Chiggers *)(*&(&*^*&^

[+Cherokee Bill]

Went out Sunday afternoon to find a few caches in the Blackwater Creek area. Two caches were in the woods, or so it seemed. so I did some "bushwacking". Woke up Monday morning, looking worse than a case of chicken-pox

 

Ankles, legs all the way up to the hip (wore shorts), chest & back. I am even sitting on some bites

 

The itching is SO BAD it's painful Anyway, let this be a lesson, here in the middle of the summer, if you have to get off the beaten path for a cache. If you must get off the path, wait till after a FROST or two.

 

Saw a bumper sticker that said "Give Blood, start Geocaching", will I sure did

[+chuckwagon101]

Went out Sunday afternoon to find a few caches in the Blackwater Creek area. Two caches were in the woods, or so it seemed. so I did some "bushwacking". Woke up Monday morning, looking worse than a case of chicken-pox

 

Ankles, legs all the way up to the hip (wore shorts), chest & back. I am even sitting on some bites

 

The itching is SO BAD it's painful Anyway, let this be a lesson, here in the middle of the summer, if you have to get off the beaten path for a cache. If you must get off the path, wait till after a FROST or two.

 

Saw a bumper sticker that said "Give Blood, start Geocaching", will I sure did

 

Cherokee, I TOTALLY sympathize with you. If I even brush against ONE blade of grass growing out of a parking lot, I get covered with chiggers. A specialist told me it had to do with blood chemical makeup. My wife is UNAFFECTED!!

 

I don't know of anything that really stops the itching for very long. Night is the worst for me when I get a bunch of bites. I'm sure you have used Calomel and other lotions.

 

Hang in there and know that nothing lasts forever. (thank goodness this is true especially for chigger bites!)

 

Next time remember the OFF or a good dusting of sulfur powder......or both!

[+mousekakat]

Dunno if it's true or not, it's been a million years or so since I've been chigger bit (yes, I AM that old!), but I seem to remember a folk remedy of clear nail polish over each bite. Something about it suffocating the little varmint and the itch not reacting to the air as much!

 

Good luck... makes me glad I moved to Sweden where we have neither chiggers or the other southern banes, cockroaches and fleas!

 

Sign me a Texas gal who no longer suffers chigger and/or flea bites!

 

 

Naomi

[+stites1]

"Blackwater Creek" even sounds chigger-y. I've been there too. My condolences. Hey, at least it'll feel good when it stops.

[+The Unpleasables]

Unfortunately its been a bad chigger year here in TN as well...

 

Prevention is the best treatment. Use a DEET based insect repellent (30% is what the Army uses but you can get 100% in the UK but I don't recomend it).

 

Aveeno soaks seem to help as do antihistamines like Zyrtec (as it just went over the counter) or Benadryl. Nothing cures but time...

[+The Unpleasables]

Double post.... seems to be happening a lot recently...

Edited August 13, 2008 by The Unpleasables

[+wkmccall]

Went out Sunday afternoon to find a few caches in the Blackwater Creek area. Two caches were in the woods, or so it seemed. so I did some "bushwacking". Woke up Monday morning, looking worse than a case of chicken-pox

 

Ankles, legs all the way up to the hip (wore shorts), chest & back. I am even sitting on some bites

 

The itching is SO BAD it's painful Anyway, let this be a lesson, here in the middle of the summer, if you have to get off the beaten path for a cache. If you must get off the path, wait till after a FROST or two.

 

Saw a bumper sticker that said "Give Blood, start Geocaching", will I sure did

 

Here is something that'll help. I swear by this stuff!

Go to the grocery store/pharmacy (no prescription needed) and pick up a bottle of "Oak-N-Ivy CalaGel Medicated Anti-Itch Gel".

It's a clear gel that helps with the itching. I use this stuff on everything from mosquito bites to chiggers/red bugs to poison oak/ivy/sumac - it works great! (at least for me it does).

It'll at least help until the little buggers die off.

 

I surveyed for years and we use to purchase a box of powdered sulfur and mix it with water when we went into the swamps to survey.

