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ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES FORUM => Topic started by: JP on July 06, 2009, 01:30:58 am

Title: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 06, 2009, 01:30:58 am
Just got back from Bud's this evening. The itching started last night, this morning I showered and felt some relief from what I thought was the soft water at Bud's, he said it could be the salt that's in the water. Anyway, those dang redbugs really itch and you just have to scratch them or you ain't living!

I wore long pants the whole trip too, suckers got to me I tell you.

Who else they been bothering this season? Arrrrggghhh!!

I'm a itchin and a scratchin'!


...JP :'(
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: annette on July 06, 2009, 01:33:00 am
What are they?
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 06, 2009, 01:42:21 am
Chiggers. They are too small to see and usually you start itching a day or two after they've gotten under your skin.

The good news is it doesn't last more than a few days. But oh, how I itch now!


...JP :hissyfit:
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Kathyp on July 06, 2009, 01:53:30 am
we used to smear Vaseline over them.  don't know if it worked, but it was fun.  also knew someone who used vicks vapor rub, but i would think that would burn.  especially after scratching  :-\
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: annette on July 06, 2009, 01:55:20 am
I know when I get poison oak and start to itch, I take a really hot shower as hot as I can stand it, and then I feel much better after.

Also I have this terrific spray called" Cortaid intensive therapy cooling spray instant cooling itch relief" and keep spraying that on me.

Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Cheryl on July 06, 2009, 01:59:42 am
I've heard people can smother chiggers, which is why the Vaseline works. I'd be careful with the Vick's.... too much of it all over your body and you can begin to feel toxic (your skin absorbs the menthol/eucalyptus and too much can make you feel sick).

My mum says to dot a bit of clear nail polish over each spot. Of course, if you're covered in them it would be rather time consuming. (She may have been thinking of the Chigoe flea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chigoe_flea), or jigger.)

You've got me curious now. I'm off to Google and Wikipedia............................
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: asprince on July 06, 2009, 08:37:38 am
I have been plagued with them many times. Clear nail polish will work.

jp are they marching north? I feel your pain man.

Steve
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 06, 2009, 10:40:08 am
Too many spots to put anything on, I'm just gonna grin and bear it, its not too too bad, if I don't think about it much. I know from past experience it'll only last another day or so.

Gonna have to ask Bud if he ever gets them as he only wears blue jean shorts every day and works his land and bees in shorts and that's it!

Itch, itch, scratch, scratch!


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Scadsobees on July 06, 2009, 11:05:54 am
Legs are bad, but hands are worse for those little buggers. 

I just hate it when I get an itchy chigger finger. :-D
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 06, 2009, 11:47:06 am
Legs are bad, but hands are worse for those little buggers. 

I just hate it when I get an itchy chigger finger. :-D

That was good Rick, definitely worth a chuckle. :-D

BTW, Bud said the red bugs don't bother him any. :shock:


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Cheryl on July 06, 2009, 01:02:43 pm
While I was researching last night, one of the things I read was "take a table-salt bath" ... put a cup or two of table salt (Iodized, most likely) in your bath and submerge those chiggers!
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Irwin on July 06, 2009, 01:59:36 pm
Jp not cool man now I'm itching all over just thinking about that ;)
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Keith13 on July 06, 2009, 04:59:15 pm
Bleach on them will kill them avoid the hot showers it drives them crazy causing them to itch worse. Those are miserable little buggers

Keith
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: G3farms on July 06, 2009, 05:04:24 pm
we always used nail polish when we got them out picking blackberries, daddy would have us painted with red poka-dots all over, don't guess mom had any clear. Had to walk around looking like you had chicken pox or something.

G3
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Cheryl on July 06, 2009, 06:10:22 pm
daddy would have us painted with red poka-dots all over, don't guess mom had any clear.
Hahahaha!!! Pick a fun color! Or several colors!! Hehe!

