• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Shit!!!! I Hate Chiggers

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
Platinum Patron
Those little buggers can see me coming from 50 yards away. :hammer::hammer:

Yesterday I got up early and went to a friend's house/farm/ranch to help him harvest his grapes. I do this every year, sometimes a couple of times a year. I usually wear jeans and boots and spray the hell out of them with Permanone. This year for some reason I forgot. It's been so hot I put on my usual working garb of shorts and tennis shoes and off I went.

There's usually about 8 or 10 of us. We get there about 6:30 and have a light continental breakfast and then go to work. We only had 3 rows of black Loire grapes to cut and the harvest wasn't as heavy as usual so it didn't take too long. We hauled over 800 pounds of grapes up to the house and had a break ... breakfast casserole and tamales with beer and wine. We then started feeding the grapes into "the machine" which is a lot better than stomping them in the bath. It's a hand cranker and it pulps the grapes and skins and removes the stalks and stems. The pulp or "must" you store until the actual wine making process begins. When we finished pulping all the grapes we had some more cold cuts and cheese with more beer and wine. All in all, it was a fun morning.

All that didn't take too long. I was home just after noon. A quick nap and I was back outside pottering around. I came in, got cleaned up, ate dinner and sat down to watch the Olympics. About 11 o'clock the first tingling began and the itch got worse and worse. It was a miserable nights sleep. This morning my lower legs were covered in the beginning eruptions. I am so allergic to those little bastards. So I'm getting ready for 2 or 3 weeks of pure misery. The sad thing is that I just healed from an attack of the buggers from my neighbor's place about a month ago.

I ought to just stay home because I spray the hell out of my place and usually never have a problem but set foot on anybody else place or even at the farm and I know that I'm asking for trouble unless I spray my pants with Permanone. It's going to be a long miserable summer.

I know that God has a plan for all his creatures but I just want to know where the hell chiggers fit in to it. I hate to say it but the Good Lord may have screwed up there.

Is there any place in the United States that doesn't have chiggers? I may give serious thought to moving. :yum:
 
Last edited:
They are nasty little bugers....Did you sit down on the ground??

We don't seem to have isssues unless you should wear shorts or other light weight pants. Good heavy denim jeans will stop them, along with knee high socks. Around here, they are only in area's not just every where. Iodine on the lumps will kill the pest, and speed the healing. Benidril if your actually alergic would help as well.

My daughter got them ealy this sping, fishing on a sand bar in the river. She had them so bad on her back side we ended up with her in the DR office, as infection got into them as well. Poor girl....

Last time I had them was in South Dakota laying prone shooting P dogs. Nasty on your belly for sure...The tee shirt didn't keep them out, but my jeans did..

Regards, Kirk
 
Is there any place in the United States that doesn't have chiggers? I may give serious thought to moving. :yum:

Up North, we don't have chiggers, but their cousin, the Tick, is common.

As Kirk said, Benadryl should help. Also some cortosteriods (Cortizone) on the area will reduce the itch.
 
I used to spray my clothes and even my dogs with Off Skintastic in Florida. It used to work for me. I think the deet and the baby oil worked.
 
I feel your pain. The ones from my southwest Mo ranch come with chain saws!



Anything with Deet will keep them off. I spray everything with "deep Woods. Socks, shoes, pants, shirts and any open skin.

It helps to have chickens about the place.
 
Thanks guys, I needed the sympathy. I'm feeling miserable this morning.

It's going to get worse. I have to go mow today and it's supposed to be 105. The hotter I get, the more the bites will itch. Damn it. I'm so allergic to them that the bites usually form sores that take about 3 weeks to heal but at least the itching only lasts about a week.

What makes me mad is that I know better. That Permanone is good stuff if you can get it. It's not sold everywhere. You spray your boots and pants and let it dry and it actually kills chiggers and ticks that get on them.
 
Man me too and luckily haven't had a bite since I was a kid living on my grandparents farm in Virginia. I've managed to avoid them ever since I learned about them.
 
Top