One word of caution on this though... Make sure you do not sweat around ANYONE after taking this because you are going to smell like Artisan Well water (slightly less that rotten eggs).... :D

 

Probably be easier to stay out of stump holes and use the CalaGel than to worry about the Smell!

[uperdooper]

i'd rather deal with the crime in my area than have an encounter with chiggers. so far i've avoided both.

[+Flo.]

I second the clear finger nail polish. That stuff works great and they don't itch anymore.

[PastorJon]

I second the clear finger nail polish. That stuff works great and they don't itch anymore.

 

I know of someone who dotted themselves with pink nail polish... sure looked funny... but they said that it worked... something about suffocating them.

[AZcachemeister]

Chiggers...nasty little buggers!

I remember getting them a time or two back when I lived in Oklahoma.

 

Now I live in Arizona, no chiggers here...

But we do have: Black Widow Spiders, Cholla Cactus, Rattlesnakes, Cat-claw, Gila Monsters, scorpions, shin-dagger agave, coral snakes, you get the picture.

[+chuckwagon101]

Chiggers...nasty little buggers!

I remember getting them a time or two back when I lived in Oklahoma.

 

Now I live in Arizona, no chiggers here...

But we do have: Black Widow Spiders, Cholla Cactus, Rattlesnakes, Cat-claw, Gila Monsters, scorpions, shin-dagger agave, coral snakes, you get the picture.

 

Our Texas chiggers can whip all of your little pests.....and give you change in return!

[+KoosKoos]

I second the clear finger nail polish. That stuff works great and they don't itch anymore.

 

I know of someone who dotted themselves with pink nail polish... sure looked funny... but they said that it worked... something about suffocating them.

 

Actually, by the time you feel the itch, the chigger is already gone. It's the after-effects of their flesh-dissolving saliva that you're feeling. I've heard mixed results about the nail polish thing making you feel better.

 

Chigger Facts and Myths

 

For me, a long soak in a nice cool swimming pool offers some temporary relief....but yeah, here in Texas, late February to late October means probably facing chiggers.

[+KoosKoos]

Chiggers...nasty little buggers!

I remember getting them a time or two back when I lived in Oklahoma.

 

Now I live in Arizona, no chiggers here...

But we do have: Black Widow Spiders, Cholla Cactus, Rattlesnakes, Cat-claw, Gila Monsters, scorpions, shin-dagger agave, coral snakes, you get the picture.

 

Gee, we have almost that whole list here too....AND chiggers.

 

Not to mention the tarantula I removed from our front porch and the other one that I had on my bath towel one morning as I stepped out of the shower. I can't escape the nature!!

[Mushtang]

I second the clear finger nail polish. That stuff works great and they don't itch anymore.

 

I know of someone who dotted themselves with pink nail polish... sure looked funny... but they said that it worked... something about suffocating them.

 

Actually, by the time you feel the itch, the chigger is already gone. It's the after-effects of their flesh-dissolving saliva that you're feeling. I've heard mixed results about the nail polish thing making you feel better.

 

Chigger Facts and Myths

 

For me, a long soak in a nice cool swimming pool offers some temporary relief....but yeah, here in Texas, late February to late October means probably facing chiggers.

You beat me to it. I was going to point out that the suffocating thing is a myth, and that chiggers are easily delt with.

 

Whenever you've been caching in the woods or tall grasses, you should shower as soon as you get home. Be sure to rub a washcloth across every square inch of your legs, waist, arms, and any skin that was under tight clothing such as socks, underwear elastic, or bra straps. Then when you're drying off rub the towel over your skin again. This will knock off any feeding chiggers, and if they've only been feeding a few hours they haven't done enough damage to give you the itchy red bumps.

 

The clear nail polish will help a little if you do develop a bump, but only to cover the bump and keep you from scratching it to the point it gets infected. They sell stuff called Chigger-rid that is pretty much clear nail polish with some stuff that reduces the itching some. But if you shower soon enough you can avoid needing it.

[+Thystle]

Preventing chiggers is fairly easy. Go to your local pharmacy and get some pure, powdered sulfur. Take a small pinch and mix it with baby powder or cornstarch, and sprinkle the mixture on the outside of your shoes and socks, or on the outside of your clothing. Careful, though, it stains something awful, and you probably don't want it against your skin. Something about the sulfur seems to keep them away. That, or the desire to shower the second you step through the door may have something to do with it.

