We've got chiggers, on and off, in our yard. Due to our plentiful wildlife--deer, squirrels, rabbits, and even a coyote or two, I think the chigger problem is not going away. We spray, twice, in the spring when the grandchildren are going to be here. Otherwise, we just spray ourselves when we go out to garden. My mother used to say that flowers of sulphur on your socks would keep them away, and that sorta works. Does anyone know whether there is a chigger "season" in Georgia? Does anybody know anything about their life cycle and how to interrupt it? Do they have natural predators? Any info or even folk remedies would be appreciated.
chigger questions
Soupcon,
sorry about the silly question but what is chiggers?
Ijust googled it. Never seen anything like them.
Oh, my (smile). Most urban areas and suburbs are free of them, so not to worry. They are tiny little mites that are often called "red bugs" in the south. They are barely visible. One bite itches fiercely, and has woken me out of a sound sleep. Multiple bites can drive one batty. Much more itchy than a mosquito bite. They like to travel to the more tender human parts, behind the knees, and unmentionable areas. A scrub in the shower dislodges them before they latch on, but touching the clothing you wore to garden can do you in. Hope you never have to find out about this firsthand! Sheila
I remember when I was a child have to take alcohol baths to smother them.
Painful childhood memory.
Can dogs and cats get them?
Yup.
I can remember getting chigger bites from playing in the wooded area near my house as a child. Mom said they were in the Spanish moss, not sure if that's true or not. I have recently seen them myself. My best friend freaked me out when she told me the little bug was under my skin and that's what made it itch. We used clear nail polish to "smother" them. Awful! I have seen them a lot recently, crawling on my skin or on hard surfaces outside. No bites yet, though, thank goodness! Teenie tiny things.
Any nail polish will smother them but clear doesn't show up as bad. My wife attracts them more than me, but the converse is true for mosquitoes. Just don't mistake them for some other itch like poison ivy - nail polish might make it worse. Just be glad we don't have botflies like they have in the tropics.
Butch, we have botflies. They attack squirrels and can be fatal to them. i have seen them.
chiggers do not go under your skin. they do go from hair to hair but never get under your skin. the area swells up around the hair folicle making it seem like they are under the skin but actually are not.
chiggers only bite when small and red. once they turn to adulthood they actually become vegitarians.
chiggers are only actaully one you for a day or two then fall off.
spring through fall is chigger season but the babies hatch in spring and are the ones that bite.
keep grass cut as the babies hang on tall grass to get on host. becare full of decaying wood too and any underbrush.
trying to rid your yard is hard but nurseries sell stuff you can put out for them. the best defense is chigger spray. working at a friends nursey we have discoved bermuda grass seems to attract them also.
this is what i have learned over the years and also as a candy stripper seeing chigger bites. i have also been at the nursery and gotten quite a few bites.
the stuff on the market is good for chigger bites. the best way is scrub after you been out side and if you do have a bite nail polish or chigger medicine.
also some people can have severe reactions to chiggers. my husband for one and fleas. so be careful.
Anna,
Must be different botflies than they had in Belize which lay their eggs in people - google for them. It's good to hear they have ones in GA. that can kill squirrels though.
Ya'll are making me itch! I'm glad to hear they don't actually crawl under your skin and they fall off after a day or two. I must have fallen into a bed of them every day as a child because I suffered with them all summer once upon a time.
Oh, my friend had a dreadful case of chiggers a few years ago. The bite rashes they created were something awful. Boo Boo Kitty probably had them earlier this summer. She would just jump a mile and growl at them!!!
I've seen them on the stairs to our basement, so I sprayed the heck out of that area, inside and out!!
GGG
They seem to like pine straw and spanish moss. They are nasty little guys.
They hang on the hair?? maybe that's why i didn't get them on my legs and my Husband and BIL did onw time in the woods.. My legs were shaved and they had nowhere to go??
Yes, he used nail polish.. Maybe shaving works too! :)
Susan
Here's a good little online article about chiggers, from the Missouri Conservationist magazine:
http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2000/06/50.htm
Shaving is a good thing..... but it won't stop chiggers if you're exposed to them. They can be rampant in the woods and hunters pick up a lot of them. Spanish moss does hold a lot of them. We called them 'redbugs' when I was a kid, but they're the same thing. They might fall off in 2 or 3 days but the itch can last for over a week.
I am wondering if it was chigger bites I got while I was dozing in the hammock (although some may have been mosquito)? I didn't see anything - either insect or bite. but man! did they itch! An application of rubbing alcohol did nothing to soothe and the misery lasted at least 30 minutes.
I'm certainly not an authority on chiggers, but what I've seen are bunches of teeny tiny little red dots, as opposed to mosquito bites that are bigger and swell up.