[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Getting rid of Chiggers? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 6/27/2010 10:06:05 AM EDT
| I have a good friend in the Army who got chiggers. How does he get rid of them? He is trying soaking in a pool. Any suggestions? |
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I googled it, as I've got a couple of bites.
http://www.theexpressusa.com/2010/06/12/how-to-get-rid-of-chiggers-on-your-body-skin/ "Take off your clothes immediately after returning from areas that have chiggers. These clothes should be washed in hot water. Then go straight away to the bath tub. A thorough bath should be taken to get rid of the insects on the skin. Scrub with soap for at least fifteen minutes. A shower may be taken if a bath is not possible. Do not add bleach or any other chemicals to the water because this will only damage your skin. A bath in hot water will drown the bugs and scrubbing with soap will make sure that larvae are removed from your body." So the pool is a good idea. RR |
| You know that after he washes his clothes and his skin the chiggers are gone, correct? I used to think they burrowed in the skin, but the irritation you have is actually just the saliva of the insect or whatever. So you just have to treat the itch their bites cause, the actual insect is gone. |
| Once bitten there isn't much to be done but tolerate it. Several years ago I found that by dusting with sulphur powder before I go out, they become a non issue. I fill a sock with sulphur and just rub my legs to repel them from climbing and the waistbands and other areas they like to inhabit. I don't remember if I bought the sulphur at the lawn and garden store or in the pharmacy. |
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From the web:
Chigger removal If you think you've just become host to a gang of chiggers, immediately wash all of your clothing with detergent and on the hottest setting - then wash yourself with plenty of soap and hot water. An exfoliating pad can be used and special attention should be paid to warm, moist areas (inside of knees, groin, anus, waist, armpits, neck, between toes, etc). Chigger bites are insanely itchy and swell into raised red welts that can last for a couple of weeks before subsiding. As difficult as it may be, resist scratching these bites - they can become infected. Instead, apply something that will limit their exposure to air. Calamine lotion Hydrocortisone cream They will soothe the itching, and suffocate any bugs that may remain. My experience: Chiggers often are found around your waist, because they come off of tall grasses and them make their way in between your shirt and pants. When hiking in tall grassy areas, tuck your shirt in. Also same goes for the joint at your pants/socks. Tuck in the bottoms of your pants, this cuts down on ticks entering. |
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If he already has chiggers, the best thing to do is paint them over with clear fingernail polish. Keep a good coating on them. It suffocates them then you'll slough them out with dead skin.
Some say this is old wives' tale. It always worked for me when I was a kid. |
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Quoted:
If he already has chiggers, the best thing to do is paint them over with clear fingernail polish. Keep a good coating on them. It suffocates them then you'll slough them out with dead skin. Some say this is old wives' tale. It always worked for me when I was a kid. ^This. It works or at least it did when I was a kid. Burns like hel!. Especially when you get these things on your nut-sack and treat it with clear nail polish! |
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Make sure they're chiggers and not scabies. just sayin' He is out in the woods in Georgia for training. Not sure where. I do not keep up on army training locations. 
He told me they don't give him hot water to shower with so it seems that the pool was the best choice. |
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Think of chiggars as very small ticks. They bite and inject enzymes into the skin to start digesting it...the first time you itch them they are usually crushed and dead. But the itching welts will remain for a week or more. It sucks but calomine lotion and a hot bath are what always worked for me.
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By the way, they prefer to be called Chegros. Awww, now y tell us! And everyone's been using the "C" word all through this thread.   
Caladryl lotion is my after-the-fact go to for skeeters, chiggers, rashes. As mentioned above wash first, then Isopropyl alchohol to clean, dry and disinfect (kill anything left). Then a topcoat of caladryl which seems to stop the itching in short order. And here's some chigger porn: (You know you crave it) chigger bites Chigger on the edge of a dime |
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Get some of the wife's anitperspirant. In 15 minutes the itching will stop. Reapply as necessary. It's free, and you will know whether I am right or not in less than 20 minutes. Or you can go buy stuff like clear nail polish (not sure why in needs to be clear, as red is equally as ineffective) or buy some stuff that you can't find right now. |
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We had them bad on e year, was like a wave of swarming black on MrsWind.....Hartz Mountain Dog Shampoo.....yup get rid of them and cheap. Then wipe with Alcohol.....to stop the scratching.. Hey Wind, I'll bet you have them thick in Southern NJ like we do on the Eastern Shore. We were on our way to the beach long ago, day trip, pulled over in a grassy area, about 10 miles from the coast to do a quick change into bathing suits. Chiggers nailed us. The ocean water never felt so good!! |
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I lance the spots w/ an Exacto blade after applying a chlorinated cleaner like Chlorox or Tilex to bite and blade. Try to get some beneath the skin.
[Actually, I get my SO to do it while I cry like a baby] Works fine for 25 yrs. Afterwards a dab of any hydrocortisone cream or Cordran cream takes care of any remaining itch. Usually, it seems, I have about 2 hrs to wash before the bites take hold. |
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The US military uses a product called Chigg-away it is a thick fluid, maybe a very light creammy stuff that is kinda yellow. it comes in a small green plastic bottle. I used to get it from a surplus dealer, but have also found it on-line at several places.