 

Chig-A-Rid is not always available, though my husband says it works great (Personally, I don't get them. I think its the garlic. Thank goodness, as I'm allergic to DEET).

 

Now to find something non-DEET related to keep ticks away. here in Missouri they're so thick it sometimes looks like the ground is swarming. Makes me long for the hundred-plus temps, the tarantulas, scorpions and assassin-bugs of Arizona!

Edited August 14, 2008 by Thystle

[WashoeZephyr]

Chiggers...nasty little buggers!

I remember getting them a time or two back when I lived in Oklahoma.

 

Now I live in Arizona, no chiggers here...

But we do have: Black Widow Spiders, Cholla Cactus, Rattlesnakes, Cat-claw, Gila Monsters, scorpions, shin-dagger agave, coral snakes, you get the picture.

 

Our Texas chiggers can whip all of your little pests.....and give you change in return!

You can keep your chiggers! Uck, this thread is making me itch! I like my relatively bug free world (at least ours for the most part are harmless!) with the exception of the occasional black widow and rattle snake!

[+WeeWillie]

THERE ARE CHIGGERS IN AZ.

 

This past weekend I went caching @ Parker Canyon Lake in SE AZ and have the bites to prove it. Fortunately, I wore long pants and lots of bug spray so it wasn't too bad. Years ago, my wife had over 300 bites.

 

July - August is Monsoon Season in SE AZ. Anywhere along streams and lakes where you have tall grass, you have chiggers. I have an advisory for my cache - Eager Beaver GC113AX warning cachers to stay on trails, wear long pants, and put on bug spray. We don't want any of our Touristos leaving Cochise County with bad menories of chiggers.

[+carleenp]

Dunno if it's true or not, it's been a million years or so since I've been chigger bit (yes, I AM that old!), but I seem to remember a folk remedy of clear nail polish over each bite. Something about it suffocating the little varmint and the itch not reacting to the air as much!

 

Good luck... makes me glad I moved to Sweden where we have neither chiggers or the other southern banes, cockroaches and fleas!

 

Sign me a Texas gal who no longer suffers chigger and/or flea bites!

 

 

Naomi

 

The nail polish thing is a myth. Chiggers do not enter your body and stay there. Intead, they attach and use enzymes to liquify your tissue in order to digest body fluids. Then they go their merry way. The itchy bunp is the allergic reaction to the enzymes that form a hardend area that remains after the chigger leaves.

 

You can read a good description of it all and learn about the various chigger myths here.

 

The best treatment is antihistamines and/or local anesthetics. I use a bendryl stick. Not a whole lot really helps much though. You just have to wait it out and it can take some time to fully heal. Also, don't scratch! It makes it much worse!

 

Edit: looks like some other folks also gave some similar links

Edited August 14, 2008 by carleenp

[+JBnW]

"I feel your pain!!!" After the last three days...trust me! Around here, DEET and permanone is like marinade and BBQ sauce! My Doc. gave a prescription for some stuff called "triamcinolone acetonide ointment". Takes a while to kick in, but one or two applications seems to end the itching. IMHO

[+geocatt]

Last year I ended up with over a hundred bites. An coworked suggested I try a bleach bath. I was hesitant because I've heard chlorine is bad for you but I was desparate as nothing else I tried had worked. To make a long story short taking a bleach bath was the ONLY way I was able to get relief from the itching. Here's how it works...

 

Fill the tub with water as hot as you can stand it. While it's filling add a splash (or two) of chlorine bleach. Then climb in and soak. For me the relief was almost instant and it lasted a good long while after getting out.

 

After that success I tried again when I had a hoard of the biting little demons get in my socks. This time I just filled the tub with only enough water to cover my feet and ankles, added the chlorox, then sat on the side of the tub and soaked them. Again the relief was almost instant.

 

I'm definately sold on this technique.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Dunno about after you get bit, but a great product to keep you from getting bit is also a great tanning lotion... Avon Skin-So-Soft.

