Chiggers, Gunning River, BL?

[Canoe sailor]

Hi All:

New to the forum and finding it very informative.
I have been sailing all over the bay for a few decades now, since the 60's, as a young lad,

This past week for the very first time experienced chiggers. Luckily, confined to feet and ankles (where there is a gap between my long sailing/sun pants and water shoes). Kept me up a few nights and very uncomfortable.

One day I put in at a grassy area right near the public boat ramp in Barnegat Light. Sailed over to Island Beach. Another day I sailed from Harvey Cedars to a beach over in the Gunning River.

Has anyone had experience with chiggers along our coast?
Besides proper clothing and pest repellents, are there telltale signs for areas infested with chiggers?
Will the first real cold snap rid us of these pests?
Are chiggers becoming more prevalent at our latitude?

Best,
David

 

[Sue Gremlin]

The best way to avoid chigger bites is to take a quick shower when you get home from your piney adventures. We have a back brush hanging in the shower that we use to thoroughly scrub our legs and around the belt area (they seem to like that area too) with soap and that easily dislodges any of the little weeweeheads that happen to be there. If you do this, you will probably avoid the vast majoity of bites.
Chiggers are very small, too small for me to see without some sort of magnifier, but others here say they've seen them. I've seen tiny tiny ticks that I thought were chiggers. In any case, ticks and chiggers tend to like the same sorts of habitats. Tall grass or scrub is a particularly good place to find them. We learned all about chiggers one day while walking through some tall blueberry scrub near Bear Swamp. Oy vey.
They also tend to like hanging around in plants near sandy shores, so if you stop for lunch on the riverbank and sit down, try to sit on something rather than sand!
Cover yourself, bare skin is just asking for it. Repellents containing permethrin work for these teeny little mites. We use horse fly spray for that, others here go to WalMart and get permanone or other similar repellent. Off probably won't do much, but it's better than nothing. My favorite tip that someone here (I can't remember who now, sorry!) is to bring one of those sticky fabric rollers, the ones that you get to remove pet hair from your clothes, and roll your ankles and legs at the end of a hike to pick up ticks and whatever else may have hitched a ride.
They are worst this time of year up until killing frosts. That's why, I suspect, they're called harvest mites. Once we get a good hard frost, though, their populations drop dramatically. I've been bitten in the dead of winter, though, so they're always around, sort of like annoying relatives.

 

[Teegate]

The roller was Jessica's invention or whatever you want to call it As for Off, I have found that to work for me. At least when you see them on you and spay them they die. Maybe they won't if you have sprayed and it has dried.

The small dots are chiggers.

Guy

 

[Canoe sailor]

Thanks Sue for all of that information.
It adds a new dimension to spending time outdoors in the Mid Atlantic.
Gnat, greenheads, mosquitoes are one thing and chiggers something else.
I will definitely be more vigilant going forward.

Does anyone know how far north these chiggers are found usually?

Tee Gee...lI have now a new use for boat tape........

Dave

 

[oji]

http://jaymanntoday.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=715176:BlogPost:14886 Canoe sailor, Here is some more reading on chiggers on L.B.I.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

The roller was Jessica's invention or whatever you want to call it As for Off, I have found that to work for me. At least when you see them on you and spay them they die. Maybe they won't if you have sprayed and it has dried.

The small dots are chiggers.

Guy

Arrrrrrgh! Lookit all those ticks! They mainly look like lone star ticks, the primary vector for ehrlichiosis. Little bastards, they are, and they are ALL OVER the pines.

So...just to be picky, are you surrrrrrrre those little ones are chiggers? Larval ticks can be even smaller than those, and from what I've read about chiggers, they are pretty darn small. I wish I could take that sheet and put it under my dissecting scope.

 

[Teegate]

Chiggers are not that small. When they get on you in large numbers they look like large spots of dry dirt. As they move and enter your clothes the spot slowly disappears. When they reach your skin if you are light skinned you can very easily see them. I can look down at my feet and easily see them.


Guy

 

[Canoe sailor]

Thanks Oji...interesting read.
I was up near the Dike at the North End and did get out of the canoe on some mudflats just up against Island Beach State Park.
I have been sailing over there for years and never had a problem.
Wierd!

Dave

 

[woodjin]

and that easily dislodges any of the little weeweeheads that happen to be there.

I think you might be, with high likelyhood, the only person in history to refer to chiggers as weeweeheads.

Guy's description is dead on Sue. They hit in a clump of approx. 50 and then spread. I've seen very small immature ticks similar in size to chiggers also.

