Creepy Crawlies

i must say,the sandflys around able tasman were nasty little b*******s they itched and itched far more than any gnat and when you scatched the sc abs off(dont think you are suppossed to do that,but challeng any one not to)they still itch no matter how many scabs and layers i tore through.but on the plus side they didnt bother ally or the kids

Why do they get money just because they've been bitten?

20,000 spider bites sting ACC for $1.7m
10 December 2006
By NICOLA BOYES

Spider bite claims to ACC have quadrupled in the past five years and more than 20,000 people have been paid $1.7 million for such bites in the past financial year. Pest control companies say the spider population in New Zealand, particularly in the North Island, is booming and callouts to eradicate white tail spiders have increased.

Operators claim the increase is due to global warming and say insect populations will explode if temperatures rise a further one to two degrees. The claim is backed by Landcare Research entomologist Grace Hall. But she said in ACC claims where people had blamed a white tail spider, medical problems were more likely to be the result of secondary infections. Claims to ACC have been for infections, toxic effects and poisoning.

New Zealand has two species of spider which inject neurotoxins when they bite - the native katipo, which is an endangered species, and the red-back, which was not often found in New Zealand, said Hall. White tails do not carry neurotoxins, but a suspected bite may become infected.

Hall said spiders preferred warmer climates and as summer approached, people were more likely to see them. With global warming, spiders would be able to start breeding earlier and for longer, she said.

White tails have lived in New Zealand since the 1880s, but are a native of Australia. ACC statistics show in the past five years the most paid out to a spider bite victim was $34,000. The least was $6. Hawke's Bay, Auckland and Waikato had the most reported suspected bites.

Fly Die manager David Faulkner said the number of white tails was increasing. "It's got totally out of hand. There's definitely a lot more people ringing up." Target Pest Enterprises, which operates nationally and works with MAF and AgriQuality, said its Auckland office was taking 25 to 30 calls a week related to white tail spiders.

Auckland area manager Norman Kerr said Auckland and Wellington were experiencing an increase in white tails but there were more in Auckland because it was warmer. "A lot of people are getting bitten by them. They say if it warms up another one or two degrees they will really take off."

Mike Hermansson, manager of Kwikill in Wellington, said people were more aware of white tail spiders. Between 2002 and 2003, 11,038 people reported being bitten by what they thought was a spider and received some form of payment from ACC.

By 2004-05 the number had jumped to 20,364. And between July last year and June this year 22,036 people reported being bitten and received some form of payment. Since July, 5140 people received some form of ACC payment for a suspected spider bite and 1212 said they received some sort of toxic effect.

Up to three people between 2003 and 2004 reported poisoning due to tarantula venom, receiving a payout of $26. New Zealand does not have tarantulas in the wild.
SPIDER TYPES

White tail: Native of Australia, in New Zealand since the 1880s. Prefers warmth of the North Island but a South Island species exists. Eats mainly other spiders. There is no venom when a white tail bites but problems can occur if bites become infected.

Katipo: Native of New Zealand. Considered endangered. Lives along most of the North Island's coastline under logs or wood and along coastline of the northern South Island. Bite causes agonising pain which can be accompanied by sweating, difficulty in breathing, vomiting and convulsions. Katipo bites have reportedly killed two people. Effect is dependent on amount of venom when bitten.

Red-back: Katipo relative but native of Australia. Red-backs have been found in New Zealand. Bite from a female injects a neurotoxin and victims describe the bite as very painful. There has reportedly been only one death from a red-back since anti- venom was introduced in 1996.

- Sunday Star Times

Thank goodness for biosecurity.   Ordinary ants are bad enough.

Fire ants hitch ride from Caribbean to Auckland
NZPA | Friday, 23 February 2007

Stowaway fire ants on a luxury yacht travelled thousands of kilometres from their Caribbean home, only to be greeted by insecticide-wielding biosecurity staff in Auckland.

They were found on the 21m yacht at Westhaven Marina on February 4 by the owner who called a pest control company.

The exterminators called Biosecurity New Zealand, who treated the yacht at its mooring with baits and insecticide spray.

The ants, called Solenopsis invicta, can spread quickly across wide areas quickly, and threaten human health and native flora and fauna.

