical white out blizzard for the region.
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Post by jshuey on Feb 1, 2022 13:49:19 GMT -8
Yes - you should document everything well. I use a "disposable" camera a used Pentax WG-20, just for trips like this. I started with an old Pentax Optio, and used it for years in this role. The new version is water proof (you can dive with it), 5X optical telephoto, good macro capabilities and does video. And if you loose it or destroy it, you're out less than $100. As you leave the airport and head into Belize City - you will see a Brodies that has very nice prices on Cubanos. The problem is, they are not humidified (they are out in the air conditioned store), and you have to be very careful about how you expose them to Belize humidity. It you just expose them to the air, they start to swell to fast and split the wrappers (and the binder sometimes). And yes you were there at the beginning of the rains if termites were swarming. Here is a graph of species richness by month for Belize - from a paper we are working on. John
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Post by wingedwishes on Feb 1, 2022 16:38:19 GMT -8
I did not find any Marpesia before the rain. The day after, I caught 14. I did notice the moths dropped off greatly for me after the dry spell was over.
Also, a head lamp is a necessity for night collecting. We colored one head lamp with a blue film and the scorpions became easy to find.
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