Chigger Season

[NativeSon]

This might be the first year since I moved here in 2002 that I've been hit by chiggers. I was tore up by them in the Hill Country, but haven't had anything like that happen here until this past weekend. I've always heard that we didn't have them in East Texas because of all the fire ants, but now I realize that we just didn't have a lot of them most of the time. This year must have been perfect conditions for them to take off!!!

Eddie

Edddie--I've heard the red ant theory before, but like you said with all the rain we had this spring I think that gave us the perfect conditions this year. I'm going to try to find some stuff to spread on the lawn as we have Grandkids coming out for a few days next month. We always keep several cans of Off on hand. I'm just going to be just a little more religious using it. Also going to have to spray the Poison Ivy that's got a good start from all the rain.

Charlie

 

[mx1alex]

Arent chiggers noseeums? I only ever see the bites. :confused3:

You're right in that you can't see them. And when you see the bite they are usually still there sucking the juices out of you. You can't really get rid of them by scratching them off. I have found heat to be the best answer. Take as hot a shower as you can stand and then take a blow drier to the affected area for as long as you can stand it.

 

[ovrszd]

Arent chiggers noseeums? I only ever see the bites. :confused3:

If on lilly white skin they can be seen..... That is unless you have 63 year old eyes..... Then they are definitely noseeums.

 

[ovrszd]

aahhh.... whats a chigger?

See post # 18.

 

[dmccarty]

Cover yourself shoes-to-waist in sulfur dust. Get an old sock and fill it with powered/pulverized sulfur and then slap the sock all over you. Works for me here in Central Texas.

I tried sulfur and it did not work. I would prefer to use sulfur instead of DEET but it did not work on our chiggers and ticks. :confused3:

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

I always spray my feet, shoes, ankles, and legs with deet when going in the woods during the summer. That always seems to prevent them for me.

What do you guys do to treat them when you do get them? I use a product called Chiggarid which is like nail polish with something added in it to prevent itching. It seems to work pretty good.

If I have not tried every anti chigger itch product on the market, I have come danged close. The only products that seem to sorta kinda work are the Benedryl or similar antihistamine GELS or LOTIONS. The later is important since it is easy to cover large area of skin ie, large numbers of chigger bites. When the chigger bites really used to bother me, I would use these gels AND take a Benedryl pill or two to help the itch. The problem was that pills would knock me out and while the pill did help minimize itching it was not 100%. The best solution to the itching I found was to ITCH them danged things! :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing: This is kind gross but once the bites started to ooze a white fluid the itching would stop soon after. You only get the white ooze if you itch. :shocked:

It is an old wife's tale that the chigger burrows in the skin, and if you cover the bite up with nail polish, it kills the chigger. The chigger has already bit you and is long gone by the time the red spot shows up... I seem to get the red spots 12-24 hours after being bit.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Arent chiggers noseeums? I only ever see the bites. :confused3:

Noseums are flying biting flies. Horrible. Often found near mangroves. Tear you up they will. Then there are some biting gnats that are down in the sand hills of GA and NC. I assume SC has them as well but I have not seen them in FLA. Go figure.

You can see chiggers but they are very, very small and you need to wear very light colored clothes to see them.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Edddie--I've heard the red ant theory before, but like you said with all the rain we had this spring I think that gave us the perfect conditions this year....

Charlie

Fire ants made it to our area of NC years ago and I hoped they would take out the ticks and chiggers but that has not happened. My first visit by chiggers was in FLA but it only happened once and no ticks every bit me in FLA which is amazing given all of the time I spent in the woods in FLA. The only thing we could figure was that the fire ants were taking care of the ticks and chiggers. It just is not happening on my place. So far chiggers and ticks are winning over Fire Ants at our place.

Later,
Dan

 

[BigRol]

Got noseeums up here but only for short season, pesky but not nearly as bad as those chigger dudes.

 

[ovrszd]

Here's an interesting read to educate oneself about Chiggers.

Chiggers: Bites Treatment and Chigger Bite Pictures


Dismisses the nail polish theory. Also states the repellents such as OFF are effective in preventing the bites. As I said earlier, I diligently use OFF. I can't remember the last time I had a Chigger bite.

 

[RobertBrown]

I think the nail polish nonsense was some demented fool's idea of a sick joke. There is a lot of misinformation about chiggers, and it doesn't make it any easier to deal with them.

