Chiggers. Everything you never wanted to know, but should.

Let me start by saying that I’ve been in the woods and going on adventures my entire life and have never gotten chiggers. Unfortunately, there’s a first time for everything. So here I am, documenting it so that my itchy misery serves a purpose.

 

Chiggers, ticks, mosquitoes, spiders, snakes, biting flies and any other creature on this green earth are part of adventuring. Some you are more likely to encounter than others and since I’ve covered snakes, spiders and ticks, I figured we might as well continue down the list because as I’ve said before, knowledge is power.

As usual, I am going to be completely honest with you. Before this is experience, all I knew about chiggers is that they buried under your skin (not true!) and that they were extremely unpleasant (TRUE!) After some frantic, and intensive Googling, I now know just about all there is to know about chiggers and now you will too.

Take the quiz to test your chigger knowledge!

True or False questions, answers are at the bottom of the post:

 

1) Chiggers are an insect

2) Like ticks, chiggers drink your blood

3) Chigger bites begin to itch a few hours after they bite

4) Chiggers do not carry harmful diseases

5) Chiggers only bite humans

6) Chiggers can only be found in tall grasses

 

How did you do?? I would have most definitely failed that quiz a few days ago!

 

Here’s the background info on how we got ourselves in to this mess…

 

We headed out for an adventure in a less common location that is typically used only by hunters. We headed off the path at times to flip logs and explore. It was cool, Fall-like weather that morning and we weren’t having any issues with mosquitoes so we skipped applying bug spray. We were all wearing long pants and sneakers. Not too long after leaving, my 4.5 year old began complaining on bugs crawling on him and sure enough, he was COVERED in microscopic creatures that had already begun attaching themselves. When we got home, we stripped the boys naked on the front porch and frantically began removing them one by one with our fingernails. At this point, it was an emergent situation because there were so many of them and they were nearly impossible to see. With the naked eye, I could see that they were shaped like ticks. I had never seen chiggers before to know what they looked like, but I assumed they would be different. Turns out, chiggers and ticks are closely related and that’s why they look so similar.

 

After manually removing what seemed to be 100+ chiggers from each kid, we rushed them up to the tub to hopefully scrub off and/or drown any that we missed. After they were down for nap, I realized that I also had them all over my feet and ankles. Honestly, my Lularoe leggings seriously saved me from a far worse situation because they could not travel up my pants. Once I got them off of myself and got a shower, I was thinking we were out of the woods. WRONG.

 

The next day is when the real fun started. Red bumps began to show up all over D’s body. It looked like he had chicken pox there were so many. He started to complain about the itching so I applied Caladryl clear, which was the only thing we had and I crossed my fingers hoping it would work. I also cut his nails as short as I could so that he could not scratch his skin open and cause a secondary bacterial infection. My feet and ankles were itching so badly, it was torture. The Caladryl did next to nothing for me, so we headed to the store to stock up on anti-itch products and colloidal oatmeal to bathe the boys in.
 

That night, I couldn’t sleep because I was so itchy and I tried each of the products to no avail. I even tried a topical numbing cream I had from when I got a tattoo called Dr. Numb. It seemed to help a little bit at first, but the effects were short lived.
 

I called the pediatrician in the morning to see if they would prescribe something for D that was stronger than what I could get over the counter. Unfortunately, they just told me to use hydrocortisone, so my mom graciously picked up the super strength version and brought it over for us. Luckily, this did provide some relief, although I don’t think anything in the world would be able to fully take away the itching.

 

I am not sharing this story to scare you in any way. The last thing I would want to do would be to cause you to avoid going on adventures. The likelihood that this would happen to you as well is slim, but if it does, I want you to be prepared, unlike me.

 

In the future we will ALWAYS use the bug spray and stay on the paths. As long as it isn’t 100 degrees out, we will to try to adventure in pants (preferably leggings for me!) and take all our clothes off when we get home to check for hitchhikers, blood suckers and flesh eaters. Keep on adventuring!

 

 

Quiz Answers:

 

1) Chiggers are an insect
FALSE. Chiggers are actually an arachnid. Because they are the immature larval stage of a mite, they only have 6 legs (like insects) but will have 8 as an adult.

2) Like ticks, chiggers drink your blood
FALSE. Chiggers insert digestive enzymes in to your skin when they bite causing your cells to rupture. They then eat the digested flesh.
 

3) Chigger bites begin to itch a few hours after they bite

TRUE. After only a few hours, the bite locations begin to intensely itch. The itching can last days or even weeks.
 

4) Chiggers do not carry harmful diseases

TRUE. Unlike ticks, chiggers do not carry diseases.
 

5) Chiggers only bite humans

FALSE. Chiggers are not picky about their host and will even latch on to reptiles if they pass by.
 

6) Chiggers can only be found in tall grasses

FALSE. They can be found most anywhere, although tall grasses are their favorite because it gives them a better chance of reaching a host.