(You can get some really, really cheap stuff -- for chiggers it shouldn't matter!)
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: johnnybigfish on July 06, 2009, 06:36:22 pm
Ok, then....heres what I know about Chiggers......
Before they become chiggers, there are redbugs( real tiny mites, but you can see them sometimes)...The redbugs change to chiggers....or the chiggers change to redbugs...or, maybe, the chiggers are baby redbugs! (I told you I knew about these things! :roll:)...At any rate,....once you get the itchy part going on, theres nothing alive under the skin to kill anymore...the critter already dug in, got a drink, left some kinda enzyme what makes you itchy!...Soooo,...That means theres nothing to kill them with..only stuff to distract the itchyness I guess!...But, what really works good is getting a cigarette and burning the bump :shock:..Then, all you gotta deal with is the burn pain instead of the itch!..Unfortunately, when using a cigarette, people will think you have smallpox from all the red dots! Then the health dept comes and gets you!

(Note to self.......Give medical advice prior to dosing with Ambien....)


your friend,
john
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Cheryl on July 06, 2009, 08:17:29 pm
(Note to self.......Give medical advice prior to dosing with Ambien....)

your friend,
john
Sleep well, sweet dreams!
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 06, 2009, 11:04:42 pm
I am infested! All I got to say! :hissyfit: :rant: :hissyfit: :needhelp:


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: beee farmer on July 06, 2009, 11:26:06 pm
One word JP  Chamho-Phenique..... ok maybe 2... please try it ... it wont make the itch go completly away but surely makes it a lot more tolerable.  Beleive me I grew up on a farm in Missouri... tick and chiggers were a fact of live there. 
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 06, 2009, 11:30:05 pm
There are many chigger bites on me but they don't itch too terribly bad. If it gets any worse I will put something on them, but they should go away by tomorrow or the next day.


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: mgmoore7 on July 07, 2009, 08:27:40 am
Chiggers are the worst ever.  My family was at my parents place and we got into an area with them.  The saddest was my toddler children.  They were torchered by them. 

Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 07, 2009, 08:40:46 am
Matt, I can't imagine kids having these things, it would drive them absolutely crazy.

This is the worst case I've ever had, hands down, as for as multitudes of bites, my legs are covered as well as my waist area and some on my arms.

Haven't called about the apiguard yet will try and do so today.


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Scadsobees on July 07, 2009, 09:42:43 am
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question488.htm

Interesting information.....my mom always gets chigger bites when we go camping, but I've never had any.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: mgmoore7 on July 07, 2009, 10:58:12 am
JP
Yes, it is hard to tell a 3 year old to stop itching so much that they start bleeding.  That was an odd year if I recall with the weather being just right for them to multiply. 

They seem to be attracted to the areas that are tight against the skin like sock lines, underwear edges, waist lines, etc.  I had them in the crotch area in addition to other areas and boy oh boy they were no fun.

Thanks on the apiguard, no rush.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 07, 2009, 11:03:52 am
Now I see why Bud doesn't get bothered by chiggers, he's practically naked everyday except for the blue jean shorts!

Thanks for the info Rick.

Will let you know soon about the apiguard Matt.


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Kathyp on July 07, 2009, 12:21:30 pm
i wonder if head lice shampoo would kill the suckers  i always thought they went under the skin.  thanks for the article.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Irwin on July 07, 2009, 12:26:52 pm
I may have to stop reading this post because I start itching every time I read it.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Cindi on July 07, 2009, 12:53:40 pm
JP, well bust ma britches, sorry, but I couldn't help but have that hearty laugh when I heard your story, feel kind of sorry for ya (well, sort of, not really, but sort of)  :evil:.

I have to say that chiggers sounds something like what I know as scabies.  Been in contact with that a couple of times here, having had some particular people come to stay at my house.  Scabies is a mite that lives below the surface of the skin, surfacing to feed on the dead skin cells and then going back under the skin (probably to finish off their above-surface meal).  The way to rid scabies sounds very similar to that of chiggers.  Smothering the dudes, like putting something all over the skin so that they can't surface.  I looked in my health book many years ago to see what they look like and man, oh man, are they ever ugileeeeeee!!!!  Anyways, the itching from the scabies mite, even after they are smothered carries on for a couple of weeks.  We had a child that had them and had been treated for excema for about 6 months before he came to our home.  I thought that rather weird.  When his itching continued on for a couple of weeks and we became itchy too, I took him to the doctor to see what was up.  This doctor said that he had been diagnosed, it was not excema, but scabies.  Nasty stuff.  Good luck with the chiggeradoo.  Have a great, most wonderful day, to love and live, health.  Cindi

here's a link to a picture of what this particular hideous little thingy looks like

