teeny weenie biting insects, the neighbors call them bunhoks and say a person gets them from chicken nests. to the naked eye they appear to be roundish and about as big as the sharp end of a needle. kinda brownish in color. they can crawl amazingly fast for their size and it appears they can hop at least a foot. they crush easily and you sometime see blood. they seem to especially like the genital area. i looked at several with a 5x lens and some have designs on the back, others are plain. isopropyl alcohol kills them. ironing your clothing and bedding also kills them. of course, baygon kills them but it stinks something terrible. does anyone know of another insecticide or have any treatment ideas besides baygon? i guess bunhok is the local name for them but not much of anything comes up on the net. i'd like to get a tagalog (or any language) name or the botanical name for them so i can learn more about them there's another similar critter called a tungaw but we're told these little monsters are bunhoks. miserable little (insert descriptive cuss words here). thanks guys...
First thing that comes to mind is a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar with a dash of calamansi juice, sprayed on and given a rub to get down to the skin. This will kill ticks on dogs and repel others from attaching to the host, so it should work on these lice like critters too. Want cost much to try either.
Google tells me "bunhok" means bird louse. Birds Online - Health and diseases - Parasite infestation - Bird lice (mallophaga) Not helpful for those in the Philippines though. Since they are a mite you might (no pun intended) be able to get rid of them with a local miticide. Some stoners seem to have found a "natural" way of getting rid of mites. I certainly wouldn't vouch for its effectiveness considering the source. They might have been smoking a bowl when they came up with this recipe. It does seem to stick to the same lactic acid idea as the Exner Petguard though. Homemade Miticide Note: they are talking about how to keep the mites off their growing weedlings. The ingredients seem safe enough for birds and your home though.
good info wyre, thanks... i looked at the sizes of insects in the article and our critters are more like .01mm,. (needle point) and some are even smaller and they defiantly appear to be round but i can see a very small head sticking out from the body under a lens. i'd need a stronger lens or a scope to see the legs full strength 5% vinegar, 50% alcohol and calamasi doesn't bother them but ironing the clothes and the full strength isopropyl and baygon are starting to cut down the numbers. also, i laid down a very small amount of 1-2-3 (ant poison) at one of the entry points and they haven't crossed the line (yet). the chickens don't seem to be bothered by them norm : ))~
