Go BottomFolk Chiggers remedies
 | Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3034 Northern AL 
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2006-04-29 128561
I never encountered Chiggers until I moved to KY. They seem to be attracted by fruit and we put in a Strawberry bed. After a number of different suggestion we finally found that vinegar and water will kill them. Bleach and water does also but it is tough on the skin. I find it better to just wash down with the vinegar and water after contact than to spray insecticide.
I have a small dog and the puppy mites are affecting her. I have found that this also removes them. Also works better than the insecticide.
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 | MIFarmin
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 34 Michigan 
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2006-04-29 128570
Being from Michigan I never even heard of chiggers. Then I went to Oklahoma. Now I know what cowboy boots are for...and they're not for dancing! ....
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 | SG8NUC
Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 579 g 
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2006-05-01 128689
When I was young my dad and I would remove the individual red bugs with the point of a small sharp knife. It got rid of the bug but it still Itched like crazy. I dont know if it did any good. Read the Info below.
A chigger or red bug is an immature stage (larvae) of the harvest mite. Like all mites, the harvest mite life cycle includes larva, nymph, and adult. In the last two stages, this mite feeds on plant materials. The stage that gets the attention of humans is the larval stage. This is the stage that is considered to be a pest, causing intense itching.
The tiny nymph (chigger) will infest humans (and other animals) usually when we work or walk in tall grass or other such undergrowth. The chigger has a mouthpart similar to that of a tick and uses this mouthpart for feeding. But, unlike ticks, chiggers do not feed on our blood.
A chigger's saliva will at first harden the walls of the hole made by its mouthpart. This hardening gives the chigger a "straw" to use for feeding and prevents our body from closing off the hole made by this pest. Once the chigger has made its hole, it can now feed. Its saliva will actually liquefy our skin cells which the bug now uses for food.
The chemicals or proteins in a chigger's saliva will cause itching in the area where the tiny red bug feeds. This itching is delayed; we sense intense itching about 24 to 48 hours after being exposed to chigger bites. Some itching might be detected in 3 or 4 hours but the worst sensations (a day or two later) are what fool us into believing that we picked up chiggers (or red bugs, as they are sometimes called) in our lawn.
Having a terrible itch from red bugs or chiggers? Where were you yesterday or the day before? That area is usually the origin of infestation. This is very important when eliminating chiggers or harvest mites in all stages.
A chigger is too tiny to see with the naked eye but a group of them can be visible when they congregate on our ankles, waist or other body area. (These areas are preferred by the chigger because our skin is thinner and makes it easier for this microscopic pest to penetrate our skin for its meal.) When grouped together in large numbers they appear red in color. This is their natural color, not caused by blood feeding!
Chigger Myths
Chiggers do not bore into and live inside of our skin. Applying finger nail polish or other household chemicals to red bumps on our skin does not help. They will not burrow deep inside our body and eventually die. By the time your severe itching problem sets in, the chigger is nowhere in sight. Trying to smother a chigger with various products is a total waste of your time and might actually cause more problems.
Chiggers do not drink blood. They are red because that is their color. Chiggers drink liquefied skin cells. Ticks feed on blood; chiggers do not.
A chigger or red bug is not an adult bug. It is an immature larvae.
These pests are not insects; they are mites.
That tiny hole or red bump on your skin is not where chiggers lay eggs. A chigger is a baby, a harvest mite larvae. Only the adult harvest mite lays eggs.
Elimination
Once you have established which area the chiggers have infested, you can treat lawns, fence rows and ornamentals with Permethrin Pro. Use one ounce of concentrate per 1,000 square feet of area to be treated. Use a hose-end sprayer for applying to lawns, fence rows.
This material is safe for use in areas where children, pets and wildlife frequent when applied correctly. Keep people and pets off treated areas until dry. Permethrin Pro will kill chiggers, ants, fleas, ticks and other pests found in lawns. It can also be used indoors for general purpose pest control: roaches, ants, fleas, ticks, spiders, silverfish and other labeled pests.
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 | kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2006-06-01 130221
How did I miss a topic near but not dear to me?
I have not tried the vinegar for red bugs but it helps on other bites. A bath with with a LITTLE bleach in it does good. For fire ants and wasp stings or bites bleach or vinegar both help.
Best area I have found to find more red bugs than the law allows....pine straw. Oh the joys of summer. ....
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 | paulss
Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 60 Lavaca County, TX
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2006-06-01 130245
If you dust your pant leg bottoms with sulfur dust it will keep them away.
I haven't used it on chigger bites but plain ol' Listerine works well on fire ant bites. ....
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 | DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2006-06-01 130247
This is too politically incorrect for me. You guys should go back and replace all those chigger's with chigro. ....
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 | Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4299 Southwest MiddleTennessee
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2006-06-01 130252
Had me wondering if we are talking about bugs or Mexicans! LOL! ;O) ....
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| Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4299 Southwest MiddleTennessee
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2006-06-01 130253
Seriously, from someone with GREAT first hand experience in this area picking blackberries; the best way to avoid the chigger bites is to IMMEADIATELY remove ALL of your clothing and place it immediately in the wash or a plastic trash bag until washing and IMMEDIATELY take a shower to wash off the chiggers. We have tried just about everything and this is the only thing that has worked for us. We live in tick/chigger heaven. ....
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| kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2006-06-02 130266
Chief,
Please fill in some details here:
On the method you suggest:
How quickly must your remove your clothes?
It would seem the quicker the better so: do you do so in the field right as you come out of the brush?
Does this also help to repel bears and other wild animals as you shed your skin?
Using this treatment method gives me an idea: why not "bomb" Iraq with chiggers: then as the people unrobe to remove them it would be easy to spot the with bombs.
It does seem the illegals and chiggers have a lot in common. LOL
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| Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4299 Southwest MiddleTennessee
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2006-06-02 130277
KT, the intent is to get clothing removed ASAP after you are done with the activity your were engaged in as the chiggers infest the clothing first. It takes the chiggers a few hours to burrow into the skin and wreak havoc. If you cannot get to a shower and a fresh change of clothing within 2 or 3 hours maybe a little longer on cooler days; then just sit back and enjoy the chiggers. ;O) ....
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| Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3034 Northern AL
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2006-06-02 130289
The vinegar and water does work. In KY I put in raised beds of straw berries at the corner of the lawn. All you had to do is go near them and you were covered with hungry red bugs or chiggers. After jumping in the shower every two minutes someone finally told us about vinegar and water. We kept a small bowl and cloth around the back door bathroom to wipe yourself down before entering. I had to make a trip one day and walked in by the strawberries before I jumped in the truck. After driving for a couple of hours I had to stop and buy some vinegar to relieve the biting.
As Randy said blue berries are bad for chiggers too. We went picking in MS at a friends abandoned farm one day. After we were finished we had to go and buy some vingar to relieve the itch. ....
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| kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2006-06-02 130302
Chief,
Thank you. I have always wondered about those piles of clothes you found on the edge of the woods. So a careful COUPLE were getting rid of chiggers! LOL ....
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| DenisS
Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 367 NJ
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2006-06-02 130305
SG8NUC,
Thanks for the info! Never heard of chiggers.. Hope to never meet them. ....
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