Bushwalk Australia

My second leech in as many walks prompts this question.

What remedies and measures do you use to avoid giving blood involuntarily?

I have heard of people wearing plastic bags from the knee to the tops of the boots and I have been told to dip the tops of my sock in kerosene, but neither of these remedies are appealing.

Deet!

Bushman Ultra Cream works really well.

Diethyltoluamide is what you are after...80% deet or more on lower extremities should work.

Can get it with sunscreen in it as well.

I find gaiters help with leedhes. The problem with gaiters when wearing them is that they become sweaty, a salty environment is not one that leeches like. When having rests/snacks in leechy areas it pays to check your pack before puting it back on.
Keith

Agree - DEET!
We generally use the spray on stuff at the start of a walk and give our gaiters, legs, whatever a real good going over, before leaving the spray can in the car. Then wipe as much DEET on as you feel you need, as often as you think conditions require.
Pay attention to access areas - waist, ankles (if you haven't got 2 pairs of long socks + gaiters), neck, wrists... I apply to the outside of the gaiters as well.

I have the blood that leeches love. Many of my mates take me hiking so that the leeches, sand flies, mossies go for me and leave them alone. Not reacting to leech bits i have got used to tolerating them a bit. The trick is to remove teh head so that you do not leave any bits under you skin. Like a tick, take it off carefully rocking the head loose. Heat or salt also work.

DEET is good but be careful with plastic. On a New Zealand trip it ate through the watch band of a friend of mine!

on my last trip I found simple airoguard did the trick but I have also found that they are attracted to certain people.

I once went walking with a man in his 50's who was on heart medication and the leeches hated the taste of his blood and refused to bite him. Someone told me it is vitamin B they dont like but you have to have a build up of it in your system for it to work - not sure if this is a scientific fact though.

sarge wrote:Someone told me it is vitamin B they dont like but you have to have a build up of it in your system for it to work - not sure if this is a scientific fact though.

That's two good reasons for taking vitamin B - the other one is it prevents hang-overs. There is of-course and easier way to avoid hangovers... Then again, maybe the alcohol would keep the leeches away. I could stagger around the bush half pickled which would be fine so long as I avoid high places.

It might be safer to try a DEET soaks rag around the tops of the boots. The last two attacks I was wearing gaiters but the little suckers still manage squeeze up under and bite me just above the boots. Its not the bite I mind, its the swollen itchy lump that lasts the following week. Fortunately it was only on the ankles. Scratching your ankles in public is still socially acceptable.

Thanks for the help guys.

walkinTas wrote:...Its not the bite I mind, its the swollen itchy lump that lasts the following week. Fortunately it was only on the ankles. Scratching your ankles in public is still socially acceptable...

Hhmmm. Reminds me of a few stories I've heard. One of a leech sucking on an eyeball. Another that climbed into the outlet valve of a certain forward facing part of the male anatomy. Sorry to share that.. But why should I be the only one to cringe every time I am reminded of that one...

Reminds me of a few stories I've heard. One of a leech sucking on an eyeball.

Was at Lake St Clair Parks-Visitor-Centre last week.
A ranger told me that once a year she has to go down into The Never Never for weed control.
One trip recently she became aware of a leech at the back of her eyeball, happily feeding.
Blood was apparently coming out the eye-socket and down her cheek like tears...
Being sensible, and taking into account where she was, she decided to just 'wait until it came out'.
Which it duly did after some time.
At which point I think (whoever you are) you are VERY VERY relieved!
"How did you know it would come out?" I asked
"Well I basically just hoped it would" quoth she....

Sorry to make my 1st post here a ghoul-story post
(There are probably a million leech horror stories, as many spider stories, and LOADS of venomous snake anecdotes).
Just discovered this forum, just back from Tas, just heard this story - so I guess it was fresh in the mind!...

I have used flyspray and it worked ok,but on getting home from a shopping trip I found I had purchased surface spray,so what the heck I used it and found it to work exceptionly well.There were quite a few leeches about but none stayed on my boots or gaiters.

only good for day walks or the first day of an extended trip as I would not like to carry that stuff in my pack.

the picture of the big leech at the paddocks was taken by me and it was held by my young sons hand which makes it look bigger.

sarge wrote:on my last trip I found simple airoguard did the trick but I have also found that they are attracted to certain people.

I once went walking with a man in his 50's who was on heart medication and the leeches hated the taste of his blood and refused to bite him. Someone told me it is vitamin B they dont like but you have to have a build up of it in your system for it to work - not sure if this is a scientific fact though.

I've heard the vitamin B theory, too, and was wondering whether it worked or not. My partner and I have started taking it in earnest in preparation for a trek a few months away.

We're hoping that the vitamin B will stop the ticks from biting as well I'll let you know how that works for us.