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scabies
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: chiggerbait on July 07, 2009, 02:40:01 pm
As you can see from my name I have a little experience with the b------s.  The only thing you can do is prevention, the best I have found and believe me I've tried everything is 'Skin So Soft' which is a Avon product.  After you have been bitten Benydaryl lotion works or just apply roll-on deorderant to the bite.

Luck,
Chiggerbait
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 07, 2009, 06:30:57 pm
Cindi, I have heard of scabies before, usually its old people (like you, sort of, not really, well sort of! :evil: :-D) that get it, usually in hospitals.

Chiggerbait, they must really go for you! :-D

Still itching! And a scratchin'! :shock:


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: RayMarler on July 08, 2009, 02:52:07 am
Salt in the bath sounded like it might work. Chlorox in the bath may help. Maybe hydrogen peroxide might be worth a try. maybe smear honey on the spots, that may work too. I know nothing, so just chatting away with random thoughts.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: asprince on July 08, 2009, 08:17:20 am
Salt in the bath sounded like it might work. Chlorox in the bath may help. Maybe hydrogen peroxide might be worth a try. maybe smear honey on the spots, that may work too. I know nothing, so just chatting away with random thoughts.

Around here, if you smear honey on the spots, the ants will eat you alive! Redbugs.........Ants...........the lesser of two evels?

Steve
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 08, 2009, 08:25:11 am
This is without a doubt the worst case of redbugs I've ever had! Broke down and bought some Caladryl last night. My wife said they were all over me and I still itch.

Bud said to take a bath with chlorox but that seemed a little scary to me at the time, perhaps that is the ticket. Will have to ask him how much chlorox?


...JP :needhelp:
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Scadsobees on July 08, 2009, 09:22:14 am

Bud said to take a bath with chlorox but that seemed a little scary to me at the time, perhaps that is the ticket. Will have to ask him how much chlorox?


...JP :needhelp:

If you just take a bath in straight chlorox, it is guaranteed to stop the itching.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Vibe on July 08, 2009, 10:20:58 am
Straight Clorox might be a bit strong. I'm sure it would get rid of the chiggers, but the side effect could be worse. Diluted down a bit will work too - a cup or so in a bath. I've also had good luck with acetone (not on the REAL sensitive places though) - also known as fingernail polish remover.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 08, 2009, 01:10:38 pm
Taking a bath in total bleach can't be all that good, think I'll pass. The caladryl didn't do all that much, except fill the puffed up spots with caladryl lotion, which made them even bigger. When I scratched them, caladryl came out, still a little itchy.


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Scadsobees on July 08, 2009, 01:33:16 pm
Taking a bath in total bleach can't be all that good, think I'll pass.

Good, hope nobody took me too seriously, you wouldn't notice the itching because your skin would be gone (not to mention nasal cavities)!! :evil:
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: greenismycolor on July 09, 2009, 12:38:21 am
JP
The bleach will work. chiggers are a complete terror. Put the bleach in a spray bottle or on a cotton ball and put it directly on the bite. They might still itch a bit, but it will kill the bug, and it shouldn't hurt your uninfected skin.
sorry for you i know how it feels
green
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 09, 2009, 12:40:50 am
Thanks green.


