Thermacell and Chiggers???

[Molson]

Sounds like chigger bites to me. If the bites  get kinda hard in the center then it's a sure thing.

I thought tucking my pants in my boots would be good protection but they just got right in and bit me all over right at the top of my boots up to my knees.

I just kept rubbing them down with Jewelweed and they were pretty much done itching in a few days. Some were more macho than others though and would still itch off and on for two weeks.  Been two months now and I still have a few purple spots here and there from them little buggers.

Next time I'm trying eveything listed here and then some.... at the same time!!!

[Roadkill]

Preparation H not only for 'roids. Painful swelling fron chiggers is also cured almost immediately with application.  Don't beleive me if you chose-suffer in silence---it WORKS

[JEFF B]

yup theys chigger bites doc nock they s the devil belive me i know i was introduced to them last year while i was over not good. i will be well ready for the little buggers this time.

[Michael Pfander]

I grew up in chigger country we always used flowers of sulfer in our sox and around our waist.  It works I've spent many a day building fence with that and deet keeping them off.  One thing to remember is if you throw chigger covered clothes in the basket your family will not be happy with you when they get them off your dirty stuff.

MAP

[Doc Nock]

Mr. Magoo...that is a great article...reassuring in them blood sucking, flesh rotting suckers ain't carrying diseases!

Molson, yep, they sure got the hard center... I forget what Magoo's article called them...sounded too ugly to learn!  

Roadkill, that PH stuff ain't cheap and I'm not working...but have some meat tenderizer somewhere in the kitchen...

I'm amazed that I wiped down after showering the bites with alcohol and then used the fly tying head cement... kinda odd feeling with all this hair I got, to be "varnished" but...    It did help. I don't think I dare ask the women neighbors if they got an PH I can borrow a dab! :)But I'm not doubting it works...

Took 2 days to show up on me...buddy lit up the next day big time! Whew...

Now I know they exist hereabouts in PA, I can avoid them. I do all suggested in tick country and just dind't cause they dont' have many ticks up at this place... they got better...Chiggers!

You all have been very helpful. I'll dose up good with permanone, tuck in, use DEET and avoid the suckers...and have PH /meat tenderizer on hand "in case!"

Thanks for all the education, guys! Not knowing is the worst part...and dumb is as dumb does. I didn't even know they were around these parts...I guess being prepared for ticks kept me from being bitten in the past!  

[beyondmyken]

My experience with chiggars is that they prefer the crotch and armpit areas so I wonder if you got chiggers or perhaps ants/lice/etc.  All the after bite treatments are basically treating the inflammatory response.  The chigger has already dropped off enjoying her meal of your skin cells.

[bretto]

Another vote for powdered Sulpher as a preventative. Put it in a old sock and use it like a rosin bag, a lot easier to apply.

[paradocs]

Got into a mess of the buggers once building fence; I'm guessing 2-300 of them.  Ankles, shins, beltline, sides of the abdomen...the groin blessedly was spared.  After considering Tom A's method momentarily, and judging it to be somewhat harsh, I concocted my own chigger remedy from stuff on-hand.  Now, I'm a vet, so all this stuff is way off-label for you humans...but it worked great.  If pressed, I'll deny it, but it involved a dog ear med, a cattle anti-parasitical, and a horse anti-inflammatory  :eek:  .  It's OK, I'm a doctor; I know what I'm doin'  

[LocDoc]

Southeast Texas we got 'em bad.
Old military trick works for me.
Buy a Hertz 3 in 1 flea collar for
each leg and wrap it around your
ankle before heading in.

[TNstickn]

Permanone works if you use it per the directions. Dont forget to spray your shoes at the same time. If you dont tuck your pant legs in as a barrier, you will get bit. Its pointless to try and hunt my areas here in TN with out it, unless you just enjoy being snacked on. Again read the application directions! You can not apply this stuff the day you plan to hunt, it just wont work.-Greg

[Full Quiver]

Dang, You guy's got me itchin & scratchin & I haven't been near the woods all day. I hate those little buggers. I got into a mess of chiggers & seed ticks one time from head to toe, made me sick for a week. Now I do the permanone on the clothes, tie my pants legs shut, wear long sleeves even if it's hot. I get an allergic reaction to deet so thats out. A guy I work with says he rubs Isopropal alcohol on his skin before he goes to the woods & swears by it, I haven't tried it though.

[Doc Nock]

Gentlemen.

All I can say is "Thanks!"