THIS STUFF IS THE BEST CHIGGER STUFF OUT THERE! It is made to keep chiggers and ticks off of you, but also works wonders at soothing bites after the fact. It works for all stinging insect bites actually, even wasps. |
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Quoted:
The US military uses a product called Chigg-away it is a thick fluid, maybe a very light creammy stuff that is kinda yellow. it comes in a small green plastic bottle. I used to get it from a surplus dealer, but have also found it on-line at several places. THIS STUFF IS THE BEST CHIGGER STUFF OUT THERE! It is made to keep chiggers and ticks off of you, but also works wonders at soothing bites after the fact. It works for all stinging insect bites actually, even wasps. Thanks! I just ordered some (gotta love the web for impulse buying). I recently moved into a place on some acreage, most of it is overgrown. The first time I walked it I was miserable with chigger bites. Seems that the worse part is that these things come out in the dead of summer, when your pores are open and inviting. Bastards. |
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Quoted: Quoted: If he already has chiggers, the best thing to do is paint them over with clear fingernail polish. Keep a good coating on them. It suffocates them then you'll slough them out with dead skin. Some say this is old wives' tale. It always worked for me when I was a kid. ^This. It works or at least it did when I was a kid. Burns like hel!. Especially when you get these things on your nut-sack and treat it with clear nail polish! They don't burrow. By the time you're aware of the bite the chigger is typically long gone. |
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You know this is a tech forum, right? Stay classy. |
I think some of you guys are just looking for an excuse to wear nail-polish and use your Wife's "Ladies Speed Stick". Bunch of sick fuckers 
Seriously, the best thing for chiggers is to wash every part of your body with hot, soapy water just as soon as you come in from the outdoors. There is nothing more irritating than suffering chigger bites for two to three weeks. My woods are loaded with them during the Spring and Fall (a little less when the Summer turns dry) and I have found nothing that repels them 100%. |
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Quoted:
The US military uses a product called Chigg-away it is a thick fluid, maybe a very light creammy stuff that is kinda yellow. it comes in a small green plastic bottle. I used to get it from a surplus dealer, but have also found it on-line at several places. THIS STUFF IS THE BEST CHIGGER STUFF OUT THERE! It is made to keep chiggers and ticks off of you, but also works wonders at soothing bites after the fact. It works for all stinging insect bites actually, even wasps. Thanks! I just ordered some (gotta love the web for impulse buying). I recently moved into a place on some acreage, most of it is overgrown. The first time I walked it I was miserable with chigger bites. Seems that the worse part is that these things come out in the dead of summer, when your pores are open and inviting. Bastards. Strangely enough, Chigg-away is: 10% Precipitated Sulfur U.S.P. - to repel them 5% Benzocaine - for the itch Sulphur works well to repel them, but it makes you smell, like, sulphur. 
My wifes grandmother recommended showering with lye soap, and it really does work to soothe the itch and repel the little bastards. |
Many moons ago when out in the field at Ft Benning we'd get them. I usually scratched them open and then rubbed bleach on the spots. Hey, it worked. Maybe not the smartest thing to do but then neither was drinking beer like a fish and chasing loose women.
I knew some guys that would eat match heads (sulphur) and some would even wear flea collars around the tops of their boot in the never ending war on chiggers. |
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No Pine Sol??? 
When I was a kid, and would come in from the woods, mom would draw me a hot bath and pour in about a half a cup of Pine Sol. Works 100%, 100% of the time this, we have always used this method, if I go out in the woods and its not cold, I always take a bath in pine sol, Ill probly have cancer at age 35 but It gets the red bugs and seed ticks off, post bite, the hottest water you can stand to run on it sooths the itch for a while |
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Lot's of nice home remedies here guys. The basic premise is to wash to remove the chigger then deaden the nerve to relieve the itching with an application of something possible to repel them.
I can't even begin to count the things I've used over the years from using a cigarette when you don't have anything holding it close as you can to the bite to deaden the nerves to Follie with lanocaine to ease the itching and stop infections. After you get rid of the chiggers, its basically the same as treat any insect bite. The problem is because of their enzimes it itches much longer than say a mosquito bite. Anything that burns like hell, usually does the trick of deadening the nerves. My real input to this thread is prevention. Don't wait to wash and treat the skin after the first chigger bite but to prevent more bites, DEET works good for keeping them off so does the over the counter permethriin. One chigger bite is a lot easier to deal with than a dozen and one family member ate up is better than all of them. You have an infestation in your yard, its not time to go green but go to Lowes and by the tick insecticide and spray your yard. If it will kill a tick, it will kill aything. If you live near a woods, spray it every 3-6 months. I usually a do parameter of about 3-4 feet 2/3s in my yard 1/3 in the woods which acts like a barrier keeping ticks and chiggers in the woods and out of my yard. This I do every 3 months. Using those little spray cans, it literally takes minutes. When it comes to insecticides, chiggers actually die pretty easy compared to ticks. One light spray and about three days, they're gone. Careful with pets around insecticides. We simply rotate them doing sections of the yard at a time giving it a 3 day wait period or until one good rain. Rain washes into the soil so the stuff still works on bugs. After so many years of outdoor stuff, I can tell you one skill I have honed to a fine art is feel something crawl stop and check it out, itch check it out, and react accordingly. The little pocket size DEET bottles are standard gear if I'm outdoors. They even make pocket size now. Nerve deadening I have all kinds of stuff from simple to complex, from ammonia to iodine, from insect bite stuff to lanocane based products. There's many reasons us old timers don't wear shorts or low cut shoes in the field anymore, excpt lounging around camp, chiggers is one of the many. Tj |
| I live in a chigger-rich environment and am well-versed in dealing with them. As noted previously, prevention is the only way to go. They're nearly impossible to see, so by the time you realize they've hit ya, it's too late, and you're about to experience 1-2 weeks of itchy hell. If you're going to be in an environment where chiggers hang out, I recommend the use of Permethrine. Google Permethrine to get the skinny... |
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Quoted:
If he already has chiggers, the best thing to do is paint them over with clear fingernail polish. Keep a good coating on them. It suffocates them then you'll slough them out with dead skin. Some say this is old wives' tale. It always worked for me when I was a kid. It suffocates nothing the chigger is long gone by then.
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