Chiggers

[tommy the cat]

Sorry mine are alot better now so not worth taking a pic.....to be honest they look like mozzie bites when you scratch them they become raised and you can see a hole in the centre. The ones on the back of knees were really bad looked like a love bite you could see hemorrhaging under the skin.If you get them you will know as they itch alot worse than mozzies.
The next time I wear the shirt I may be able to show you some photo's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dave

 

[Neumo]

My bites came up in a small red rash, which itches. It's interesting about the comments in the earlier post about putting cloths underwater in a bath, as I had a really long bath last night & this morning the bites were up on my shoulders & around my neck. So it's true they dont like water....

 

[treefrog]

Tommy the cat

What do the bites look like?

Don't look too closely at the gallery of pictures as you might not venture outside again.

http://firstaid.about.com/od/bitesstings/ig/Spider-Bite-Pictures/Chigger-Bites.htm

 

[C_Claycomb]

Well, I know what that web site says about Chiggers not burrowing under the skin, but my experience with them suggests that they don't just hang on the surface waiting to be brushed of either.

I found this quote:
"They do not actually "bite," but instead form a hole in the skin called a stylostome and chew up tiny parts of the inner skin, thus causing severe irritation and swelling. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_mite
This is a good read too:
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/

When I have had them, apart from when they have been on my eyelids, and, er, intimate bits they have always been found at the base of a hair, like they have crawled into the folicle just a little. At the first sign of an itch a good squeeze will often wash them out where you can stick them with tape, or apply something like Prevent (Agropharm's pyrethrum based repellent).

While DEET works to keep them off, the Prevet stuff can be handy in the field if you think you have become infested. Treating trousers and sock tops with 0.5% permethrin also works very well as a preventative. Since the dry permethrin doesn't smell, you could treat your wool shirt with it. In the past, when I think that some garment might be crawling, but I don't want to wash it, I have given it a few squirts, rolled it up in a bundle in a sealed bag and left it for a few days. Seems to have worked.

If I miss that first itch and don't nail the little blighters really quick, the itch lasts the best part of a week. Catch them early and it isn't as severe, and it goes away in a couple of days.

Good luck

 

[Rebel]

Thanks for all the information about chiggers.

It took me a while but after reading up I realized they are what I called "vendangeon" or "vendange bugs", the former word being French and the latter my own perversion.

I used to get bitten by them like crazy during the vendange (grape harvest) when I lived in the south of France. Boy did I hate those critters and I never knew what to do about them, but they went away after a few weeks.

I guess if I'd had the Internet and this forum I'd have found out what to do.