[+Guinness70]

Avon? isnt that used against midges as well?

 

first time i hear about chiggers. dotn have those here in Europe i guess.

lots of ticks this year tho... the warm winter and all...

 

-/-/ Something about the sulfur seems to keep them away. That, or the desire to shower the second you step through the door may have something to do with it. -//-

ROTFL good one!!! Edited August 16, 2008 by Guinness70

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Avon? isnt that used against midges as well?

 

It appears to be an all-around useful insect repellent. It is not manufactured for that purpose, but it has become the favorite bug-stuff and tanning lotion at nudist resorts worldwide! If it will keep you protected while naked in grass fields and woods it's gotta be pretty good stuff!

[+Lil Weed Pot and Flower]

I see lots of good suggestions for stopping the itch. By far the least expensive and it works is to use a Q-tip and a bottle of Listerine. Dab the itch (most any insect bite) and the itch is almost immediately gone. I've used it frequently on mosquitoes and spider bites. The spider has had to be used a couple days in a row but the itch goes away.

[stryder717]

I second the clear finger nail polish. That stuff works great and they don't itch anymore.

 

a friend of mine had chiggers really bad and scratched until the drew blood. Someone told him about the fingernail polish trick but all he could find was metallic silver polish. He thought it would do the same thing, in a way it did. It stopped the itching but ALL the sores became infected and he had to go the the ER and get the scabs SCRUBBED off. So if you do go the nail polich remover route make sure it is clear and you done have open sores.

[+Shop99er]

One of the greatest advantages of caching with my Brother is that he is a Chigger Magnet. If we are both in an area that is loaded with chiggers, skeeters, or any other sort of biting bug, they will always look at him like a walking banquet. I never get bit.

 

It's been like this since we were kids.

[+Semper Questio]

One of the greatest advantages of caching with my Brother is that he is a Chigger Magnet. If we are both in an area that is loaded with chiggers, skeeters, or any other sort of biting bug, they will always look at him like a walking banquet. I never get bit.

 

It's been like this since we were kids.

 

But then again, I don't get sticks in my eyes every time I step off pavement!

 

But I have overcome the mighty chigger.. All hail the powers of Picaridin!!!!

 

Thanks to that stuff, I have relinquished my title as "The Chigger King"

[+Mule Ears]

Chiggers...nasty little buggers!

I remember getting them a time or two back when I lived in Oklahoma.

 

Now I live in Arizona, no chiggers here...

But we do have: Black Widow Spiders, Cholla Cactus, Rattlesnakes, Cat-claw, Gila Monsters, scorpions, shin-dagger agave, coral snakes, you get the picture.

 

Turns out we do have chiggers here in AZ. Last weekend I ventured into an overgrown corner of my 5-acre yard with the weedwhacker to battle a crazy-high patch of pigweed. A few hours later I had the chigger-pox real bad. I like to think myself a stoic, but those bumps are miserable. I got by with cool showers, 1% cortisone cream applied topically, and preparations of varying percentages of ethanol taken internally.

 

Read up on chigger prevention and opted for spraying maximum-DEET "OFF" on points of entry--pants cuffs, socks, waistband, shirt sleeves and do-rag. With my chemical defenses in place, I waded back into the fray today. Followed up with a thorough decontamination-style shower, and I'm chigger-free.

[+WeeWillie]

Mule Ears

 

Now that you have all the chigger gear, you should be ready for Eager Beaver GC113AX. The San Pedro has lots of chiggers.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Hate chiggers! I'd never run across them until last week. We don't have chiggers in North Jersey! But, we were in South Jersey working on the requirements for the DeLorme Challenge. Darned things crawled under my socks! I ended up with eight major bites, and fifteen or so minor bites. Hydrocortisone cream worked wonders! (And here I was worried about ticks in the Pinelands! Never saw a one.)

As far as I can tell Avon Skin So Soft is an urban myth. It has added an insect repellent so it can claim to repel insects, but no better than any other insect repellent.

[+Headhardhat]

Chiggers...nasty little buggers!

I remember getting them a time or two back when I lived in Oklahoma.

 

Now I live in Arizona, no chiggers here...

