From another website...

Just a little education on chiggers:

Chigger larvae do not burrow into the skin, nor suck blood. They pierce the skin and inject into the host a salivary secretion containing powerful, digestive enzymes that break down skin cells that are ingested (tissues become liquefied and sucked up). Also, this digestive fluid causes surrounding tissues to harden, forming a straw-like feeding tube of hardened flesh (stylostome) from which further, partially-digested skin cells may be sucked out. After a larva is fully fed in four days, it drops from the host, leaving a red welt with a white, hard central area on the skin that itches severely and may later develop into dermatitis. Any welts, swelling, itching, or fever will usually develop three to six hours after exposure and may continue a week or longer. If nothing is done to relieve itching, symptoms may continue a week or more. Scratching a bite may break the skin, resulting in secondary infections. However, chiggers are not known to transmit any disease in this country.

Control Measures
Skin Care
After returning from a chigger-infested area, launder the field clothes in soapy, hot water (125°F.) for about half an hour. Infested clothes should not be worn again until they are properly laundered and/or exposed to hot sunshine. Unlaundered clothes or those laundered in cool water will contain the biting chiggers to again reinfest your skin. As soon as possible, take a good hot bath or shower and soap repeatedly. The chiggers may be dislodged, but you will still have the stylostomes, causing the severe itch. Scratching deep to remove stylostomes can cause secondary infections. For temporary relief of itching, apply ointments of benzocaine, hydrocortisone, calamine lotion, New Skin, After Bite, or others recommended by your pharmacist or medical doctor. Some use Vaseline, cold cream, baby oil, or fingernail polish. (The sooner the treatment, the better the results.)

Prevention
Mowing of briars, weeds, and thick vegetation and close clipping of lawns, to eliminate shade and moisture, will reduce chigger populations, and permit sunlight and air to circulate freely. Chigger larvae can penetrate many types of clothing, but high boots and trousers of tightly woven fabric tucked into stockings or boots help deter them.

Before going into an area where chiggers may be present, protect yourself by using a repellent such as deet (Off MGK, Muskol, Detamide, Metadelphene, Repel, Diethy-toluamide) or permethrin available at many drugstores or hardware stores. Deet-based repellents are effective for only a few hours, whereas permethrin-based repellents are for use only on clothing and effective for several days. Apply the repellent to both the skin and clothing, especially on hands, arms, or legs, if uncovered, and to clothing openings at cuffs, neck, waistband, and upper edges of socks. Follow label directions since repellents may damage plastics, nail polish, and painted or varnished surfaces. Do not use indiscriminately as severe human allergies can develop. Keep moving since the worst chigger infestations occur when sitting or laying down in a sunny spot at midday with temperatures above 60°F. If possible, stick to roads and trails.

itch , itch , itch , itch

Thanks Bruce I can feel them now.

Excellent info on the dreaded chigger. You forgot to mention if they become infected due to scratching they will leave scares.

Has anyone heard of spreading pelletized or granular Sulphur. I have done this around my house and yard it seems to work but is only temporary until desolved by rain(if it every rains again).

Down south, we just live with 'em. Kind of like Bruce, Shorty, NEDoc and all you Nebraska guys know that OK is going to have a bunce of 300+ lineman, but you just don't worry about it. Life goes on.

Unfortunately, I read it last night. This AM I have claw marks all over my body. No, the wife is out of town and the cat is de clawed.

Best way to stop the itching is with a steroid cream under an occlusal dressing,i.e. a bandaid for a single bite or some taped on Seran wrap for
larger areas with multiple bites. The over-the-counter steroid 0.1% hydrocortisone may work but is a little weak. I usually prescribe 0.1% triamcinolone cream which is very cheap as a generic. Most of the other rememdies rely on being a counterirritant, i.e., distracting your nervous system with locally competing sensory signals rather than reducing the inflammatory response produced by the bite. The steroid also works on poison ivy for the same reason it works on chigger bites.

Thanks, Doc! Great post.

Thanks Bruce, that was a good read right after lunch

One of the reasons I love CA.....none of those evil little critters here. I get chigger bites every time i go back to western VA to visit wife's family....also contracted lymes disease once in NY from a deer tick (not too far from Lyme CT). its impossible for someone like me to stay confined to roads and trails, just doesnt happen.

I'll take my rattlers anyday.....at least they let you know when you're getting close.

Chiggers are one of the reasons I do not like walking through the tall grass along the bank of the pond after it starts to warm up in the spring. Multiple chigger bites in the arm pits will drive a person mad. This thread reminds me why I love fishing out of my little jon boat so much.

We used to have lots of chiggers here, but it's been years since anyone in my family has got them. I'm beginning to think the hotter summers lately have wiped them out.

My father swore by sulphur as a deterrent. Seems like the powder was called Flowers of Sulphur. He carried a large salt shaker of it all of the time. When he was at the farm he would dust his shoes, sox, pants legs, etc. with it each time he got out of his truck.

I just carry an aerosol can of Off with DEET and almost never have a problem.

Bing

Bobad,

My theory is that the fire ants have wiped out the chiggers around here. As a kid, we used to have them really bad, but now you can't find one anywhere on my property...maybe there is one thing good about fire ants.

ML, I used to load up on chiggers and ticks. Now, I don't seem to have much of a problem. Of course, I do have fire ants but think 8 out of 9 years of drought may have done a number on them.

Evidently, spraying the bug repellent on the outside of your jeans doesn't work as well as spraying the socks and shoes on the inside. Counted 180 welts this morning. I said the sincerest thank you to God that I don't wear boxers.

Ticks have been terrible this year. Dski and I will spend about 10 quality minutes at the end of every day working at the pondsite, checking each other like 2 gorillas. They don't taste all that bad, but they get stuck in my teeth and wiggle all day.

Hey Bruce, I got 11 chigger bites on my forearm from holding the boat along the wall Friday night when you were out. Dang I hate chiggers too.

Ouch!

The good thing about it being so dry so early here this year is that the ticks went away (I think they just suspend activity until the next year) early too. I haven't seen one in over a month.

For me the worst time to find a tick is when one wakes me up crawling on me in the middle of the night. Other than that, I have developed an inability to have them upset me.

Fortunately I have never encountered chiggers.

Not sure we get chiggers in my neck of the woods... I have seen a couple of deer ticks this year and have had a few un-explained bites that don't match mosquito's blackflies etc.
Mmmmm... bugs.

Growing up in Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin I know chiggers. Nasty, hated little critters.

Thankfully, we don't have chiggers here in WV and VA.

But, we have our own summer pests that look just like chiggers. They don't bite. But, by the dozens, they get inhaled, they invade your ears, and they get stuck in your eyes.

In polite circles, their clouds are referred to as the "Virginia Wave" as people are trying to wave them away. I don't know their official name, but most people refer to them as gnats. I'm not sure if they are gnats or gnot.

Tonight we have tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings/watches. The weather is "heavy" -- oppressive humidity, warm, and very low cloud cover. Perfect evening for the Virgina Wave.

I just came back from feeding the fish. Thick clouds of these tiny critters surrounded my face and head. For some reason, there were no bats around to discourage them. They were in my ears, mouth, nose, and eyes.

Still, much better than chiggers. I won't wake up with welts and bloody fingernail wounds in the morning.

Chiggers may not suck blood, but why do redbugs turn red?