You've all been so helpful, well, all but Nativecraft!    

That article link was very educational and I've sent it on to my friend who was bitten.  His buddy was there a couple hours with us and had on shorts and low socks/shoes! He got none...but he wasn't with us on another side of the property. I knew I was getting bit by something up there but thought it were skeeters.

As I've shared, I just didn't know in all my life we had chiggers in Central PA! Do now!

All medical reviews i can find clearly identify if there is a hard center part, it was a chigger bite. Mine are way ugly... but that is cause I tend to have a allergic reaction to most bites. So ti's worse.

I went to store and Roadkill said about Prep H, but it was expensive while meat tenderizer was only $.85. I went that route as I'd read it works on bee stings and other insect bites.

Wow. I'm betting PH works too, but I made the paste and tried it...did it 2x before bed and for the first in 3 nights, slept like a baby! Course, tenderizer never really "disolves" it's more like salt...and now the bed is full of sandy grit, but I slept!!! whew...

After shower, reapplied and it looks like the worst might be over... looks uglier'n sin though.

I agree with ya'll. Prevention! Prevention! Prevention! Can't prevent what ya didn't know was!     I'd have been dosed up good and pre-sprayed clothes if he had any ticks in his area, but doesn't so I relaxed. Big mistake. Won't happen again.. I'll likely duct tape by pants to an outer set of 2nd socks dosed with Permanone AND DEET spray

Full Quiver, I used so much DEET guiding in MT flyfishing, I now break out instantly if I apply to skin. We used Muskol from CN which was 100% DEET. I apply OFF or Cutters right to clothing like Permanone and it doesn't sweat off as easily obviously and doesn't make a rash.

thanks for all the help, suggestions on prevention and treatment.

Still itch...but it's manageable.  Thanks!

[WildmanSC]

Doc,

Chiggers tear me up!  About 20-21 years ago we had gone back home to KS to visit my parents.  They rode back to SC with us to spend a week or so.

On the way back we were on the Interstate in TN when the kids saw blackberries along the road.  They started begging me to stop so we could pick blackberries so Grandma could bake a cobbler when we got home.  I told them that Mom's best cobbler wasn't worth the chigger bites I would suffer in picking the blackberries.

They finally convinced me to stop, I would stay in the car and they would get out and pick the blackberries.  Suffice it to say, when we got home only one person had chigger bites on him.  You guessed it, the one who stayed in the car, ME!!!!            :mad:

Bill

[Roadkill]

Doc nock, i have to have PH for its original purppose, so its here.  We don't have those buggers out here, but when I'm home in KY or MO hunting, I get em bad.  I used to use the sulfer stuff in my socks and waist when I lived therre farming.  that works too and I think the sulfer is a more natural smell than some other chemicals...

[Pig Sticker]

East Texas has the worst red bugs on the planet I believe. Me and my boys get them every weekend.
Pouring sulphur powder in a gym sock and beating it all over your shoes and pants can help some but stinks to high heaven. Good luck guys.
None of the wives-tale cures works. Only anti-itch cream can stop the symptoms.

[Pig Sticker]

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/champaign/homeowners/060719.html

The "reaction" itchy, red welts usually occur 4-6 hours after the bite and the chigger has moved

[Don Stokes]

My place if full of them, and I get a good dose every year when they first come out. Like the kudzu, you just got to learn to love 'em.

When the first ones show up, I go to the dollar store and buy several 2-packs of 6% deet Cutters, at $4 per 2. Before I go to the garden or into the yard, I sit on the back steps and spray my shoes, socks, and pants up to the knees or waist, depending on what I'm up to. If I get good coverage, the 6% DEET works for me, and is much cheaper than the higher-strength stuff. I rarely get one once I start spraying, but typically the first dose is 50-100 of them. I don't treat them, and the itch subsides after about two days.

If you like garlic, they don't bother you as much. You can also take sulfur pills, available at the pharmacy.

When it rains, or when the dew is on the grass, you don't have to spray for the chiggers or ticks, either. They don't like the wet, and don't come out to look for a victim as long as the grass is still moist. Don't sit in the pine needles, though!

[Doc Nock]

Pig sticker, another good article to the one posted earlier.  Been a fascinating journey learning from all you with much more experience.

Roadkill, I feel your pain, brother!  

Was pleased the Meat Tenderizer worked so well at $.85/jar and now have some for an ole rutty buck if I get one!    

Dang sure going to try to NOT get more chiggers to need more paste made up!