Walked 10 feet into weeds ankle high weeds for couple minutes without protection and got nailed 9 times!

That is a cheap lesson. I have had more bites than I can count more times that I can remember.
It usually takes a couple of hours or more to know you have been violated and by then it's too late.
It's note worthy that further bites can be avoided by washing clothes immediately and thoroughly cleaning out the truck or vehicle.
The only effective treatment I know of is this one mentioned by mx1alex:

I have found heat to be the best answer. Take as hot a shower as you can stand and then take a blow drier to the affected area for as long as you can stand it.

I scrub the bite with soap and an abrasive pad until some blood appears.. Sounds excessive but it's much better than the alternative.

 

[STx]

I hate those little bastages, we have them bad on our place in South Texas. I spray 1/2 an acre or so around the cabin with bifentrhin 2 - 3 times a year, spray around the cabin perimeter pretty much every time we're there. I also treat that 1/2 acre with fipronil and we still have problems with chiggers. If we're going to leave the safety of the treated area, we have to apply DEET pretty heavily, especially along waistbands, socks, etc. or we'll end up looking like pin cushions in a couple of days. Taking a shower soon after getting back helps some as well.

 

[japody]

Here's an interesting read to educate oneself about Chiggers.

Chiggers: Bites Treatment and Chigger Bite Pictures


Dismisses the nail polish theory. Also states the repellents such as OFF are effective in preventing the bites. As I said earlier, I diligently use OFF. I can't remember the last time I had a Chigger bite.

Do you spray the OFF on your clothes or directly on your skin? Those little buggers eat me up!

 

[NativeSon]

When I was a kid I would go over to my Grandmothers house, in what is now the Cedar Crest section of Dallas, and it was still kind of rural. My best friend lived one street over. I was talking to him yesterday and we both relived coming to my Grandmothers house after running the neighborhood all day and being eat up with chiggers. After she was through with us it looked like we had be painted with Calamine Lotion using a paint brush. If they had a barrel of the stuff I truly think they would have dipped us.

Charlie

 

[ovrszd]

Do you spray the OFF on your clothes or directly on your skin? Those little buggers eat me up!

I'm usually in shorts. I spray my shoes completely, then spray my legs up to the shorts.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I always seem to get the bites under my socks so I just wear the ankle socks when the chiggers kick up. ... To me, the bites are alleviated and effects shortened by breaking the pustule head and slathering on rubbing alcohol - 90% if possible. After an hr or so a crust forms proud. I rub them off with the palm of my hand and apply more alcohol.
larry

 

[SPYDERLK]

I always seem to get the bites under my socks so I just wear the ankle socks when the chiggers kick up. ... To me, the bites are alleviated and effects shortened by breaking the pustule head and slathering on rubbing alcohol - 90% if possible. After an hr or so a crust forms proud. I rub them off with the palm of my hand and apply more alcohol.
larry

 

[JRobyn]

True what Dan and Robert say, and is probably also in the link. They do NOT burrow in and live under the skin as I've heard all my life and from many otherwise knowledgeable folks. But their bite/saliva contains toxins and enzymes that dissolve your skin tissue which is what itches. That's why scratching to the point of bleeding and then applying alcohol to flush away the toxins/enzymes is extreme but effective. I suppose that application of high heat affects capillary blood flow to the bite area that alters either sensation or the enzyme action or both. I have sometimes used the blow dryer on bites with some positive results.

- Jay

 

[kenmac]

I hate chiggers !!! You don't know you've been bitten until, it's too late...I now use any product containing deet on my shoes and around my ankles . It does a good job of keeping them off me...

Now, If I could just keep the ticks off me... They seem to hide in trees ,and jump on you as you walk by..
That's the only way I know those baby ticks could get on my head, shoulders, and upper back

 

[dmccarty]

I hate chiggers !!! You don't know you've been bitten until, it's too late...I now use any product containing deet on my shoes and around my ankles . It does a good job of keeping them off me...

Now, If I could just keep the ticks off me... They seem to hide in trees ,and jump on you as you walk by..
That's the only way I know those baby ticks could get on my head, shoulders, and upper back

YES! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I think they get on my upper back and head by climbing up my arms when I pick up something from the ground or touch a low tree/brush.

Later,
Dan