Yes, disease is the main concern, but being bitten everytime is not fun as well.
SlugeMunkey, As for latex gloves, I have researched and found this link regarding the use of Latex gloves to handle amphibian.
http://www.srd.alberta.ca/ManagingP...nts/protocol/amphibian_class_protocol_003.pdf
It suggested that you need to use talc free gloves. If gloves has talc in it, it might kill amphibians. Did you mean this problem with latex? Or there are some other concern?
pAs for the Ultrasonic mosquitoes repellent, I think none of them work.....
As many have suggested, DEET is bad choice if you will handle amphibians. There are some other chemical, which might be less deadly.
How about Picaridin? Anyone tried that?
I found this link:
http://www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/picaridin.pdf
One test item shows that they have tested picaridin on Rainbow trout, and Daphnia. Result from Rainbow Trout shows that it is moderately toxic. Tests on Daphnia shows that it has no effect on the crustacean.
If it is moderately toxic to Trout, I guess it is not a good choice for amphibian.
The other one is Allethrin, which is used in the product called Thermacell. I heard many good review about Thermacell. But the label also say that it is potentially dangerous to Fish, amphibian, and reptile. A few notes about it effect on health, environment and bugs is found in here:
http://www.mosquitorepellent.com/prod_back_allethrin_facts.doc
The good thing about the report is that this natural chemical will biodegrade on land in 1 to 2 hours and water in less than 8 hours. So, I am planning to use the Thermacell for my camp site, away from water. And the dose used by Thermacell is much less than the dose used for the tests.
In term of Hiking, I still can't find a good solution. I might just strength my clothing choices, wear hat for the Black flies, Boots for ticks, and netting to cover all bugs.
Btw, I think some researchers were researching using natural chemical from Frog skin as a repellent. Don't know how that is going yet. If that work, it might be an amphibian friendly repellent:
Mosquito repellents in frog skin — Biology Letters