Chiggers--Prevention or Relief Suggestions?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Does anyone have any tips on preventing or treating chigger bites? I've used Off and Cutter as a repellant, but I still seem to get these nasty little bites around the ankles and even the waistline.

I'm guessing these bugs are nearly microscopic, since I've never seen what's biting.

I've heard that soaking in a tub with some bleach will provide some relief, but if so, it's limited relief.



-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), June 10, 1999

Answers

We paint them with clear fingernail polish. It keeps them from traveling, denies them air and does relieve the itching.

You have my sympathies.

-- Kay (jkbrooks@bellsouth.net), June 10, 1999.


amonia is best relief - I buy bulk - but it also is main ingredient in little OTC tube.

cure? Asphalt. as in asphalt everything around you. hehehehe

I think the answer might be in changing body chemistry. my husband rarely gets bit - I stay welted from first of jun thru end of aug.

justme

-- justme (not@home.com), June 10, 1999.


According to people on the Michael Hyatt site, putting some sulphur in a sock and dusting the bottom of your pant legs and your socks will keep them off. (This is supposed to help with ticks, too.)

This is in the Supplies folder in a thread titled "Ticks."

-- Don (whytocay@hotmail.com), June 10, 1999.


Make a heavy solution of Epsom salt water in your bathtub, get in and get completely wet. Get out and stand in front of a fan until you dry. Then put your clothes on. After you come back in for the last time, repeat the process and put on clean clothes. This won't keep every one of them off of you, but we've done this for years and it makes a big difference in how many we get.

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), June 10, 1999.

This is the way my Grandmother treated chigger bites on us kids when I was a girl and it works. Add 1/2 cup of bleach to bath water...kills them dead. Oh, don't forget to get in the bath.(g)

-- Cary Mc from Tx (Caretha@compuserve.com), June 10, 1999.


I have found that sponging off with a dilute bleach solution when bathing after working in an infested area will remove them before they can do much harm.

-- a (a@a.a), June 10, 1999.

I have tried every suggestion mentioned here. None of them work for me. Staying inside a sealed house works. I'm told that shooting yourself also gets rid of the problem. I can't confirm this since I've never been able to interview any of the people that have tried this remedy.

best wishes,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 10, 1999.


Had a friend that lived in the lowlands, swore that a teaspoon of sulfur with something to wash it down (honey etc)was given to her and her siblings every so often and that NOTHING would attach themselves to them the critters would crawl on them, but would never bite.FWIW

-- Paladin (HaveGun@Will.Travel), June 10, 1999.

What is a chigger ???

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 10, 1999.

Eat the sulfer?? Yikes!

I think I'll try the dust around the pants first.

But then again, I'm getting desperate. I'll try all the other remedies too, except for the asphalt (laughing).

Another question: I know they're still alive inside the bite. When they come out will they bite again, or is that the end of their life cycle?

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), June 10, 1999.



Chris

Well, haven never seen one, I can't really describe it. But it's a small bug that bites you and burrows in your skin and about four days later it'll leave on its own. They itch worse than a mosquito bite, and it'll ooze and scab over and eventually heal.

Getting bit in the underarm is the pits!

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), June 10, 1999.


Arthropods like chiggers and tick (and spiders, for that matter) aren't bothered very much by repellents. They can be stopped by application of a toxicant, such as permethrin, applied to clothing. This kills them on contact instead of merely repelling them. Treat your field clothes every two weeks, including your socks and hat, and be certain that your pants legs are tucked into your socks at all times, and keep your shirt sleeves rolled down. Permethrin is available under the name Permanone from most outdoor retailers. In conjuction with repellents on your wrists and neck, this should do the job.

-- klm (klm@nwhre.not), June 10, 1999.

For great relief after being infested by them, get some Povidone- Iodine Solution 10%. This is available at your local drug store, on the shelf. I get a small plastic bottle, 8oz, for a few dollars. Then use a q-tip or something like that, dip it in the solution and "paint" the entire area that is red and itchy. Do this for a day or two and you will be amazed. It kills the mites and relieves the itch. This solution is also good for a bunch of other skin infections.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), June 10, 1999.

I have personally used sulfur powder. Since chiggers seem to prefer skin under tight fitting clothes the best, make sure you put it on/inside your socks. I even put a spoonful in each pants pocket. Seems to work well.

I had them so bad one time (before I knew the sulfur trick) my wife had to take me to the ER for a shot of benydril (sp). No problems since using sulfur.

-- Ninh Hoa (cant say@this.time), June 10, 1999.


In the mountains of West Virginia, where I grew up, they were called Jiggers. Sounds more ominous and, perhaps, a better descriptive name. Many of the cures mentioned here were my grandmother's favorites. She prided herself in home remedies. Of course it was necessary. When I was young the doctor had to come by horse. When she was alive, I never questioned her cures. I haven't found that most of them work. Sulfur is a good repellant, but it attracts skunks. Anything that will deal with the IgE response will handle the itching. Nail polish cutting-off air: It would work if you had no oxygen in your blood. But in that case you wouldn't be worried about chiggers. Chris: They are awful. I think that they are produced by GM plants :o

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 10, 1999.