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: TwT on July 09, 2009, 11:31:19 am
you better hope PETA aint reading this post, they will get you for killing the red bugs, get him red bugs   :evil: being a Louisiana boy I would figure you was use to them by now, I aint had none since moving to Ga. I miss them  :-*  ;)
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Vibe on July 09, 2009, 11:39:10 am
I aint had none since moving to Ga. I miss them  :-*  ;)
There ya go JP. Now you know where to send them to.
:D
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Irwin on July 10, 2009, 12:48:05 pm
Jp how's the itch today :-D
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: annette on July 10, 2009, 01:36:39 pm
As long as it isn't the seven year itch :-D :-D
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 11, 2009, 01:38:55 am
Not itching anymore, packed them all up and sent them to Ted in Georgia! :lau: :lau: :lau:

Look like I got the chicken pox though. :shock:


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Cindi on July 11, 2009, 10:19:20 am
JP, oh what terrible stuff, I do truly feel sorry for ya, even though you said I was  old, smiling.  I wondered when you spoke about caladryl.  I know now what you meant, only we call it calamine lotion, must be the same active ingredient.  I am on a quest now to find out about chiggers, sounds terrible.  Oh well, do take care, all will be well.  Have that most wonderful day, the health to go with it, and love our life.  Cindi
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 11, 2009, 10:48:51 am
Hey Cindi, pm Ted in a few days and he can tell you all about them! :lau:


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Cindi on July 11, 2009, 10:50:04 am
Bwah, ha, ha, ha, (how do you spelling laughing anyways, have said this many a time).  Poor Ted, he will never know what hit him, smiling.  Beautiful days in our great life, love and live them, with great health.  Cindi
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: 1frozenhillbilly on July 18, 2009, 06:37:03 pm
dont know too much about chiggers,  scabies is a lice (sarcoptes scabiei to be exact) and is the same lice that causes mange in dogs,  thats no fun  either!  glad to hear your chiggers are clearing up.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: JP on July 18, 2009, 07:34:53 pm
I'm glad its over, all I got to say about that! ;)


...JP
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Mason on October 29, 2009, 01:51:36 am
I got tore up with chiggers two weeks ago while visiting in Alabama.

long pants boots the works and I was polka dotted.  Hundreds of bites mostly on my ankles and waist line.  Other bites in spots unimaginably uncomfortable.  I don't know how they got inside my cloths.  Turns out after some research the itching is in fact the flesh eating enzyme injected by the chigger and there is really nothing known that works.  By the time you start itching the chigger is long gone on his way to a full grown mite with 8 legs instead of only 6 at the chigger stage.  You basically have to just use something to stop the itching while the enzyme is absorbed.  Up to 2 weeks or more.  I got bit up 16 days ago and still not completely bump free but getting much better.

I tried several products but regular cortizone cream worked best for me. 

They are horrible little creatures.  They itch as much as a fire ant and their attack is even more stealthy. 
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Bee Happy on October 29, 2009, 08:57:29 am
redbugs don't bother me but there's fleas all over the property and I must look like 2 for 1 all you can eat at denny's to them. They ignore my wife completely if I'm within 10 feet of her.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: jayj200 on May 28, 2014, 07:12:33 pm
Annett
says the hotest shower. makes me think
ten years ago got stuck by a catfish after while that was painful.
darned uncomfertable.
found the remadie though soak in hot water. worked like a charm fast too

think Annett or Kathy P said for the itch, like after many bee stings.
use vagisill. go figure
after the night i got hit many times (unbearable) I'll keep some on hand.

jay
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: pulkownik-BAN on May 29, 2014, 10:11:28 am
I love this game :)
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: annette on June 01, 2014, 01:22:25 pm
The vagisil is recommended by Kathy. I have never tried it.

But the hot water treatments work really well with itching.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Hi-Tech on September 25, 2015, 02:53:24 pm
I know this is a very old post but I cant help busting the chigger bubble. Especially since I get them all the freaking time! LOL

(not my research. Copied from a science page)


Chiggers first show up as annoying red bumps. An itch begins. It grows. More hard red welts surface. From your feet and ankles upward, and especially at those tender locations your mother told not to scratch in public, a maddening itch takes hold.

Savage scratching begins. Every welt becomes a persistent, exquisitely itching preoccupation that continues to irritate for days and even weeks. You probably recognize these symptoms of chigger bites. Yet we never see the culprits responsible for this summertime agony. What are chiggers? Why do they bite us? How can we stop that horrible itching?

