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The Approaching Storm

  • Thread starter Ozzy
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Ozzy

SirKristoff is a poopiehead
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Today I was in the Green Swamp with another member from here. I'll let thet person identify themselves if they wish.

By the time we got out I was covered with chiggers. When I got home I realized I had them from my neck down. I took a bleach bath and scraped off all I could with a knife. I had hundreds of them. I was still finding more hours after the bleach bath. I put a few on a white piece of paper and tried to get pics. They are the size of pinheads and I'm not very good with macro shots. I did the best I could.

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An now I wait for the itching to start. They itch a little, but I know the worse is yet to come. It's like waiting for a really bad storm to arrive.
 
Chiggers: one thing I do not miss about Florida. Along with mosquitos and large spiders.

Jason
 
Maybe you got lucky and washed most of them off before they started to feed:

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/
The best precaution against chigger bites is simply taking a warm soapy bath with plenty of scrubbing as soon as possible after exposure. If you bathe at once, while the chiggers are still running over your body, you can wash them off before they bite. A bath will also remove any attached and feeding chiggers before you start to feel the itch.

Warm soapy water is all that is necessary to remove and kill chiggers. There is no need, and it is rather dangerous, to apply household products such as kerosene, turpentine, ammonia, alcohol, gasoline, salt or dry cleaning fluid. Don't do it.

Attached chiggers are removed by even the lightest rubbing. If you are away from civilization, you can remove attached chiggers before they do much damage by frequently rubbing down with a towel or a cloth.
 
I have never seen a photo of a chigger. They lkinda ook a lot like a tick...
 
Sorry to here that. Ciggers are the worst creatures, followed closely by fire ants. Hope you can get some sleep once the itching starts. I usually wake up every hour scrathing. You may want to spray your car seat to kill the ones that crawled off you on the way home or they'll jump back on over the next week or so.
Hope you saw some nice plants.
 
I was mistaken when I said I didn't have too many. The itchy fun has started today. Lots of little tiny red itchy whelps all over. I hope it's not too bad for you Ozzy. You're not suffering alone.

Crystal
 
A good remedy my mother used to do is to put finger nail polish over the bump. Not sure if this works or not because it has been a long time since I have had chiggers.

I think it is supposed to encase them in so that they suffocate maybe?
 
The South has high rates of violent crime and people tend to support capital punishment and invading other countries. Maybe it's from all the itching and if Southerners would just take a warm, soapy bath, they'd be more peaceful. Actually, that would work for everyone, chigger-bit or not.
 
ive never seen the actual bug itself either! roll on deoderant works well too. thats what i use for chiggers. and yea they do look alot like little ticks!

Alex
 
  • #10
they basically are mini-ticks hahhaha
i hate the little bastards, i got into some here not even a few days ago walking through the woods here, i walked into a huge thing of spanish moss and that was the end of it hahahaha. i came home, and took a hot soapy bath and used my body wash (Axe Snake Peel) it works like a dream for not only those sorts of things, but mainly acne, my god....the only axe product i will stand by.
Roll on deoderant works, as does nail polish remover, chloroseptic spray (spelling?), ice packs, i actually slap mine a few times and it works LOL, uhhh there is a ton of remedies to the itching.....generally the same as mosquito or flea remedies.
 
  • #11
Crystal I'm sorry that I took you into a feeding zone of these evil little bugs. I have never seen them this bad before. I hope you don't have them as bad as I do. I was hoping that since you used bug spray that you didn't have them as bad. I have them from my neck down to my feet and everywhere in between. I even got them between my fingers. I started to count how many I had on one arm and I stopped at twenty and I only got to just above my elbow. I keep finding new ones. But thats the price you pay for going in the swamp without protection. Again I'm sorry that you got em too.

These are not ticks. they are baby harvester mites. To give you an idea of the size of them take a look at this pic.

chiggers_coin.jpg


That's a whole lot of evil trapped inside a tiny body.

For the people that don't know what they are.

The main life cycle of these mites are eggs, larva, nymph, and adult.[7] The larval mites feed on the skin cells, but not blood, of animals, including humans. The six-legged parasitic larva feeds on a large variety of creatures including humans, rabbits, toads, box turtles, quail, and even some insects. After crawling onto their host, they inject digestive enzymes into the skin that break down skin cells. 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. The severe itching is accompanied by red pimple-like bumps (papules) or hives and skin rash or lesions on a sun-exposed area. For humans, itching usually occurs after the larvae detach from the skin.[8]
After feeding on their hosts, the larvae drop to the ground and become nymphs, then mature into adults which have 8 legs and are harmless to humans. In the post larval stage, they are not parasitic and feed on plant materials. The females lay 3–8 eggs in a litter, usually on a leaf or under the roots of a plant, and die by autumn.[8]
 
  • #12
Wow, I'm from TX but have never heard the proper name for a "chigger". As a kid my cousin who lived in the country took me through tall brush and grass to go "hunting" reptiles and amphibians. When we got back my angry aunt told us to go strip and check for ticks. I thought I got off easy with only one, compared to his nine. The next two weeks were hell. I believe there were close to 300 of the mosquito bite on steroids type whelps. Chiggers like to crawl up and find a warm tight spot like under elastic bands or socks, belts... I came out with a perfect outline of the elastic of my underwear in bite form! Not trying to be crass but had bites on my genitalia as well. I hate chiggers with every inch of my soul and wonder if there is truly a divine creator, what was he smoking when he came up with chiggers?
 
  • #13
Chiggers definitely do awful things to private places. A major reason I left the South was to not have to do think about venomous snakes when doing fieldwork but, thinking about it after reading these posts, leaving the chiggers behind was far better.
 
  • #14
I'm not as bad as I originally thought. I didn't start itching bad until later today. It appears that I only ended up with maybe 20 or so bites. My dad has even less. I think you ended up with so many because you lead most of the time. Don't be sorry, my dad and I had a great time regardless; I'd do it again without thinking twice about it. We knew all kinds of bugs were going to be a risk. I'm sorry that you ended up with the worst of it. If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have gone out there yesterday. I can't give too much advise for the itching, this is my first time (which I'm surprised; that certainly wasn't my first time in the woods) though I can suggest something cortizone based. We have some Cortizone 10 cream that I'll be using tonight before bed. I hope you have a speedy recovery!
 
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