Chigged.

[Sue Gremlin]

I think they are attracted to certain people. I get them without fail.

That is absolutely true. I wish, as a bug scientist, that we knew exactly what it was. We have been able to identify certain attractants, but why some people are more attractive to bloodfeeding or biting insects and arachnids is still largely a mystery.
Little ****ers. :jeffd:

 

[foofoo]

funny you should say that. my girlfriend years ago said that she never could get poison ivy and that getting chiggers was along the same line. she had seen the bites on my ankles and thought it was like getting poison ivy. i took her for a hike in september and she was horrified to see these critters by the hundereds on her socks. this past weekend i got som on me but my buddy who was wearing very light tan colored pants was swarmed by hundreds of them. so maybe color has alot to do with it as i was wearing faded blue jeans. i was also told that they concentrate in certain areas so i guess its possible that one person could get them but another a few feet away may not. also gotta mention that ALLAIRE state park in MONMOUTH county is loaded with them. i use to get them during the archery season.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I was wearing blue jeans when I got mine.

 

[daved]

the mosquitoes sure do like me but chiggers i guess dont. poison ivy i used to get all the time when i was a kid but i guess from getting it so much over the years my body became immuned to it because i can walk right through poison ivy and not get it. my dad was friends with an old guy from tennesse and he said to eat the leaves of a poison ivy plant in the spring when they are small and you will never get poison ivy. i remember him pulling the plants out with his bare hands and i dont ever remember him getting poison ivy.

 

[Boyd]

Here's something interesting I stumbled across awhile ago:

http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/factsheets/008-96.htm

You can check out whether an area is infested with chiggers by using a simple technique. Six-inch squares of black paper placed vertically in the grass will become covered with chiggers if they are present.

 

[Badfish740]

my dad was friends with an old guy from tennesse and he said to eat the leaves of a poison ivy plant in the spring when they are small and you will never get poison ivy. i remember him pulling the plants out with his bare hands and i dont ever remember him getting poison ivy.

I've heard the same. I get poison ivy pretty bad so I was always tempted to try. However, I read this a while ago on Wikipedia:

"The reaction caused by poison ivy, urushiol-induced contact dermatitis, is an allergic reaction. For this reason some people claim to be "immune" to its "poisonous" effects. However, sensitivity can develop over time. For those who are affected by it, it causes a very irritating rash. If poison ivy is burned and the smoke then inhaled, this rash will appear on the lining of the lungs, causing extreme pain and possibly fatal respiratory difficulty. If poison ivy is eaten, the digestive tract and airways will be affected, in some cases causing death."

Yeesh...I wouldn't want to find out. I've never encountered anyone who ate poison ivy, but I do know a kid whose father was burning a large amount of it in the backyard. He started to have trouble breathing so they brought him to the emergency room where they gave him steriods to relieve the swelling in his throat.

 

[bobpbx]

This is going to sound strange. A chigger bite has (on me at least) the weird ability to create a "zone" of itchiness that transcends the bite, and extends out into the air about 6" from my body. Does anyone else get that feeling? Its like, my God this itch is big and wide, and will never go away by just scratching it, its always gonna be there, hovering above the skin.

 

[BEHR655]

This is going to sound strange. A chigger bite has (on me at least) the weird ability to create a "zone" of itchiness that transcends the bite, and extends out into the air about 6" from my body. Does anyone else get that feeling? Its like, my God this itch is big and wide, and will never go away by just scratching it, its always gonna be there, hovering above the skin.

Kind of like the Atomic Bomb of bug bites.

Steve

 

[Teegate]

This is going to sound strange. A chigger bite has (on me at least) the weird ability to create a "zone" of itchiness that transcends the bite, and extends out into the air about 6" from my body. Does anyone else get that feeling? Its like, my God this itch is big and wide, and will never go away by just scratching it, its always gonna be there, hovering above the skin.

Never heard it described that way before.

Guy

 

[foofoo]

just dont scratch the heck out of it and pour witch hazel on it.it will take the itch out but OUUCH!!!!!!!!

 

[Ben Ruset]

Mine have mostly stopped itching, but I still have tons of red bite marks all up and down my legs.

My feet were in the ocean today and it felt good.

 

[Teegate]

My feet were in the ocean today and it felt good.

Did you specifically go there for the bites?


Guy

 

[Ben Ruset]

No, I wanted to get the baby out in some fresh air.

 

[woodjin]

Well, I got chigged. I was doing real good this summer! Only a few here and there. Now I have about 15 bites. Strange thing is, I don't know how I got them. Started to feel them last night. Couldn't have been yesterday, must have been Friday morning. I went for a casual motorcycle ride through whites bog, I must have touched up against the wrong plant, it doesn't take much.

Jeff

 

[dragoncjo]

Jeff, are the bogs at whitesbog still all dug up. Last time I went there to look for reptiles a good amount of the bogs were having new locks installed. Kind of turned me off from the place since areas where i use to find turtles were now all bulldozed over.

 

[NJSnakeMan]

got chiggerized thursday!!!! man do they itch, i have about 10-15 bites on each foot..... not that bad compared to last year though.

 

[woodjin]

Jeff, are the bogs at whitesbog still all dug up. Last time I went there to look for reptiles a good amount of the bogs were having new locks installed. Kind of turned me off from the place since areas where i use to find turtles were now all bulldozed over.

Yeah they are. The irrigation channels and old reseviors on the eastern side are still flooded though. Lots of turtles. what you would expect, red bellys and painted. Lots of beaver activity also if your into beaver.

Jeff

 

[bobpbx]

got chiggerized thursday!!!! man do they itch, i have about 10-15 bites on each foot..... not that bad compared to last year though.

Sing to the tune of "On the road again":

I just got chigged again.
Can't wait to scrub them off again.
The life I love is avoiding them.
And I can't wait to scratch those little bumps again"

On Monday, I learned a little of the secrets of chiggers at Stafford Forge. I saw a little Rush plant, and it had a little brown floret at the tip (think of a brown raison on the end of a green twig). So I had my 10 power monocular with me, and I picked up the twig and looked at the little flower at the end. To my surprise, it was a ball of chiggers, just waiting for some prey like me to rub up against it. They were all jumbled together, arms and legs interlocked! So that's how they do it, if one guy can grab your clothes as you walk by, the others go along with him cause they are all in it together so to speak. As I was looking at them through the lens, I noticed everytime I exhaled, they get excited and started stirring. Then (I should not have been surprised by this), I saw one or two scurrying down towards my gloved hand. I dropped the stick like a hot potatoe(?-Dan Quayle moment here). Too late, the next day, I had a couple bites on my wrist. They suck! I have rubbed the skin raw playing with it at work all damn day.

 

[Boyd]

They just keep nailing me right in my own yard. I hoped the rains would drown them, but no such luck I guess.

Thanks for the sacrifice you made doing this research though, it's very interesting!

 

[Teegate]

I guess we can't breath anymore in the woods either.

Guy