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I HATE CHIGGERS
Mark G
Member Posts: 1,675 ✭✭✭
Man these things itch. Like a mosquito bite X 1000.
Comments
And they itch for a looooooooooooong time.
I will say you have a lot of company on the displeasure of being a target for them
And thoes look loke my socks .
I didn’t know this ,,,,, ☹️
Technically speaking, chiggers do not bite, but feed by regurgitating digestive saliva that liquefies a small area of the skin.
Once attached, it pierces their skin and injects its saliva (spit). The spit contains digestive juices that dissolve skin cells. The chigger then eats the dissolved cells, which provide the protein it needs to grow into an adult.
Can we say chiggers? Heck, Trump couldn’t even say riggers.
Yeah, all that and they itch too!!!!!!!!! Won't even go into the woods with spray, until the first frost here.
I'm on my third go-around with them so far this year. I REALLY HATE THOSE LITTLE BUGGERS.
jOE
They are thick here in MO....I never work in the yard, go fishing or hike without spraying my shoes and socks with Cutters. If I am in Jeans, I spray the shoes, socks, leg above the sock and the jeans on the outside.....
When I am working a long time in the weeds or tall grass, clearing fence rows etc., I also put a rubber band around the cuff of my jeans....
This has kept me chigger and tick free for the most part....I still pick one up when I forget to use the Cutters !
They are horrible and also like to work their way up your leg into areas you really do not want them !!!! 😫
Putting some hand cleaner on them has helped me in the past.....
That is exactly what I do and it always seems to work just fine for me cause EVERYTHING in Florida wants to bite you, kill you and/or eat you.
Never wipe with moss. Don
I remember listening to a conversation between some of my adult family members, back in the mid-1960s.
One mentioned chiggers.
Another said, "I thought we were supposed to call them 'chee-groes.'"
A third replied: "I just call them 'red bugs.'"
Being from Northern California, what is a Chigger? I hear a lot about them and what part of the country are they?
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams
They're little red bugs (mites) that you almost never see. As you walk through any vegetation, or even clear ground, they cling onto you. Then they travel into your socks, up your pant legs, etc. Their "bite" is 10x worse than a mosquito's.
Used to be they were only south of the Mason Dixon line but it seems like they're spreading.
What are chiggers?
Chiggers (trombiculidae) are a species of mite, and are a close relative to spiders and ticks. Chiggers are microscopic and are almost invisible to the naked eye. Once chiggers hatch from eggs (larva), the mites feed on the skin tissue of a host (human or animal) before falling off and turning into an adult mite. Found around the world, chiggers live outdoors on plants in wooded or grassy areas, typically around water. They are most active during the summer months when temperatures are hot.
What are chigger bites?
Chigger larva will attach to your clothing and move to your skin to feed. The chigger larva will release a liquid chemical into your skin to kill skin cells (digestive enzyme). The dead skin cells form a tiny straw (stylostome) for the chigger to drink your skin tissue. The chigger’s chemical causes itching that is very intense for the first 24-48 hours before slowly going away over the next two weeks. Chiggers will fall off of your skin if you begin to scratch.
note on a personal level once you get bit by a chigger(s) you will never forget them
as a kid the bug spray and repellants ,never heard of them
parents would just say stay out of the weeds or the chiggers will get on you . sure all kids stay out of grass and weeds LOL
we just suffered on thru. maybe wipe the area down with water ( from the creek or river we were by ) was the extent of any treatment.
Every year my wife and I get covered in chigger bites. I'm sure a less stable person would be driven crazy by the itching. They are the most miserable little critters you can imagine.
Joe
Scratch until they bleed and then slather on a goodly helping of rubbing alcohol. Reminds you not to scratch next time😆.
I rub legs and torso with alcohol after every shower. Seems to have some benefit in reducing chigger bites.
or poison Ivy/Oak
Seen a guy from Buffalo, NY few years ago that moved to Oklahoma not far from me and when he came by to introduce himself he was busy scratching, crotch, ankles, etc.
I asked him why all the scratching. He raised up his breeches legs and his ankles were raw and he said his crotch area was raw with not much hide left. I told him he had chiggers. He said he had never heard of chiggers and he had a biology degree from NY.
He wanted to know what would be the cure. I told him to get bottle of Lysol and pour it into bathtub water and crawl in and the Lysol would kill them. Make sure the water is milk colored.
I smiled when he left.
Seen him few weeks later. He said "I thought maybe he got the Lysol little too strong, I almost cried and the kids did cry but it got rid of them chiggers."
I knew their next encounter would be seed ticks but I did not mention such, sometimes a guy can give out too much info all at once.
Welcome to Oklahoma in the summertime.
By the time you start to itch ,the chiggers have fed and dropped off. What is left behind are the toxins that they secrete. Calamine lotion helps as does cortisone anti itch cream . An old country remedy was to paint the bites with clear nail polish . It acts as a barrier to air and decreases the itch somewhat.
I’m pretty fortunate in that I have a steroid cream that I use for psoriasis. Works good on this as well.
They have been in New Jersey all of my 60 years. Heck, I thought we were the only ones that had them. I would rather get bit by Mosquitos, a snake or even a rabid raccoon, before getting chiggers.
I don't know about chiggers but i do know about seed ticks. At least that's what I always called them. Almost microscopic. Absolute agony especially around the ankles. After you get them off the itching continues for at least two weeks.
Grandpa and me use to wear knee high rubber boots in taller grass and any where near the barn. We tied a kerosene rag around the top of the boot. This was in Louisa County in Central Virginia. They were awful. I don't see how chiggers could be any worse. -------------------------------Ray
Oh man!! Use to get into them on the farm in Missouri, when I was a kid. Didn't care while running through the fields and woods having the time of my life. But man oh man did I pay for it later.
Think mom treated it with, calamine (??) lotion like you'd use on poison ivy/oak.
Do y'all have horse flies in California?
The other end of the Horse is dominate in Kalif.
@Oakie Technically, south Jersey is below the Mason Dixon line (if you extend it east.) 🙄
Nonsense, even the Mason-Dixon line won't go into South Jersey. They were all through Missouri for at least the last 80 years.
And who doesn't hate chiggers?