Chiggers

[pmcpmc]

Feeling under the weather today as I received more than 50 chigger bites yesterday at the BWV quiet pool.
Feet,knees,inner thighs short tops arms and back are covered in them.

Any remedies recommended for the itch?

 

[DVCconvert]

Behold.....the power of Google.....

1-Topical anesthetic may work for short term relief of itching symptoms;

2- soaking the bite location in water with Epsom Salts can cause the chiggers to become detached from the skin;

3- A topical cream containing an antihistamine

 

[RumpleMom]

Are you sure what you have are chiggers? I thought they lived in tall grassy areas.

 

[Kae]

Clear nail polish is what we did when I was young.

Kae

 

[dumbo_buddy]

what the heck is a chigger?? i'm assuming a little bug?? never heard of them!

 

[BeesKnees]

Clear nail polish is what we did when I was young.

Kae

This. Always worked.

 

[BeesKnees]

Also, in lieu of your experience maybe you should reconsider asking to be bitten because you are Irish.

 

[maureenmac]

We always use Benadryl spray. It works very well to take the itch away. If you use it early enough it even takes the swelling down from these nasty green fly bites we ge here near the bay. You can get it at any major drugstore. The spray works better than the cream or gel. Good luck.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Clear nail polish is what we did when I was young.

Kae

Worked for us also, I picked them up from sitting on a damp dock by a lake when I was a child. My legs were covered in little red bumps from them. We used an anti-itch cream first and then covered the red spaces with nail polish. I do not think we had the clear kind but I was a kid, I thought the red polish dots were "cool".

 

[supersuperwendy]

what the heck is a chigger?? i'm assuming a little bug?? never heard of them!

I'm wondering the same thing!!

 

[P-elmo]

i'm wondering the same thing!!

+1

 

[Deb & Bill]

Might have been biting flies. Those are vicious.

 

[jrtoastyman]

what the heck is a chigger?? i'm assuming a little bug?? never heard of them!

It is a little bug, but unlike most little bugs, chiggers have arisen from the very gates of hell to torment us. They are tiny, tiny little bugs that look like black or (more often) red dots on the pavement, and their bites itch like mad, much worse than a common mosquito bite. What's worse, most of the time when you've been bitten once, you've been bitten dozens of times, and they tend to focus upon areas like waistbands that make it all the more unpleasant. Hate those little things.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Chiggers, also know as red-bugs.
Chiggers are tiny, six-legged wingless organisms (larvae) that grow up to become a type of mite. Chiggers are found in tall grass and weeds. Their bite causes severe itching.

Chiggers are found in outdoor areas, such as damp wooded areas, berry patches, tall grass and weeds, and woodland edges.

Chiggers bite humans around the waist, ankles, or in warm skin folds. Bites commonly occur in the summer and fall months.

Here are some images of them and their bites. Be aware, some of the images are gross.

http://www.google.com/search?q=chig...Jubo0QHey_moAw&ved=0CFgQsAQ&biw=1541&bih=1200

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I don't know what a "chigger" is, how do you know they came from the pool? Can you see them in the water?

 

[hakepb]

I believe chiggers cannot live in water, so they would have to be from the landscaping.

It seems some people are more susceptible than others. I knew someone that had to wear a special, skin-tight "suit" under his normal hunting gear, but the others did OK.

DW swears by Chigarid, chigarid.com it's a more medical version of the nail polish that seals the area, sooths, and stops you from itching open an area, which causes worse infections.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Did you tell BWV maintenance about it? They can probably spray the quiet pool area to get rid of them.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Did you tell BWV maintenance about it? They can probably spray the quiet pool area to get rid of them.

Even if they fog an area (and they do fog the resorts), the bugs come back once the fog is gone. It's only good to get the ones that are there right now.

But chiggers are found in grass, not at pools. Probably no-see-ums.

 

[SUSIEQ]

Feeling under the weather today as I received more than 50 chigger bites yesterday at the BWV quiet pool.
Feet,knees,inner thighs short tops arms and back are covered in them.

Any remedies recommended for the itch?

I was at the BWV quiet pool for at least 4 to 6 hours every day from 7/3/11-7/6/11. I was not bitten by anything. Where were you when you were bitten by these chiggers? (I have been bitten by chiggers before, but it has always been from walking throught tall grass.)
The main reason I am asking is because I will be back at BWV in about 9 weeks, and I plan to be by that quiet pool almost every day. Thanks, and I hope you feel better.

 

[TisBit]

Chiggers would not come from the pool area. I have had a case of them that infested my whole lower body with over 350 bites, etc....so I did a lot of research. Topical ointments will help relieve the effects, but really they run the course. Usually by the time you realize you have them, it is too late to do anything about it and most "remedies" will only appear affective as the chigger finishes its business.

Chiggers are a miniscule mites about the size of a pinhead, usually you can only see them after the welt appears and they are just a small spot in the middle of that welt. They must bit a mammal in order to move from larvae to nymph. After they feed on a mammal to make this tranistion, they actually turn vegetarian...and will not bother anyone again (so you don't have to worry about them being in the house, etc). They will normally become highly concentrated in an area that is not frequented by mammals...swampy areas, heavily wooded areas, deserted beach area's, etc.

For the OP, if your have been in one of these areas about 24-48 hrs before the bites appeared, that will narrow down that it is likely chiggers....the bites might get worse (more numerous) as you react to them. It took about 24 hrs for the first bites to appear on me and 48 before the final ones...then about 72 hrs for things to subside and heal.

If you have not been in these type of areas....you might want to make sure it is not bed bugs from the room. I would not suspect any Chiggers in the WDW area, unless you are in an area not normally visited by the public or other animals (say a "shortcut" through the woods, etc).