Bug Bite Thing device eases itching

Newcomers to Florida often are struck by its sunny weather, mild winters — and the small, agitating menace of the pesky mosquito.

Kelley Higney, who arrived from California six years ago, couldn’t stand the bites any longer and decided to do something about it. The result: the “Bug Bite Thing,” a small device that doesn’t prevent the insects from biting you, but stops the bite from developing into an ugly welt.

Higney operates the business out of her Loxahatchee home. The products are made in Denmark, then shipped to a warehouse in Jacksonville before going to South Florida for shipping.

“It’s really personal for me because I was the one suffering. There was nothing I could do for my child, and I was tired of it,” said Higney, founder of the Bug Bite Thing.

It acts like a reverse syringe, sucking out the saliva of the mosquito or the poison of a wasp before the skin has a chance to react and become inflamed. The poison is stored in the top of the device, which can be removed, cleaned out and reused.

It was clinically tested by Dr. Lotte Sogaard-Andersen of the University of Southern Denmark for wasps, bees and red ants, she said. The side handles can be flipped to be a stinger scraper, she added.

“It’s completely reusable and never expires. It’s small, so you can throw it in your purse or glove box, and it’s not going to melt like creams do,” she said.

Higney’s device was cre- ated by a doctor in Europe 20 years ago, who transferred the rights to Higney’s dis- tributor in Denmark, which produces the devices before shipping them to the U.S.