I friggin HATE Chiggers

Open Carry
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I encountered these evil creatures when i was a kid hiking through fields and wooded areas. Well, last weekend at the races, we had a “dirt devil” come through. I was stuck under the car and couldn’t go anywhere. This little dust storm had apparently picked up the Chiggers in the fields and deposited the little bastards all over us. After a Clorox bath and a crapload of Benadryl, I can finally stop scratching. Moving north sounds better everyday.

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Remind again what a chigger is?

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its a tiny tiny little bug that likes to get inside your clothes and bites you like a tick. When you scratch, it moves and bites you again, and again… The bites are really itchy whelps like what you would experience from a mosquito. You have to kill the chiggers so they don’t keep moving and biting. hence the clorox bath.

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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Holy crap!

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I did! I don’t know what you are thinking of

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I hate them, too. They can get real bad here in Texas.

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The heat down here in AZ keeps em away…they turn into teeny tiny briquettes about the time they cross the border lol :joy:

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I believe you about the heat. I notice that when it’s over 98 degrees or so, they don’t come out. Neither do the mosquitoes.

Back in the 90’s, I lived for a few years in the California desert, about an hour west of Yuma (El Centro/Imperial Valley area). Beautiful scenery and gorgeous weather in the late Fall, Winter and early Spring. But summer time would sometimes get up to 124 degrees! The few years I lived out there I never got bit by any kind of bug! Only insects I saw were flies and some teeny little white flying things. No mosquitoes, chiggers, fleas, deer fly, ticks, ground hornets, biting gnats or any of the other stinging, biting demon bugs that have bitten me while living in Florida, Mississippi and Texas. And I remember seeing only one roach while I was out there. That dry desert weather sure was great from a biting bug and allergy perspective!

Anyway, spraying copious amounts of insect repellent usually keeps most chiggers away from me. I still manage to get one or two, but not the 100 or more bites that have covered my body a few times and kept me awake with their torturous itch for a week.

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We’ve got em here big time in the swamplands of coastal NC. I have either started becoming immune to their nonsense or we have cut down the population. Not as bad last summer as it has been in the past.

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I’ve never had this issue. Makes me happy to live in the mountains

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Chiggers are the devil when he has been parted in a million pieces and them little red bastards come to life.

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They are actually the larva of a mite. The eggs are deposited in the skin and hatch and grow there. I have always used cortisone cream on bites to stop the itch including poison ivy. Didn’t work on these little devils. I finally realized that I was putting a steroid on the little bastards and making them stronger. DOH! Now as soon as I detect them I douse them good with Dr. Tichenor’s and it kills them. I only have to suffer the itch for a couple of days instead of a couple of weeks.

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Just have a good scratch and then jump in a heavily chlorinated pool .

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Okay… So I am living on Long Island and about two years ago I went into the Pine Barrens and my legs were eaten alive by Chiggers. This has made me quite nervous about hiking except in well-hiked areas without gaining more information on Chiggers. Are they turned off by this bug sprays? Is there any better treatment than ching-ex? I felt like the best option was to cut off my legs last time. Hahaha. If anyone has any information I would appreciate it.

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Powdered sulphur sprinkled on your boots and ankles will stop chiggers from hitching a ride with you.

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DDT worked great when I was a kid. EPA always bans the good stuff. :frowning_face:

:wink:

Does that work for ticks, too? I find those little buggers hitching a ride even when I use DEET. :angry:

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Not sure if it works for ticks. But I haven’t found any ticks on me lately.

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The sulphur does work for ticks. As for treating the chiggers after you have them, soak them really good with Dr. Tichenor’s. It kills the little bastard larvae. The itch goes away in a couple of days. Fastest treatment I have found.

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BTW, don’t you know that ticks wait on branches for you to walk under them so they can drop on your back. :wink:

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Had that happen to me when I was a kid. Dang thing had climbed a cedar tree, then dropped from it, landing on me. Weird thing is that cedar chips are supposed to repel them.

Treating clothing and gear with Permethrin is supposed to be one of the best ways to deal with them.

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