Chigger Free for Today

Ben Ruset

Administrator
Site Administrator
Oct 12, 2004
7,616
1,863
Monmouth County
www.benruset.com
... and it wasn't by staying in Asbury Park.

So anyway, I haven't been out in the woods in forever. I decided to take a ride out to Friendship and Atsion. I've taken up medium format film photography and wanted to take some shots of the Atsion mansion and some of the ruins at Friendship.

I ended up traipsing around the tall grass at Friendship and surprisingly I didn't get a single chigger! Haven't found any ticks, either.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
... I ended up traipsing around the tall grass at Friendship and surprisingly I didn't get a single chigger! Haven't found any ticks, either.

You won't know until the morning. Did you take a shower? Throw the clothes in the wash? If you take a shower and scrub real hard, you'll minimize them greatly.
 

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Speaking of chiggers... I went to Harrisville two weeks ago with my nephew. We were not prepared to go off trail and I told him we wouldn't be, but then I broke my own rule to show him the power plant ruins. Brought back the worst chigger assault I've had to suffer. Something like 50-60 bites on both ankles and feet. Previously I have had just a few and toughed it out for a couple of weeks but after not being able to sleep the second night I had to do something. I googled a bit then went out and got some 1% hydrocortisone and it has worked surprisingly well. In the first week it did not stop the itch, but it knocked it down quite a bit, and I would apply it every couple of hours. Second week it more or less stopped the itch and I would apply it a couple of times a day. Into the third week now and some of the bites are still slightly swollen, but one application in the morning and one at night and it itches very little.

Btw, my nephew followed directly in my path through the woods and got not one bite.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
They have been light this year from my perspective.
 
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