How to deal with Chiggers: preventing the bites and treating them

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

Chiggers (Trombicula alfreddugesi in the USA, Trombicual autumnalis in the UK) are the juvenile form of the harvest mite.

The life cycle has 4 stages (egg, larvae, nymph, and adult), but only the larvae will bite. During the nymph and adult stages, the mites will eat only plants and insect eggs.
Step 2

Deet is an excellent Chigger repellant: it is found in many brands of mosquito repellant such as "Back Woods Off". Since chiggers often are found on grass, make certain that the feet and ankles are well dosed. If you expect to stand or kneel, make certain that those appropriate areas are protected as well.

Chiggers can ALSO wait for a host on brush and other vegetation, but they seem to prefer to wait on grass (short grass OR long grass!).
Step 3

When a chigger bites, it injects digestive juices into the skin, and then it sucks up the nourishment after the skin has started to dissolve. Irritation and itching do not start for some hours after the initial bite, and the chigger may feed for around 3 days.

Wherever they feed on the host a tiny red and hardened area will form that is liquid in the center: this is called a stylostome and the chigger is feeding in the middle of it. If you are itching and there is a tiny red dot in the center, then you are likely seeing the stylostome that the chigger has caused to form.

If your itching bumps have red dots in the middle, and it is Midsummer to early Fall, treat for chiggers. Chiggers will remain active and biting until the first good frost.

Chiggers prefer to feed in the body creases such as behind the knees, in the armpits, and anywhere else the body creases. They also like to feed wherever the clothing is tight, such as under socks, under the waistband, or under the elastic band of underwear.
Step 4

The best way to prevent to prevent an attack of chiggers is to use an insect repellant spray with Deet in it, especially around the ankles and the lower pants legs.

The NEXT best way is to take a soapy bath or shower. Rub well with a soapy washcloth to remove any chiggers that might be trying to find a place to bite.

Rub especially well in the creases in the groin area, as the irritation of bites is so much worse at that location.

I have also found it helpful, AFTER bathing, to spray or wipe myself with a Deet containing repellent behind my knees, around where my waistband sits, and where the elastic of my underwear goes. this gets any chiggers that I might have missed.

I ALSO spray any itchy spots that may form later in the day: if you can get them off of you before they have finished feeding it means that you will itch for that many fewer hours. The bites will still itch, of course, but for a shorter period of time as the chigger was not able to feed as long as it otherwise would have.

As I am allergic to chiggers I usually react within 2 hours of exposure. This is an unusually fast reaction: I have read that it takes most people 12 hours or more to begin to itch.
Step 5

Treatments for chigger bites, once the itch has started, includes ibuprofen (Motrin, for example) and an antihistamine. I have found that the second day is my itchiest day: after that the itching slowly fades.

Some people will put alcohol on the bite, but I believe that this is unnecessary. Insect repellant works just as well to remove the chigger and it burns much less.

Once the chigger has been removed, there is no further reason to wipe the bites with irritating substances.

Many people say that a drop of nail polish will stop the itching but I have found that it makes the itch worse, possibly because my chigger bites swell due to my allergy.

Another old method to repel chiggers-and an effective one- is to dust your pants legs and socks with powdered sulfur.
Step 6

2 ways to make your lawn less chigger-friendly are to keep the grass cut short to make them more exposed to weather, or to apply a fertilizer on your lawn that is also designed to kill chiggers.

Fertilizer will usually say on the outside of the bag if it is designed to kill chiggers. I have not used the chigger-killing fertilizer, though I have seen it advertised.
Step 7

As I mentioned above, I am allergic to chiggers. But, using the above methods, I am able to enjoy the summer fully as I garden, swim, hike, fish, and picnic.

I occasionally do get bites but, since the chiggers are removed before they have a chance to do much harm, itching is minimized.

Lastly, remember that there might be chiggers on the clothing you were wearing: wash immediately!