Myths about chiggers are widespread. Many believe chiggers are some type of bug. Folklore tells us they burrow under our skin and die, that they drink our blood and that they can best be killed by suffocation with nail polish or bathing with bleach, alcohol, turpentine or salt water. Surprisingly, all these popular facts are just plain wrong.

Chiggers are not bugs or any other type of insect. Chiggers are the juvenile (or larval) form of a specific family of mites, the Trombiculidae. Mites are arachnids, like spider and scorpions, and are closely related to ticks.

Chigger mites are unique among the many mite families in that only the larval stage feeds on vertebrate animals; chiggers dine on us only in their childhood, and later become vegetarians that live on the soil.

Chiggers are tiny-less than 1/150th of an inch in diameter. More than a thousand of them could line up across this page and still leave room for two or three hundred more. At this size, chiggers are almost invisible to the unaided eye. However, when several chiggers cluster together near an elastic waistband or wrist watch they can be seen because of their bright red color.

Chiggers are born red; they do not become red from feeding on blood as some believe. An engorged, well-fed chigger changes to a yellow color.

Under the microscope, you can see that the chigger is an ugly little creature (if it was larger, it could star in any science fiction movie). Although adult chigger mites have eight legs, the troublesome young chiggers has only six.

One of the greatest misconceptions about chiggers is that they burrow into our skin and eventually die within the tissues, thus causing the persistent itch. This widespread myth has its origin in the southern states where pests with similar names such as jigger flea or the chigoe do attack by burrowing under skin. Chiggers are not equipped to burrow, and they are much too large to enter through the pores.

If chiggers do not burrow under skin or drink blood, what are they doing that itches so much? Chiggers do bite us, much like ticks do. Chiggers attach by inserting minute specialized mouth parts into skin depressions, usually at skin pores or hair follicles.

The chigger's piercing mouth parts are short and delicate, and can penetrate only thin skin or where the skin wrinkles and folds.

That's why most chigger bites are around the ankles, the back of the knees, about the crotch, under the belt line and in the armpits. The insertion of the mouth parts is not perceptible. The bite alone is not the source of the itch.

The reason the bite itches so intensely and for such a long time is because the chigger injects saliva into its victim after attaching to the skin. This saliva contains a powerful digestive enzyme that literally dissolves the skin cells it contacts. It is this liquefied tissue, never blood, that the chigger ingests and uses for food.

A chigger usually goes unnoticed for one to three hours after it starts feeding. During this period the chigger quietly injects its digestive saliva. After a few hours your skin reacts by hardening the cells on all sides of the saliva path, eventually forming a hard tube-like structure called a stylostome.

The stylostome walls off the corrosive saliva, but it also functions like a feeding tube for the hungry chigger. The chigger sits with its mouthparts attached to the stylostome, and like a person drinking a milk shake through a straw, it sucks up your liquefied tissue. Left undisturbed, the chigger continues alternately injecting saliva into the bite and sucking up liquid tissue.

It is the stylostome that irritates and inflames the surrounding tissue and causes the characteristic red welt and intense itch. The longer the chigger feeds, the deeper the stylostome grows, and the larger the welt will eventually become. The idea that the welt swells and eventually engulfs the feeding chiggers is also a myth. Many people have seen a small red dot inside a welt (usually under a water blister), but this is the stylostome tube and not a chigger body.

The time required for a chigger to complete its meal varies with the location of the bite, the host and the species. If undisturbed, chiggers commonly take three or four days, and sometimes longer, to eat their dinner. This is not surprising when you consider that this is the first and last meal of the young chigger's life.

On human hosts, however, chiggers seldom get the chance to finish a meal. The unlucky chigger that depends on a human for its once-in-a-lifetime dinner is almost sure to be accidentally brushed away or scratched off by the victim long before the meal is complete.

It may give you some consolation to know that when a chigger is removed before it has fully engorged, it cannot bite again and will eventually die. Seems only just, doesn't it?

Itching usually peaks a day or two after the bite occurs. This happens because the stylostome remains imbedded in your skin tissue long after the chigger is gone. Your skin continues the itch, allergic reaction to stylostome for many days. The stylostome is eventually absorbed by your body, a slow process that takes a week to 10 days, or longer.