Great answers! Still, I'm wondering if I can talk my father out of some of that DDT I know he stashed someplace just before it was banned. :~)

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), June 10, 1999.

Thanks for telling me what a chigger is. It sounds rather like a kissing cousin to the "No See Ums" in St Kitts. I got bitten by something there 18 months ago & its still itchy ! Great post.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 10, 1999.

Chris:

Once you get west of Ohio, they are commonly called "No See Ums". Don't know how many species this includes....

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 10, 1999.


I didn't see anyone mention Avon so soft -- this has been recommended for bites but I don't know for sure if will do any good for chiggers.

-- rod (rbeary2327@aol.com), June 10, 1999.

We used sulfur powder as kids. Mom dusted it on the skin in all the "tight" places. Followed by the dreaded bleach bath. My husband had a fit when I wanted to do it to our daughter. Opted for the Avon Skin- so-soft instead. She rarely gets bit by anything, except for on her head. I refuse to put the stuff in her hair since it's very oily.

-- lvz (lvzinser@hotmail.com), June 10, 1999.

Chiggers find me just like mosquitoes do...they both seem to love my blood. After picking blackberries about 10 years ago, I had to go to the ER also to get shots of benedryl and whatever. I took the time to count and added up 89 chigger bites. No more blackberry picking for me...I get to wash them now instead. Like mosquito bites, the only relief I have found (none of the above worked for me and I have tried them all) is Benadryl ointment(2% strength). the generic type is just as good; read the label to make sure you are getting the same ingredients. Lots of "anti-itch" things on the shelf do NOT have the benadryl ingredients.

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), June 10, 1999.

Of course, if you have access to one, a swimming pool works great, and is fun when skinny dipping with your significant other.

I've heard that the clorine will also decimate poison ivy and basically soak that crap out of your skin. Anyone?

-- JAW (clueless@pollyanna.com), June 10, 1999.


I highly recommend Avon's Skin So Soft. I swear by it. Got eaten alive by chiggers on our property once then started with the SSS and do NOT get them, also skeeters don't bite. Can't say it works for fire ants as I was outside today with my SSS on and was bitten, stung or whatever by the fire ant.

-- Gail (megailw@aol.com), June 11, 1999.

Well, my chigger bites turn purple...thought there was something seriously wrong till I found out my uncles do the same thing PS-- around here we like to call them Chegros, thank you very much :)

-- Crusty (itchy@scratchy.com), June 11, 1999.

Chiggers used to drive me nuts. Two steps across a grassy lawn and next day there'd be 8 very itchy bites.

Some years ago I started taking odorless garlic and brewer's yeast daily. Which of these does the job I don't know, but the next summer, and ever since, I just don't get any chigger bites, even when everyone else I'm with does. Incidentally the athlete's foot I'd had since my time in service also went away, never to return.

BTW something about the chigger life cycle, or metabolism, or whatever, is incompatible with humans (we're not one of their natural hosts). So the eggs die before hatching. The itching is just your everloving immune system responding to the foreign protein. Be glad.

I'd stay away from DDT. It does a lot more damage than chigger bites ever have. Children and pets playing in a yard sprinkled with DDT can pick up very heavy doses. DDT is bad news. See http:/ /easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/oestrogenic.html

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), June 11, 1999.


Where I grew up, Texas, we had lots of chiggers. These chiggers were arachnids, cousins of spiders, red in color, and very small. They burrowed under your skin and itched like crazy.My older sister used to scratch them until her ankles were pretty ugly looking, and basically dug them out, I guess. My other sister and I used Campho Phenique (spelling?) which made them die, go away, or something. Anyway, they stopped itching. My parents stayed away from the lawn.

Don't have the little creepoes out here on the west coast.

-- malcolm drake (jumpoff@echoweb.net), June 11, 1999.


JAW: We've been hand clearin' 25 acres and gotten tons of chigger bites and caught bad cases of poison ivy many times. Since we got our hot tub about a year ago it is the second stop after a quick shower. We boost the chlorine content a bit and it has helped tremendously. At the first sign of an itch it's soak and sip time! Highly recommended but not a substitute for covering up properly.

-- br14 (br14@about.done), June 11, 1999.

I was mostly kidding about the DDT, and had completely ruled out thermonuclear detonations in the yard to get rid of them. There are several really good suggestions provided so far, and I'm going to see which works best for us. Is there some obvious place where one can buy bulk sulphur? It's not located next to the wasp spray at the supermarket.

Free off topic tip: We have a wasp problem too, but our "country girl" real estate agent told us that if you paint the ceilings of the sheds and porches a light blue, the stupid wasps won't build their nests there. They think it's the sky or something. She was absolutely right!

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), June 11, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