Desert Rats,How do you keep the creepycrawlies out?

fantasymaker · #1 01/20/07, 11:21 AM

Now Ive camped out a bit but usually in cold weather or country,not a place with snakes that can hurt ya or bugs that can either.

Im not usually a tent camper just bag it in the snow or on the ground.

But I have thousands of nights experiance sleeping ina car ,truck ,plane boat ,etc

Ive had a few of those nights in desert country that left me wondering how do you camp out as in out on the ground in that country. I woke up one night about 2 am in my truck down near I-10 in AZ .When I flipped my headlights on there were scorpians everywere! About 3 to 5 feet apart for as far as the headlight let me see. I got moving fast and drove thru an area like that for about 1/4 mile.

Another time south of the saltlake I woke up and flipped my headlights on and there were rats and scorpians and snakes all over two or three in my headlights and as I drove out of that area it seemd like for miles there was always a rat snake scorpian or bat in the lights.

So how do you campout in these areas without getting bit or stung while sleeping?

cowgirlone · #2 01/20/07, 02:04 PM

Placing a rope in a circle around your sleep area is supposed to keep the snakes out. Could be an old cowboy's tale,

snakes don't like to crawl over the rope.
I don't think you can keep the other critters out, the best bet is to sleep off the ground.

swamp man · #3 01/21/07, 02:04 PM

The rope thing dont work.

cowgirlone · #4 01/21/07, 03:14 PM

I think you're probably right swamp man.

shadowwalker · #5 01/21/07, 04:29 PM

I got a folding cot and wooden stand. Put vasilene on the legs in a circle around the legs about 3 inches long, nothing crawls up them.
A desert rat in southern california showed me he used lawn edging around his sleeping bag area. just set it on top of the ground. Only snakes can get across it IF the really want to. He said he never had one cross it, but had a buddy that did. He said the scales of the snake crossing it woke him up with the sound and he killed it. He had breakfast though.Of the snake.

fantasymaker · #6 01/22/07, 09:45 AM

Humm isnt a cot a bit of a pain to carry? Come one theres gotta be a better way surely the indians that lived here didnt wake up each day covered in rattlesnake and scorpian bites? ...Or did they? Ive heard they were mean!

DrippingSprings · #7 01/22/07, 02:21 PM

put a line of lime around you. snakes and scorpions hate it because it essentially makes them feel as though they are on fire. Thats what I was told anyway. I do know I put some lime in a thick line around chicken pens and all the snakes that was raiding my eggs quickly went away.

I once caught a chicken snake and covered me a spot about big around as the bottom about inch deep of lime and dropped the snake on it and he looked like a red wiggler fishing worm when it hit his skin.

moonwolf · #8 01/22/07, 04:10 PM

since you've never got bitten by any of those critters, why worry about it?
In areas north where huge mosquito populations and blackflies abound, one would have a restless night of sleep at the least, and probably get up with countless welts and itching, but no worries about poisonous snakes.

It rains a lot, too.

FreightTrain · #9 01/22/07, 04:53 PM

**So how do you camp-out in these areas without getting bit or stung while sleeping?**

i always carry my one-man double-wall backpacking tent with me... crawl in, kill everything else in there, then rest peacefully

moonwolf · #10 01/22/07, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreightTrain

**So how do you camp-out in these areas without getting bit or stung while sleeping?**

i always carry my one-man double-wall backpacking tent with me... crawl in, kill everything else in there, then rest peacefully

you got it. A bug proof tent that you can zip up and has mosquito proof mesh for ventilation.

But, to sleep out in the open without some sort of netting or tent would be foolish.

LisaInN.Idaho · #11 01/22/07, 06:37 PM

We always just slept in a tent when we lived in Arizona. You do want to remember to shake your boots out though.

hunter50 · #12 01/23/07, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowwalker

I got a folding cot and wooden stand. Put vasilene on the legs in a circle around the legs about 3 inches long, nothing crawls up them.
A desert rat in southern california showed me he used lawn edging around his sleeping bag area. just set it on top of the ground. Only snakes can get across it IF the really want to. He said he never had one cross it, but had a buddy that did. He said the scales of the snake crossing it woke him up with the sound and he killed it. He had breakfast though.Of the snake.

good one

fantasymaker · #13 01/23/07, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonwolf

since you've never got bitten by any of those critters, why worry about it?
In areas north where huge mosquito populations and blackflies abound, one would have a restless night of sleep at the least, and probably get up with countless welts and itching, but no worries about poisonous snakes.

It rains a lot, too.

Because I want to hike in an area that I havent before. Ive spent a lot of nights in the desert but usually in some sort of vehical .Those nights have led to the question.

Now I know how to deal with bugs up north nets and deet and soon plenty of sleep.
Ive never done the tent thing and am not real familer with it .Is there a special double wall tent available in desert country?? I used to carry moose out of the woods for aliving but its been a while and now I dread the idea of even carrying an mouse outa the woods if I dont have to I wont go nuts about weight but am sorta resisting the tent idea ,I suppose because its foriegn to me.Us old dogs really hate to trake up new tricks.

fantasymaker · #14 09/27/12, 09:13 AM

LOL Id forgotten about this thread...I tried the tent thing with a single walled tent . hated sleeping inside and the single wall didnt leave me feeling secure wound up back in the truck!

poorboy · #15 09/27/12, 01:40 PM

Pee'ing around the perimeter of the sleeping spot is 'posed ro keep the snakes out.. Personally I always picked a spot that looked like it wouldn't be bothered and if that didna do the trick my snoring did

have been told i tear the wallpaper up when I'm sound asleep!

poorboy · #16 09/27/12, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowgirlone

Placing a rope in a circle around your sleep area is supposed to keep the snakes out. Could be an old cowboy's tale,

snakes don't like to crawl over the rope.
I don't think you can keep the other critters out, the best bet is to sleep off the ground.

't needed ta be a horsehair rope...