It is of little comfort to learn that North American chiggers only bite humans by accident. Although our chiggers can feed on most animals, they are really looking for reptiles and birds, their preferred hosts. The itching reaction human skin has to chigger bites occurs because we are not their correct hosts. Chiggers that specifically prey on humans in Asia and Pacific Islands cause no itching!

Unlike ticks, which quietly wait for hosts, chiggers run about almost constantly. Chiggers tend to move towards and onto any new object placed in their environment. You can test your lawn for the presence of chiggers by placing a black piece of cardboard or a white saucer. Vertically on the ground. If chiggers are present they will move rapidly over the object and accumulate on the upper edge where you can see them with a magnifying glass.

The chiggers that annoy people have long legs and can move rapidly. They are capable of getting all over a person's body in just a few minutes. The long trek from a victim's shoe to the belt line (a favorite point of attack) is a climb that take about 15 minutes but is more than 5000 times the chiggers's tiny length. That's about the same as a human scaling a large mountain-and on an empty stomach.

Chiggers are small enough to penetrate the meshes of your clothing, but they usually stay on the surface of your clothes until they come to an easy opening such as your cuffs, collar or waistband. Once they are on your body, chiggers wander about for an hour or more looking for a tender spot to dine. If these traveling chiggers reach an obstacle such as a belt or an elastic band, rather than cross over the obstacle or go under it, they stop and begin to feed.

The distribution of chiggers in any area is extremely spotty. Chiggers tend to congregate in patches, while nearby spots of apparently the same suitable living space is free of them. Often, people will be heavily attacked while sitting in a chigger concentration area, while the lucky folks sitting only a few yards away will get no bites at all.

Women and children get more bites than men. Folklore says that if chiggers have a choice, they will attack women before men. But the truth is that men, women and children collect the same number of chiggers during a walk in the woods. Women and children just have thinner skin, and thus more surface area that chiggers can easily bite.

Chiggers are affected by temperature. They are most active in afternoons, and when the ground temperature is between 77 and 86 degrees. Chiggers become completely inactive when substrate temperatures fall below 60 degrees; temperature below 42 degrees will kill the chigger species that bite us.

If you can, plan your outdoor activities around your thermometer reading to keep chigger bites to a minimum. Researchers have also found that chiggers actively avoid objects hotter than 99 degrees. Rocks that have been baking in the sun are almost always free of chiggers, and make a safe place to sit when you are in a chigger-infested area.

The first line of defense against chiggers is the right kind of clothing. Shorts, sleeveless shirts and sandals are nearly suicidal in chigger infested areas. Wear tightly woven socks and clothes, long pants long sleeved shirts, and high shoes or boots. Tucking pant legs inside boots and buttoning cuffs and collars as tightly as possible also helps keep the wandering chiggers on the outside of your clothes.

When you get home, change clothes as soon as possible, and wash them before you wear them again. If you don't, the chiggers will get you the next time you put them on.

Regular mosquitoes repellents will repel chiggers. All brands are equally effective. Applying these products to exposed skin and around the edge of openings in your clothes, such as cuffs, waistbands, shirt fronts and boot tops, will force chiggers to cross the treated line get inside your clothes.

Unfortunately these repellents are only potent for two to three hours and must be reapplied frequently.

By far, the most effective and time proven repellent for chiggers is sulphur. Chiggers hate sulphur and definitely avoid it. Powdered sulphur, called sublimed sulphur or flowers of sulfur, is available through most pharmacies. Dust the powdered sulphur around the opening of your pants, socks and boots. If you plan to venture into a heavily infested area, powdered sulphur can be rubbed over the skin on your legs, arms and waist. Some people rub on a mixture of half talcum powder and half sulphur.

But a word of warning: sulphur has a strong odor. The combination of sulfur and sweat will make you unpleasant company for anyone who has not had the same treatment. Sulphur is also irritating to the skin of some people. If you have not used sulphur before, try it on a small area of your skin first.

