Quicksand Fans

Has anyone ever had any problems with bug bites or any sort of infections when doing their muddin'? This would generally apply to people who use swamps/bogs for this sort of thing. We have a large number of peat type swamps here which of course are swarming with life. There's been a few times that something in the mud has bit me and took a small piece of skin with it, similar to a horse fly bite, but it tends to sting a bit more. I've never actually seen the critter that did it since its usually submerged or something. They've never really been followed by any major swelling or infection, just slightly irritated for a few days and eventually heals up.

I'm thinking its a spider bite or something, luckly we have no deadly spiders in Nova Scotia, but its still no fun. Only other thing I worry about is a bacterial infection or something that may effect a cut or something. Has any of the models that Dave has ever encountered problems in the natural locations? Or perhaps boggyman?

Boggyman did indeed post quite a lot of insect information in this topic -

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3954

We do use quite a lot of bug spray at Camp MPV. We also use Spectracide granules around the house and the main shooting locations - and yard fogger if bees or wasps make their presence known.

Dave

We actually have very little problem with insects or bugs of any type at Studio 588. Part of the reason is that because we are located near the top of a hill the surrounding forest is pretty dry and that keeps the skeeters and most biting types in check. We also have an agreement with about a million tree frogs that live in the area. We let them eat all the bugs they can catch and they let us record their conversations as background sound in night scenes. We have had only one actress who seems to have some fear of bugs and that is mostly the flappy kind such as butterflys. She will be coming for her third season in a couple of weeks so its apparently not THAT big of a problem.

Probably not spiders (although there's at least one species of spiders that hangs out near water).

There are some species of water bugs (like the one in my avatar) of various shapes and sizes that hide amongst the debris or partially bury themselves in the mud in very shallow water where they await potential aquatic prey to come along. If someone were to accidentally step on them or press their skin against them, they may bite in self-defense, and some of these critters can deliver a painful bite. However, the ones I'm describing don't take pieces of your flesh away... the ones I'm talking about have a piercing type of mouthpart, so they "stick" you more than anything else.

A couple times I've pulled ticks off me and they've got a little bitty witty teeny piece of my skin in their mouth...grrrrrr!

This year, though, hasn't been ticky at all. I've had maybe two ticks the whole year so far.

However, I've definitely got "Summer Legs" now. Every year, they're scratched, bitten, sunburnt and then tan. Along with thorns, bugs are just part of what I have to put up with to do what I do. Mostly, it's biting flies and mosquitoes.

DEET goes a long way toward keeping them off. Also, I love sunny days. Mosquitoes and flies go down a lot when the sun comes out. On an overcast day, they're all out and dive-bombing! Bugs will increase the second I'm in tree shade, even on sunny days.

Now and then I get a leech. If I don't get them off right away, they leave a nasty bump. They rarely attach themselves to me in mud, though. It's always the cleanup where I find one of those on me! I've learned where they are by now and it no longer happens a lot.

Never had a fish bite me. Never had a crayfish pinch me (I've seen some but I think they just run away). I never had a snake bite me.

I once had a swan try to bite me. It wasn't in mud, though. It was swimming in a small pond, around and around, and I was trying to get a picture of it, and it swam closer and closer and then, instead of going past me, it went for my foot and tried to take a chomp out of my toe! I felt beak on my skin but he didn't do any damage. I couldn't believe he did that, though. That was not a very nice birdie.

Nessie

Deerflies are the bane of my existence... Make my mud area almost unusable until July when they are finally burned off...

I find that the blackflies, horseflies, deerflies, midges (noseeums), and sandflies attack me out in the sun, while the mosquitoes attack me in the shade. Then the leeches, and other critters bite me in the water. I have also in the past been bitten by I believe water beetles during cleanup, which hurt. I have found a bump in my skin, often around my waist, after cleaning up, but I didn't see what bit me. However, I have seen and felt the odd water beetle bite me in the past, and they bite hard! I also have been stung by the odd hornet around my lower legs while walking through the grass in the water. I would be sloshing through the shallow grassy water, and would feel a burning, stinging sensation, and realized that I had been stung. There seems to be some biting/stinging creature for every place , except for one. So far, I haven't really found anything biting me in the mud, although I have a couple of times thought I felt something under the surface biting me when sinking into quicksilt at my slide area, but couldn't verify it, because of debris present in the mud.

Fortunately, wood ticks, rattlesnakes, and black widow spiders are found in the lower elevations, around the grasslands, far from any of my sinking spots.

i usually dont have to deal with bug bites ( unless i go to the woods behind my neighboorhood) when i go to the intercoastal, usually clams though, but i usually bring a small shovel to check beforehand. there is also a swamp a few miles down the road from me, but after a runin with gators and water mocasins, i dont go there without my sword. as for the woods, i pretty much deal with everything everyone else does, plus 1000's of ticks
it really sucks when you have ticks in your private areas, and removing them, well, ,thats a different story for a different time

Boggy Man wrote:I find that the blackflies, horseflies, deerflies, midges (noseeums), and sandflies attack me out in the sun, while the mosquitoes attack me in the shade. Then the leeches, and other critters bite me in the water. I have also in the past been bitten by I believe water beetles during cleanup, which hurt. I have found a bump in my skin, often around my waist, after cleaning up, but I didn't see what bit me. However, I have seen and felt the odd water beetle bite me in the past, and they bite hard! I also have been stung by the odd hornet around my lower legs while walking through the grass in the water. I would be sloshing through the shallow grassy water, and would feel a burning, stinging sensation, and realized that I had been stung. There seems to be some biting/stinging creature for every place , except for one. So far, I haven't really found anything biting me in the mud, although I have a couple of times thought I felt something under the surface biting me when sinking into quicksilt at my slide area, but couldn't verify it, because of debris present in the mud.

Fortunately, wood ticks, rattlesnakes, and black widow spiders are found in the lower elevations, around the grasslands, far from any of my sinking spots.

Hmm, sounds like my foe maybe water beetles. Sudden sting/pinch, and out of reaction you swat it away before you can see what it is.