The Larvae of the Trombiculidae Mite.
- The adult mites are 1/60th of an inch long. The younger larvae/chiggers that look for human hosts are far smaller and cannot be seen with the human eye at all.
- Chiggers are eating -digesting- your skin cells. They do not bite. They are small enough to burrow holes within the inner layer of skin cells. They have no interest in your blood.
- The bumps are not chiggers left in your skin, the bumps are the body’s response to the chigger’s attack, depositing it’s digestive enzymes and mouth structure into the small hole they create. Dermatitis is often the allergic response to chigger bites.
- Chiggers are often found in grass and under leaves. They tend to be found in greater abundance around berry bushes.
Ok, so How to We Prevent These Little Skin Eaters from Choosing Us?
The chigger will burrow, get what it needs from your skin and then drop off your body. While there may be a function of clear nail polish on the bites that quells the itchiness for some, it’s generally not going to help to cover the bumps with nail polish, clear or otherwise. It may kill any leftover chiggers that washing missed, but it tends to depend on the person whether or not this method is effective. The idea of trapping the chigger parts in my skin makes me a bit queasy.
They find a spot, dig in you, digest some skin cells, suck up the nutrients with their tubular mouth and then complete the next cycle of development (nymph) elsewhere. Only in the larval stage are they parasitic and looking for us tasty animals.
The chiggers will often crawl on you until they find resistance, such as the top of a sock or the end of a tight sleeve. Ankles and wrists are a common feeding point. Taking a shower right after time spent in the grass or garden can be a simple and effective measure to reduce or prevent chigger bites. Simply washing off the larva often works as well. If you can’t shower, wash or spray your bare skin off with water. Any larva still feeding or looking for a tasty spot can usually be washed off your body.
Since chiggers can live on clothing for a short time, do not re-wear clothing you were wearing in chigger territory before washing it first. For a professional who works in fields or woodlands, who may have a far greater number of chiggers on their person, it is recommended to wash clothing in very hot water. Simply changing clothes right after wading through chigger infested areas should reduce the number of larvae available to dig into your wrists and ankles.
Insect repellents containing DEET will repel chiggers and prevent them from feeding.
So What Do You Do?
I play in my garden almost every day, sitting on the grass in shorts or a dress, things you are not supposed to do once it is chigger/mite season. I have fewer problems with chiggers when wearing dresses, I assume because there are fewer clothing edges providing resistance. I plan my sitting in chigger infested territory for one block of time that allows me to shower and change clothing right after.
A vigorous shower, scrubbing with a washcloth and rinsing thoroughly, is most likely to remove the greatest numbers of larvae from your body.
I rarely use bug spray, just because I dislike the smell and feel of the most effective DEET repellent products. That said, if I am hiking or will be spending an inordinately long period of time in the garden, I will use chemical repellant. Where I live, West Nile Virus and Lyme disease are a significant summer concern, so if one needs to use sprays, use the sprays. I pick my poison (or disease) literally.
I do not use clear nail polish on affected skin. I’ve found since committing to showering right after gardening that I don’t have issues with chiggers anymore.
However, I swear by Benedryl Anti-Itch spray for all types of bug bites, or hydrocortisone cream in a pinch.
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The End
Sources:
Amanda Bachmann – State of South Dakota Entomologist – Info provided during the SDSU Extension Garden Hour.
https://web.archive.org/web/20050530073632/http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2100.html