Ant..

For what it is worth I am normally a Leech magnet however on my last 5 day walk through leech territory I did not get one bite whereas my mates suffered from multiple bites .
I put this down to sparing application of Deet 80% to my legs, neck, ears and lower arms in addition to the fact that I take a Hi potency vitamin B tablet every day no idea as to why this woks but it did for me on this occassion.
Experiment will be continued on future walks and reported on
corvus

As mentioned above, both salt and heat (match or Bic...) work well to dislodge them if you cannot flick them off.
Franco

Franco wrote:As mentioned above, both salt and heat (match or Bic...) work well to dislodge them if you cannot flick them off.
Franco

A dab of metho works too. Just don't combine that method with the flame method.

(I usually just use salt - keep a film canister of it handy.)

Thanks, never tried that.
I sometime have alcohol in one of the front pockets of the Aarn so that would be easy to access too.
Franco

I avoid deet. I'm sure it works very well, but highly toxic chemicals (especially those that can dissolve some plastics) are not something I want rubbed into my skin!

This might help explain a lot about some bushwalkers. DEET Toxicity

This may be of interest.
http://www.helium.com/items/903715-tips ... ng-leeches

And this,
http://www.buggspray.com/myths-about-DEET.html

There is always two sides to any "health " discussion

A good method of removing leaches I have found is using Stingose.
Liberally spray the area and the leach should remove itself relatively quickly with a few gentle flicks.
Stingose is a high concentration solution of Aluminuim Sulphate, so it works a bit like adding salt.
I have found from experience that the Stingose also works to neutralise the anti-coagulant and stops the bleeding fairly quickly.

I have used this a number of times and have never had a bite get sore or infected.

there was another leech thread somewhere a while back too that had a few tips.... i think it boiled down to "go get some tropical strength bushmans deet" or something from memory...

[Edited:] Here's the other topic

stewbog wrote:A good method of removing leaches I have found is using Stingose.
Liberally spray the area and the leach should remove itself relatively quickly with a few gentle flicks.
Stingose is a high concentration solution of Aluminuim Sulphate, so it works a bit like adding salt.
I have found from experience that the Stingose also works to neutralise the anti-coagulant and stops the bleeding fairly quickly.

I have used this a number of times and have never had a bite get sore or infected.

Thank you. I had developed this treatment as a theory but not yet had the opportunity to put it into practice. Nice to know it will work.

Good to know that this treatment works however I still like to deter them with Deet rather than get a bite and I only carry Gel Stingoes so cannot spray them
c

I walked for about 6 hours on Friday, on a warm day after a lot of rain. Without gaiters (I couldn't find them). There were a LOT of leeches around.

I used nothing.

Only two or three really got attached, but didn't get much blood out of me before I removed them by scraping or pulling them off. I flicked off or picked off about 20 that weren't really attached yet (possibly as many as 30, but I wasn't counting). I lived. No problem. No chemicals, no nothing.

They sure liked my bare legs though.

Everyone else in the group had gaiters. They got fewer leeches on them, but got a LOT more blood sucked out of them than I did (big, fat, full leeches), because they couldn't see them.

Stingos has aluminium in it. A doctor friend of mine pointed out anti-perspirant has aluminiumin it. (Probably not so high concentration.)We now use a-p for bites and stings instead of stingos. It works well enough for me. But I don't carry a-p when I have to carry my gear but nor would I take stingos either.

Never go on any Stroll without Stingoes gel,Bushman 80% deet, Lucas Papaw Ointment and Voltaren Gel because as they say in the classics "once bitten twice shy"
c

rogo wrote:Stingos has aluminium in it. A doctor friend of mine pointed out anti-perspirant has aluminiumin it. (Probably not so high concentration.)We now use a-p for bites and stings instead of stingos. It works well enough for me. But I don't carry a-p when I have to carry my gear but nor would I take stingos either.

I think I need another beer. I can't understand what is being said here at all. Perhaps Alzheimer's has kicked in...

Joe wrote:

rogo wrote:Stingos has aluminium in it. A doctor friend of mine pointed out anti-perspirant has aluminiumin it. (Probably not so high concentration.)We now use a-p for bites and stings instead of stingos. It works well enough for me. But I don't carry a-p when I have to carry my gear but nor would I take stingos either.

I think I need another beer. I can't understand what is being said here at all. Perhaps Alzheimer's has kicked in...

Perhaps you really do need that other beer

No wait maybe thats the problem... beer!
in vino veritas!

I just worked out A-P is anti perspirant. I'm not good with acronyms. Post make more sense...but not sure why you would use something that is totally not designed for the task when there is a perfectly good product made for the job in the same convenient can even! Each to their own.

Now where's that beer gone.