Jeff

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Ah, clumps. I have been looking for them individually. I think I need to spend more time down in the pines--you know, more research.

 

[Boyd]

Somewhere I read that you can test an area for chiggers by cutting some 6"x6" squares of black paper and placing them on the ground in the area of interest. After a few hours you should be able to see chiggers on the paper. Keep meaning to try this myself as there are surely plenty of chiggers in my woods.

I haven't seen a tick in a couple months. Are they really still out there? I always wear my permethrin treated clothes while wandering around my own land, but have been out on a few expeditions in other places recently, including walking through lots of brush, and no signs of ticks.

Yeah, you really need to cover all exposed skin and avoid any grassy areas. If you don't have any kind of spray, tuck your long pants into your socks.

 

[Canoe sailor]

Interesting......does anyone have any experience applying mineral oil to the skin as a protectant barrier against these nasties?
Dave, the canoe sailor

 

[gipsie]

I carry lint rollers around in my Jeep, too! I bought some at Eckerd in a clearance bin (.50 each) and they work wonders!!!

 

[Ben Ruset]

I sprayed both feet with 90% DEET this morning, wore boots, and still got chiggers on my feet. I didn't get too many of them, but I had 10-20.

I heard that putting peroxide on where the chiggers were (after you remove them) gets rid of the itch. We'll see tonight... so far, so good. The true test is when I have my shoes off.

 

[Canoe sailor]

Have chiggers been around southern NJ historically or are we seeing an increase?
I am amazed how vicious the little buggers are and I was totally unaware of their presence. How to better inform people of the risks?
Dave

 

[46er]

I was up near the Dike at the North End and did get out of the canoe on some mudflats just up against Island Beach State Park.
I have been sailing over there for years and never had a problem.
Wierd!

If you were in the mud, you may have contracted a case of 'clammers itch'(Cercarial dermatitis), a skin infestation caused by a parasitic flatworm that enters the skin. They are usually most common during late summer. Treatment is usually a course of antibiotics plus whatever topical treatment that works. If you are unfortunate enough to get this, visit the ER or your dermatoligist, it's not a home remedy thing...

 

[Canoe sailor]

Hey 46er.......interesting yet I was wearing water shoes and there bites are mostly to the open area between the top of the water shoes and the bottom elastic of my pant, and also a few got up into the pant leg.

The parasite you mention, does it climb up your leg and/or leave reddish, pinkish small welts? Whatever it was, has finally stopped itching but the marks look as if they will be around a few weeks...

Thanks for posting.
Dave, the Canoe sailor

 

[46er]

Here is a picture I could find on Brookdale CC's site. The parasite is a marine worm that burrows into ones skin and dies, very much like a chigger does. When I've had chiggers, the onset of itching was not immediate, maybe a few days after. Another possiblity is the Asian Tiger mosquito, loads of them around lately. They bite repeatedly and do leave large, up to a quarter sized welts, that insanely itch for several hours, then subsides. The welt lasts about a day. For some reason they love my blood

http://ux.brookdalecc.edu/staff/sandyhook/taxonomy/worms/1diggers itch.jpg

 

[RednekF350]

If you were in the mud, you may have contracted a case of 'clammers itch'(Cercarial dermatitis), a skin infestation caused by a parasitic flatworm that enters the skin. They are usually most common during late summer. Treatment is usually a course of antibiotics plus whatever topical treatment that works. If you are unfortunate enough to get this, visit the ER or your dermatoligist, it's not a home remedy thing...

I get clam diggers itch at least 3 times each summer because I go barefoot and I am a knucklehead and refuse to wear water shoes while clamming.
I think water shoes are gay and afterall, I do have an image to uphold.

The last bout I had was in late July and they got me good. Good enough to where I now wear my Lacrosse Burlys out on the flats. I look dorky but dorky beats gay.

They are the chiggers of the marine environment.
You don't need antibiotics unless you itch your skin off in an insane rage and get infected.
The parasite is looking for an avian host and since you are not a bird, they die and your left with the bite and allergic reaction just like a chigger.
This is not to be confused with other disease carrying trematodes that can infect you internally.

All in all, for the good times, fresh clams, chowders, clams casino and deviled clams, a little pain is worth it.

 

[Boyd]

The parasite is a marine worm that burrows into ones skin and dies, very much like a chigger does.

From what I've read, the notion that chiggers "burrow into one's skin and die" is an urban legend. Supposedly they just bite you and the itch is caused by some enzyme which they inject to help digest you.