Yes I agree, that the picardin based "OFF" is good. We actually learnt
about it on this site. We
(Klaus and I) were thinking of doing a similar thing with Rid and "OFF" but
were too tired by the time we got to Thailand from Bhutan to try. We did
use OFF though and thought it was quite good although we did get a bite each
- both on unprotected areas though. We only spent 2 days birding in Thailand
though as it was only a stopover.
Cheers,
Fiona
From: Carl Clifford <>
To: "birding-aus (E-mail)" <>
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Insect repellents for Leeches
Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 13:58:02 +1000
Dear All,
I have just returned from 10 weeks in Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian
Borneo. During that time I trialled 2 insect repellents for their
effectiveness against leeches. One repellent was Bushman containing 20%
DEET, the other Off! Skintastic containing 92.8 g/L Picaridin. I found
that both repellants were equally effective in repelling Leeches, though
the Off! Skintastic did no have as long an effective life under conditions
of high humudity. Under these conditions I perspired profusely and had to
re-apply the Off! Skintastic every 2-3 hours to my skin.. It had a much
longer period of effectiveness on clothing and footwear. The location I
visited included leech hot-spots such as Danum Valley, Fraser's Hill and
Tanum Negara.
I not only relied on the Leeches finding me, at each location I caught
Leeches, both the terrestrial and Tiger and placed them on treated skin,
footwear and clothing. These leeches tried to leave the treated areas very
rapidly.
During the 10 weeks, I suffered 11 Leech bites, all of these being on
untreated areas of skin. I did not use Leech socks and wore shorts at all
times, often with sandals.
It seems that Picaridin based insect repellents are a good alternative to
DEET based ones in situations where there is a risk of the repellent
coming into contact with materials such as plastics and synthetic fibres.
I saw what DEET can do to some materials at one location. I rested my foot
on a painted wooden rail while applying Bushman one day, the next day the
paint on the rail that had received some over-spray had started to bubble
an lift away from the wood where the spray had hit it.
No Leeches were intentionally harmed during these trials.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
_________________________________________________________________
Advertisement: Win a trip to see Amy Winehouse perform live in the UK!
http://ninemsn.com.au/share/redir/adTrack.asp?mode=click&clientID=804&referral=HOTMAILTAGLINE&URL=http://music.ninemsn.com.au/compIntro.aspx?compId=2422
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