The tiny (2-6mm) ants are reddish-brown in colour. They sting to defend their nest and surrounding area. Their stings can be painful and, in rare cases, can cause a fatal allergic reaction. Biosecurity spokeswoman Megan Sarty said monitoring for the unwanted imports would continue until they were sure they were all dead.

"While a full nest analysis is yet to be completed, initial indications are that a single, small nest is involved," she said.

From here .

I HATE fire ants. They are my No. 1 or 2 reason for not wanting to live in the American Midwest. They're one of the few critters I will merrily poison just for existing near me. I'm glad BNZ took care of that batch before they illegally immigrated into NZ.

Going back to the Spider topic. I had to claim ACC for a spider bite on my ankle last week :( I didnt even know I'd been bitten by a spider I just thought it was a mozzie bite.

After a few days of swelling, itching and pain I went to a pharmacy who said to go to the docs. I thought yeah right I'll go to another pharmacy and see what they think and they took me through to the Emergency DR where I was treated before all these other patients who had been there for ages.

I am now still on, anti-hestimes, hydrocortozone cream and 4 penicillan a day. The swelling is still there and the bites now gone a lovely brown colour.

To make matters worse a stoopid sand fly bit me on Sunday just above the spider bite so I look great!

Amy, sounds like a white-tail got you. Poor you. At least the pharmacies seem to know what to look out for and where to send you for proper medical attention.

Hope you get some relief soon. Group hug.

Ants??? ANTS???? ANTS????????????????????????
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
HATE THEM HATE THEM HATE THEM HATE THEM HATE THEM HATE THEM HATE THEM..
KILL THEM ALL KILL THEM ALL KILL THEM ALL KILL THEM ALL KILL THEM ALL......
MORE AARDVARK BREEDING PROGRAMMES MORE AARDVARK BREEDING PROGR....

What are these sandfly things then? And are they everywhere? Jeez I always get bitten by mozzy type things. Flippin flippin flippin eck!!!!

Er, Dawn - there are quite a lot of ants here. ?I would not worry about them too much as most stay outside minding their own business. ?I have a yearly problem in my rental where there are three weeks or so of flying and crawling ants falling from between the wooden slats in the ceiling of my bedroom and kitchen. ?Have also lived in another house years back where they crawled into the house army-like and invaded anything sweet. ?Tupperware is very popular here, big fridges too so there is room to put your pots of jam, chutneys, sauce, etc. in. ?

::)

I hope your bite is getting better, Lil Amy. ?Did they actually say you had a spider bite? ?I've heard a lot about people being bitten and, because they and other witnesses have not actually seen a whitetail doing the biting, it is dismissed in this country as an infected sandfly or mozzie bite. ?Apparently, a nasty bite can occur requiring antibiotics when one of these flies bites someone else, or another animal, and then bites you - it's sting being contaminated by that other person/animal. ? ?

I don't know what the truth is. ?Whitetails do not seem to run away scared like most spiders do and I (like many) would expect them to bite. ? Spraying outside the house hopefully keeps most creepy crawlies away, I spray the picnic bench too. ?

Hey,

I never saw anything or felt the bite to be honest but it happened after we were walking in the Redwoods in Rotorua!?!

The docs were the ones who said it was a spider bite, I was convincined it was a bad reaction to a mozzy but my allergic reactions dont come out as bad as this one did.

At least its going away now even if the horrible brown mark is still on my ankle. It's reducing in size every day and i just have one more pill to take and I'm done yipeeee ;D

Here ya go, Dawn. Help is at hand. Get some sardines on the go, or is that just for wasps. ;D

Special scent to be used in war against wasps and ants
5:00AM Thursday March 01, 2007

Researchers at HortResearch plan to create special insect scents for use in the biological control of wasps and ants.

The Government is giving the state science company $787,500 over 28 months to develop "environmentally friendly" technologies.

Agencies such as the Department of Conservation use protein-rich baits and sugar syrups to deliver a neurological inhibitor, Fipronil, to several pests.

Scientists have experimented with a wide range of food baits - ground-up silkworm pupae mixed with sugar syrup was more attractive to red imported fire ants than soybean oil on corn grits - and have found that cooked egg white and cooked yolk mixed with sugar syrup works on Argentine ants.

The Argentine ants and German wasps to be targeted by the new baits are invasive agricultural and urban pests that also pose a significant ecological problem by threatening native insects and birds.

More here .