AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Caye Caulker Who invited the Sandflies to our party??

And they are here � what you might ask � the Sandflies!! As October the 1st hit (the normal time of the year for these pesky creatures to appear) these tiny little irritants appeared here in Caye Caulker, and probably the rest of Belize too!!

Sandflies, sandflies, sand gnat or no-see-um/ noseeum - they are all the same, a tiny midge. No bigger than a pin head they almost seem like flying dust but their bite is more ferocious than that of a mosquito! They live in the sand and therefore they are attracted to white and light and therefore anybody with pale skin (and particularly those who are new to these parts like tourists) beware! Red itchy bumps appear that may well turn into a rash for those who have not had the fortune to bump into these creatures before - for us locals we are still left with an intense itching sensation without any marks. Neither scenario is pleasant!

The only prevention (and it is indeed 100% effective and indeed environmentally friendly) is baby oil. Agreed you lube your body up sufficiently enough that you look like you want to enter a 'strong man' competition and indeed you may slide off any seat you may choose to sit upon, however, those suckers wings just clog up in the oil and they die a pleasant death!!

This period and their time with us, in our experience is short lived - the higher winds that come to us at the end of October flush their presence out here on the island entirely - for this we are blessed and therefore we will bide our time and baby oil ourselves up each day with much humor. In the meantime, think of us and our little critters and say a tiny little prayer that they are gone as quick as they came!!

Raggamuffin Tours

Any basis for a suggestion I once heard about using coconut oil?

We provide our guests with baby oil. We also put it in our little foot baths, just a few drops. The baby oil keeps them from being able to hang on I am told. I wonder if coconut oil has the same affect?

Along with the sharp increase in sandflies I've noticed a whole lot of new dragonflies, which are beautiful and eat smaller bugs (presumably including sandflies.) Did you know a dragonfly can eat it's own weight in 30 minutes?

I am loving the dragonflies!

Hope they are gone by Nov 4th when my wife and I start our visit. My wife got bit up pretty bad by something when we stayed in Feb!

mosquito coils will eliminate them from the house, we use Off Skintastic Magic Color for children, a heavy lotion that can go on thick. This can only be bought at Chinatown, its not cheap....it feels better than be coated in oil.

A Vape Mat also works and is much safer. Coils have been the cause of fires here so please be careful using them!!

I second the Vape mats, we found them much safer and more effective.