How to Avoid Chiggers

Chiggers are not insects, but tiny mites that are approximately 1/50 inch long. Even though they're hard to see, they can do plenty of damage if they attach to your body, leaving itchy, festering red welts.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Long Pants
• Long-sleeved Shirts
• Socks
• Antibacterial Soaps
• Insect Repellents
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Sulfur Powders
• Rubbing Alcohol

1. Wear a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Tuck the pants inside your socks, and tuck the shirt into your pants. Also, be sure your shoes don't have any spots with mesh ventilation, or chiggers could get in there.

2. Spray insect repellent containing DEET (diethyl toluamide) on your shoes and around your ankles, socks and waist.

3. Buy 100 percent sulfur powder at a pharmacy. Before heading outside, sprinkle some sulfur powder around your ankles, waist and underarms. This is remarkably effective against chiggers.

4. Avoid walking through waist-high weeds, brushing against thickets and tall grass, and sitting down in the grass.

5. Undress immediately after your exposure to chigger habitat and take a warm, soapy shower. Pay special attention to scrubbing the areas around your ankles, waistline, underarms and anywhere there are folds or creases in your skin.

6. Wipe the "chigger hot spots" (ankles, waistline) down with a bit of rubbing alcohol.

7. Have someone examine you for chiggers. Remember that they're extremely tiny, but if you find one soon after being outside, you can remove it before it starts biting.

8. Wash the clothes you wore outside before putting them on again.

Tips & Warnings

• Chigger season in the United States generally runs from early spring to late summer.
• Chiggers are also called red bugs because of their bright red-orange color. It's the larvae that attack humans.
• Although chigger bites are extremely irritating, chiggers are not known to cause any diseases in the United States.
• If you've been bit by a chigger, the site will typically start itching like mad after a few hours. The irritation can last up to two weeks. See "How to Recognize Chigger Bites," under Related eHows, for information on how to recognize and treat the bites.
• Fill an old sock with sulfur powder, tie it off at the top, and pat the sock against your ankles and waist to leave a small amount of powder without making a mess.
• Some commercial products to use for chiggers are Chigg-away and Chigarid.
• Read the label carefully on insect repellents containing DEET. Generally, repeated application is not recommended for a child, and other cautions may apply.

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on 11/22/2005 Covering up from toes to eyeballs in not an option when walking in the woods with my dog when it is 100 degrees and 100% humidity in VA. I found that Old Hickory sulfur ointment works very well at keeping bites to a minimum. It feels like petrolium jelly and smells like a match. I apply from the tops of feet to shin, then rub my still slightly greasy hands on my dog's paws. We both experience many fewer bites as a result and get softer feet as a bonus.

on 11/22/2005 Those little critters (we call them no-see-ums down in Alabama) went right up my shorts one day while I was weeding my flowers. I began itching like crazy!
A friends country grandmother recommended this to me:
Place a hot compress over bites for a minute, (I just got straight into a very hot bathtub) then rub a teaspoon or more of Clorox over the area, wait another minute, and then wash it off. The relief was instant! I don't know if the Clorox is bad for you, but I had no noticeable side effects from it and my itching was gone forever!
The memory of itching and scratching for days from those wretched chiggers bites is still as vivid as ever. I wish my Mom had known about this instant miracle treatment!

on 11/22/2005 I use baby oil from the top of my feet to my knees. But i still use a deet product on my clothing. I think the oil may confuse their sensory perception, like vegetable shortening patties do with mites on honeybees.

on 11/22/2005 I chop old fashion yellow laundry soap Octagon, put it in a blender with water and mix it till it is like cold cream. Then I add sulfur and mix again. Before going out to pick blackberries I lather up from toes to nose and I never get a chigger bite. I shower when I return to the house.
A batch will last a few years.

on 11/22/2005 To Glenn H.: Nail polish does not suffucate chiggers as they do NOT burrow under the skin. They normally drop off after a couple of days if your scratching has not already dislodged them.