But we do have: Black Widow Spiders, Cholla Cactus, Rattlesnakes, Cat-claw, Gila Monsters, scorpions, shin-dagger agave, coral snakes, you get the picture.

 

Our Texas chiggers can whip all of your little pests.....and give you change in return!

 

Sorry but North Carolina is the buckle of the Tick and Chigger belt. I know some cachers pulling dozens of ticks after a run and the chiggers are just for fun... Even with that I am still the first to dive in the woods for a smiley.

 

-HHH

[+Mule Ears]

Mule Ears

 

Now that you have all the chigger gear, you should be ready for Eager Beaver GC113AX. The San Pedro has lots of chiggers.

 

Right you are! I have fond memories of getting molested by bluecrab-sized ticks out by the San P--might as well troll for chiggers.

[+Shop99er]

One of the greatest advantages of caching with my Brother is that he is a Chigger Magnet. If we are both in an area that is loaded with chiggers, skeeters, or any other sort of biting bug, they will always look at him like a walking banquet. I never get bit.

 

It's been like this since we were kids.

 

But then again, I don't get sticks in my eyes every time I step off pavement!

 

But I have overcome the mighty chigger.. All hail the powers of Picaridin!!!!

 

Thanks to that stuff, I have relinquished my title as "The Chigger King"

 

But, there are still ticks, and they still look for you.

 

And, I DO NOT get a stick in my eye every time I step off the pavement. True, I have poked myself in the eye with spruce trees a couple of times.

[+macatac1961]

Hate chiggers! I'd never run across them until last week. We don't have chiggers in North Jersey! But, we were in South Jersey working on the requirements for the DeLorme Challenge. Darned things crawled under my socks! I ended up with eight major bites, and fifteen or so minor bites. Hydrocortisone cream worked wonders! (And here I was worried about ticks in the Pinelands! Never saw a one.)

As far as I can tell Avon Skin So Soft is an urban myth. It has added an insect repellent so it can claim to repel insects, but no better than any other insect repellent.

I too found those south Jersey Chiggers a few weeks ago. Maddening. I live three houses from the bay and spent a half hour each day wading in salt water and it dried them up quicker. Benadryl cream works good in lieu of a nearby ocean.

[+frogsaunt]

I had my first experience with Chiggers early this year in June. They were so bad on my ankle I had to go to the Dr and get something for them. They had actually made a "trail" up the side of my leg and not

knowing what they were I kept scratching them, and some of them scabbed over.

The Dr scraped all the bites and sores and then put me on anti-biotics and told me to take a double dose of zyrtec.

 

Hope I never get those things again.

[+Capt Biggins]

I can completely see your pain...I work the Renisance Festivals.. and we had a guy who left his boots in the back of the booth for the night.. without looking, put them on the next day and had the same effect you did!!! It wasn't a pretty sight!!

[+edscott]

Hate chiggers! I'd never run across them until last week. We don't have chiggers in North Jersey! But, we were in South Jersey working on the requirements for the DeLorme Challenge. Darned things crawled under my socks! I ended up with eight major bites, and fifteen or so minor bites. Hydrocortisone cream worked wonders! (And here I was worried about ticks in the Pinelands! Never saw a one.)

As far as I can tell Avon Skin So Soft is an urban myth. It has added an insect repellent so it can claim to repel insects, but no better than any other insect repellent.

 

My initiation into the world of Chiggers also happened in South Jersey at Pakim Pond during an orienteering meet. It was weeks before they all healed.

[+frogsaunt]

I can completely see your pain...I work the Renisance Festivals.. and we had a guy who left his boots in the back of the booth for the night.. without looking, put them on the next day and had the same effect you did!!! It wasn't a pretty sight!!

 

The pain was almost unberable. It was actually a relief when the Dr started scraping the bites, sores.

[+MountainRacer]

Does permethrin repel them as well as it does for ticks?

[+SGT red jeep]

Geocaching around the country this year, I keep encountering the pesky critters. First in Texas, and again in the Delaware/Maryland area. I've never encountered them in Montana, maybe the cold is too much for them. Just one more good reason to live here. We may have ticks but you can spot them and remove them before the fever sets in.