Chigged!

[RednekF350]

Took a 3.5 mile walk on trails last night after work and passed through a 100 yard stretch of some ankle high weeds in one section. Right ankle looks like it took a load of 8's. Scratching like a dog right now.
Be afraid, be very afraid.

 

[Boyd]

Oh man, that's awful. Was just thinking how lucky I have been so far this year. Quite unusual for me to not have had any incidents yet. Was starting to wonder if maybe there aren't so many this year? I'm sure my day is coming….

 

[bobpbx]

Took a 3.5 mile walk on trails last night after work and passed through a 100 yard stretch of some ankle high weeds in one section. Right ankle looks like it took a load of 8's. Scratching like a dog right now.
Be afraid, be very afraid.

Sorry to hear that Scott. Not wearing your knee highs, right? Try a bag of ice, rub it back and forth to keep the pistules cold for a couple minutes. It should provide relief for a couple hours.

 

[Teegate]

Sorry about that Scott.

Jessica got a few on her this past weekend but does not seem to have any issues.

 

[manumuskin]

The last couple nights Whip and I have hit the woods recording.The first night He got lit up right.Wearing Hiking boots and they went through his socks.I was wearing knee highs (without the heels) and never got a single chigger.Do you think they can't hold onto the rubber or is it the smell of the boots that turns them off? Or perhaps it's a lack of mammal smell and no heat leaking through the rubber that they don't even realize it's a potential meal passing by? In any case I think rubber boots will be my foot wear of choice till first frost at least.

 

[smoke_jumper]

Sorry to here that Scott. So far this year I've bee lucky. Though this is the time of year I keep the family in the jeep a little more.

 

[RednekF350]

Sorry to here that Scott. So far this year I've bee lucky. Though this is the time of year I keep the family in the jeep a little more.

I start exercising caution right about this time of year. I thought I could sneak through this little patch without "them" noticing me. Apparently their less than the size of a grain of sand brain is very acute.

 

[92 Blazer Jeff]

I've had them on my lower legs before, I used rubbing alcohol to stop the itching.

 

[Jon Holcombe]

Before I knew about chiggers, one Labor Day a few years back I found a small stand of skinny saplings in a low lying area in the woods near my house, cut one down for a walking stick, and sat down right there in cotton shorts, no socks and sleeveless tee to whittle the ends. I ended up in Cooper ER with 75 bites foot to neck (I counted em). They gave me Atarax, a first generation antihistamine which actually helped the itching, but made me so sleepy that I couldn't function. So I just put up with the insane itching for the next month and a half.

 

[manumuskin]

Before I knew about chiggers, one Labor Day a few years back I found a small stand of skinny saplings in a low lying area in the woods near my house, cut one down for a walking stick, and sat down right there in cotton shorts, no socks and sleeveless tee to whittle the ends. I ended up in Cooper ER with 75 bites foot to neck (I counted em). They gave me Atarax, a first generation antihistamine which actually helped the itching, but made me so sleepy that I couldn't function. So I just put up with the insane itching for the next month and a half.

I have never heard of anyone being hospitalized by chiggers.Also a month and a half is a long time.When I get chigged if I don't treat the bites with an Epsom Salt Hot bath or swim in the ocean and just let it run it's course I"m whole again after two weeks.One swim in the ocean or two salt baths will dry em right up though.Are you allergic to them?

 

[Jon Holcombe]

I have never heard of anyone being hospitalized by chiggers.Also a month and a half is a long time.When I get chigged if I don't treat the bites with an Epsom Salt Hot bath or swim in the ocean and just let it run it's course I"m whole again after two weeks.One swim in the ocean or two salt baths will dry em right up though.Are you allergic to them?

MM, I wasn't hospitalized, but I went to the ER because I was going insane from 75 bites. And the stuff they gave me worked. Whenever I am bit by the chigs, the itching has lasted up to 3 months, and many of the bites, without scratching, enlarges and turns into a big red bump. I may be allergic.

 

[bobpbx]

I went to Dover Forge for 15 minutes today to check on a plant I've been watching. It only took 40 seconds to get a load of them on my knee. I had permethrin on, and watched 30% of them fall off in 2 minutes. Those fell inside my boot. I brushed the rest off. When I got home I looked at my pants under 30X on my zoom scope. Turns out they are tick nymphs (I think). They were not dead, but they were not moving with only feeble arm movements.

After I saw them on my pants and brushed them off, I noticed them on Panic grass spikelets. This, Panicum verrucosum, comes in strong on disturbed ground. I was surprised to see them on the spikelets, as that is some tedious climbing they did. But, look at the last photo, I think those are the real deal--chiggers. I did not have a good shot, but don't they sit different than the tick nymphs, and redder?

 

[Teegate]

Nice photo's Bob.

Jessica had a really really small tick on her yesterday so we all should be on the watch for them.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Those are, indeed, ticks. Tiny baby larvae of the Lone Star Tick, Amblyomma americanum.

 

[bobpbx]

Those are, indeed, ticks. Tiny baby larvae of the Lone Star Tick, Amblyomma americanum.

Thanks Sue, I was hoping you'd ID them.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Just letting my geek flag fly.

Chiggers have 8 legs and have a larger and deeper body for their size. Larval ticks have 6 legs. (nymph and adult stages have 8 though).

 

[RednekF350]

I worked two days this week around Braddock's Mill Pond in shorts. I sprayed Deep Woods Off on my legs and ankles until I was shiny twice each day and came out unscathed.
I think if I drank a shot of that stuff every day I'd be bulletproof !

 

[Teegate]

Yes, that stuff is great for chiggers.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

View attachment 8033

This is such a great photo of questing behavior of tick larvae. Would you object to me using it in an internal presentation at my job? I'll of course give you credit for it. It's just so icky that there are so many!

 

[WirehairedVizslaexplorer]

I live on the outskirts of the pines and my dog and I go for a 4 mile walk every morning on the road during tick season and I still manage to pull tons off of him. Why do ticks seem to thrive so much in the pines? When I go hiking in Delaware, the ticks really aren't all that bad.