No-see-ums are a tiny pest about 1/16th inch long. You can barely see them…but you sure can feel them. If you were to take a look with a microscope you’d see something that looks like a smaller version of a mosquito. These swarming insects tend to breed on the edges of water such as ponds, marshes or pools of water. Their eggs literally hatch in three days at which point they become adults and busily breed, feed and mate.

What Happens When They Bite?

No-see-ums love blood; in fact they must feed on blood to serve and feed the younger insects. As we said earlier, they are very tiny so you might be surprised to discover that their bite delivers quite a wallop. Their bites result in red welts and/or bumps about 1/4″ – 1/2″ in size. The bites are quite itchy often, particularly in kids. Scratching can result in open bleeding sores and unfortunately, the scratching will not relieve the itch. You can relieve the itch by using over the counter topical cortisone creams and other anti inflammatories.

The best way to deal with No-see-ums is to work on prevention. There are very few bug sprays on the market that both work and are naturally safe. The issue with using insecticide containing DEET is that it is both harmful to the environment and humans. You’re better off to stick with proven all natural sprays such as No no-see-um. With ingredients like citronella and lemongrass in No no-see-um, you smell good to other humans and bad to the no-see-ums. Geranium oil has also been thrown in which is known to have healing and therapeutic properties for pain and stress relief of existing bites.