Some families have problems enjoying summer backyard activities because of chiggers. The most effective means to eliminate these chiggers is just remove the habitat favored by the adults and juveniles. Clearing away brush and weeds, keeping the grass cut close to the ground and removing conditions which attract small animals that cans serve as hosts is the best way to get chiggers out of your yard. Chiggers seldom survive in areas that are well groomed.

The best precaution against chigger bites is simply taking a warm soapy bath with plenty of scrubbing as soon as possible after exposure. If you bathe at once, while the chiggers are still running over your body, you can wash them off before they bite. A bath will also remove any attached and feeding chiggers before you start to feel the itch.

Warm soapy water is all that is necessary to remove and kill chiggers. There is no need, and it is rather dangerous, to apply household products such as kerosene, turpentine, ammonia, alcohol, gasoline, salt or dry cleaning fluid. Don't do it.

Attached chiggers are removed by even the lightest rubbing. If you are away from civilization, you can remove attached chiggers before they do much damage by frequently rubbing down with a towel or a cloth.

What can you do to alleviate suffering if these precautions fail? Lotions will relive the itching somewhat, but no substance is completely effective. The only ultimate cure is time, since there is nothing you can do to dislodge the chigger's feeding tube, the true cause of your itch. You must simply wait until your body breaks down and absorbs the foreign object.

In the meantime, local anesthetics such as benzocaine, camphor-phenol and ammonium hydroxide may provide you with several hours of comfort at a stretch. Over-the-counter creams can also help. In rare cases, some people are allergic to chigger bites and require prescription medications from their doctor.

The most popular home remedy for which there is little justification is to dab nail polish on the welt. This cannot "smother" the chigger because it has not burrowed into your skin, and it was probably scratched off long ago. The only benefit to applying a thick coat of nail polish is that it helps to remind you not to scratch the bite.

Chronic scratching will only cause the stylostome to further irritate. Scratching deep enough to remove the stylostome will probably cause a secondary infection that is worse than the original chigger bite. If you do scratch, disinfect the chigger bite with topical antiseptics.

Fortunately, in North America the only real danger from chigger bites is secondary infections that develop after scratching with dirty fingernails. Our chiggers do not carry Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia or any other disease. Some veterans may recall this is not the case in Asia and the Pacific, where chiggers can transmit disease called scrub typhus. Luckily, Missourians have nothing to fear from chiggers except that terrible itch.

There is no creature alive that can cause more torment for its size than the chigger. By at least knowing what your attacker is and how it operates, you can itch less this summer, and get more enjoyment from your outdoor activities.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: bobsim on September 27, 2015, 05:30:01 am
  Wow, six years, three pages and no-one has mentioned Seasick Steve? Hmmm.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4XPXRTsPpI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4XPXRTsPpI)
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: KeyLargoBees on January 06, 2016, 12:13:05 pm
Thats Awesome.....I have never heard SS Steve before thanks for sharing ;-)
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Groundhawg on August 24, 2016, 09:54:16 am
I was doing an OAV treatment on my bees Monday and got to think about the times I have had redbugs and if the bees felt better after the mites were gotten off them.
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Ben Framed on September 28, 2022, 02:36:27 am
we always used nail polish when we got them out picking blackberries, daddy would have us painted with red poka-dots all over, don't guess mom had any clear. Had to walk around looking like you had chicken pox or something.

G3

Haa haa, I can picture that G3. We use a cap full of clorox added to a bath after blackberry picking for an aid against the chiggers, and then the clear polish if needed later.

Phillip
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Ben Framed on September 28, 2022, 02:42:55 am
i wonder if head lice shampoo would kill the suckers  i always thought they went under the skin.  thanks for the article.

Good question Kathy, and I also thought they went under the skin... I certainly can not see them above once they 'dig in' lol. .

Phillip
Title: Re: Redbugs! Arrrrrrrrrrgghhh!!!
Post by: Michael Bush on September 28, 2022, 06:58:32 am
They don't hang around long enough for any kind of shampoo or other things to make any difference.  And, as stated, they don't burrow under the skin.  When I was a kid we put nail polish on them thinking it would suffocate them.  But, of course, there weren't there anymore...  We used to put sulfur in our socks to keep the ticks and chiggers out.  It was somewhat effective.