flaswampratt said:
Explain what a Chigger is, please. Doesn't sound good. Is there a cure for this malidy?....
Living in Miami, and having visited the backwoods of Tenn, I can say that chiggers are much worse and more annoying than mosquitos.
I mistakenly went hiking in Oct. through moderately tall (6-18 in) grasses on a trail in the Tenn woods without spraying my clothes. I was wearing long pants with socks and high top sneakers. Within 3 days, my ankles were on fire with an outrageous itch. I had hundreds of tiny pin-head sized bites around my ankles where chiggers had bitten me. They look like fire-ant bites, how they are so tiny and hard, and sometime get a little pustule.
With chigger bites, you HAVE to scratch, the itch is so bad. And even worse--once you scratch, the itch becomes 5 times worse than if you hadn't. It's like a big snow ball effect. Plus, all the scratching can lead to scabs and infection. I bought AFTERBITE lotion and kept wiping it all over my ankles and feet, but it provided about 30 seconds of relief.
Unlike ticks, you can't see chiggers, so don't assume you're safe if you don't see anything on you or your clothes. I didn't realize they were still in my clothes, so I kept wearing my jeans, and kept getting more bites. I finally read an article about how you have to wash them in 120F water to kill them (I like lukewarm/cool showers). So I immediately washed my clothes AND bed sheets where I had undoubtedly carried them. Then I took the hottest shower ever.
It's Feb now and I still have some scars on my ankles from all the bites.
Here is a link from Missouri State that describes them, with tips on elimination and bite prevention.
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/conmag/2000/05/5.htm
In short, don't take the chiggers too casually just because you're used to FL snakes, black widows, mosquitos, noseeums, flying roaches, etc.