Do chiggers still exist?

[TheOtherVillainess]

It seems to me that as a kid, everybody was always getting 'chigger' bites. I'm not sure I even know what a chigger is.

But I haven't heard of anybody in the last 5 or 6 years getting a chigger bite. What happened? Did all the chiggers go extinct?

TOV

 

[Tiggeroo]

yep we got them alot as a kid. You have to be in the woods or in grass, usually tall grass. Now I live at the beach so no chiggers

 

[lindalinda]

I think its because we don't let our kids play outside anymore! Can't get chiggers from a playstation!

 

[flaps]

DH & I got nailed by 'em while hiking a couple years or so ago.

 

[SUSIEQ]

I had a case of red bugs so bad Labor Day weekend last year, I thought I was going to die!
Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen this weekend!

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Yep we still got them, DD came home from camp with bites all over her legs.

 

[minkydog]

They're alive & well & biting in Georgia

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Oh yeah...they're all over the South....

Nothing like having bite from chicks and tiggers!

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Do they have them in the NE? I used to hear them mentioned in insect repellen commercials and figured they were just another name for mosquitos!

Are they just native to the South?

 

[Topper]

 

[3princesses4us]

Suffering through some right now...

 

[NikiM20]

at the Girl Scout camp i went to (20 yrs ago) they had Chigger Island....supposedly they were so bad there noone could go on the island

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

*stares at the picture* YIKES! God they are scary looking things.

It seems to me as a kid, if you just went outside and played in the yard, you were guarenteed to get chigger bites in the summer. Even if you had short grass, the way we always did (because my stepfather was obsessed with the lawn).

I think I have a chigger bite on my foot..it's all red and it itches something awful. I keep putting calamine lotion on it so I won't scratch it. Should I put some of DS's Gentian Violet on it instead? He's almost done with it, thankfully.

TOV

 

[pumba]

my granddaughter got them so bad a year ago. She was babysitting and went into the brush to get a ball that landed there ........she was a mess for days. The cortizone ointment didnt work but with benydryl meds and the cream it sort of took it a while to get over it.....

WE are Mainers......so they exist here as do those dredded brown recluse spiders that showed up last year or so. Those are supposed to be southern spiders but people were getting bit by them and ending up in the ER....

 

[eclectics]

My Grandmother used to talk about Nits and Chiggers. Never knew "wth" she was talking about. Still don't know what a Nit is.

 

[Uuaww]

Im from California and have absolutely no idea what any of these things are.

 

[mytwotinks]

If you were from Kansas you would know for sure that chiggers do still exist! It seems like they are the worst when the sun goes down a little and the grass gets a little dewy. When I was a kid we played outside till it was pitch black and our moms had to call us in. My girls don't go out much after dark because they are both really sensitive to all of the little critters that will chew you up! Maybe chiggers are a Kansas thing?

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

My Grandmother used to talk about Nits and Chiggers. Never knew "wth" she was talking about. Still don't know what a Nit is.

My grandmother was the same way. She said that chigger bites could cause something called Impetigo. If we had any bites or sore spots on our arms/legs she would freak out, saying we were going to get Impetigo and die.

WTH is Impetigo?

TOV

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

My grandmother was the same way. She said that chigger bites could cause something called Impetigo. If we had any bites or sore spots on our arms/legs she would freak out, saying we were going to get Impetigo and die.

WTH is Impetigo?

TOV

Impetigo is a bacterial skin infection caused by "staph". I have heard that chigger bites can be helped to heal by putting a coat of clear nail polish on them, saw that on CSI.

 

[pperfectmom]

Let's see-I think I can answer some questions. A nit is the same thing as lice. Chiggers are all over the dang place here, though mostly in tall grass. They usually like to congregate in the warm moist areas of your body if you know what I mean and burrow under your skin. They are very tiny and the itching will drive you insane. My kids had impetigo about a month ago and it is an infection that is spread through, I kid you not, nose picking and scratching bug bites. You can't imagine my pride when the doctor gave us that diagnosis! Gotta love summer...