Ah, yes, once again the time has come for elaborate preparations for a venture outdoors. The chiggers have hatched. I dread this event because I can no longer run outside several times a day to do various chores. If I don't go through elaborate preparations the chiggers will bite me.
I can't post a picture of a chigger because I've never seen one, although millions of them are lurking in the grass and garden, waiting to sink their tiny mouths into my skin. They are the larval stage of a mite and cannot be seen without magnification. They are said to be about 1/5 the size of a period at the end of a sentence.
Chiggers don't actually bite. They sink a bore into the skin and inject juices that cause the cells to break down. This causes severe irritation and itching. Their diet consists of skin cells of humans, toads, rabbits, and even rattlesnakes. I read once that scientists had counted the number of chiggers under the scales of a rattlesnake: 10,000. No wonder they are cranky!
Various preventives include sublimed sulphur dusted on clothing and skin, insect repellants, and Avon's Skin So Soft, which contains citronella. When I get "suited up" to go outdoors I rub Skin So Soft all over my body and dust sulphur and insect repellent on my clothing. Chiggers love tight spots under clothing, so I pay special attention to knees, groin, chest and waist. My brother always takes a shower and scrubs every inch to dislodge them after being outdoors.
Not everyone is vulnerable to chiggers. My friend Barbara says she has never had a chigger bite. Dennis is almost invulnerable, too. Most of us, though, had better watch out. One visitor to Paradise had so many chigger bites he went to the emergency room in misery.
If you get a chigger bite, never, ever scratch it. The more you scratch it, the more it itches. Use an itch control product and self control instead.
Luckily, most of the country is not suitable for chigger habitat. They require moist, humid conditions. Eastern Kansas, sad to say, is right at the edge of chigger country. You see, Paradise is not truly paradisiacal.
I can't post a picture of a chigger because I've never seen one, although millions of them are lurking in the grass and garden, waiting to sink their tiny mouths into my skin. They are the larval stage of a mite and cannot be seen without magnification. They are said to be about 1/5 the size of a period at the end of a sentence.
Chiggers don't actually bite. They sink a bore into the skin and inject juices that cause the cells to break down. This causes severe irritation and itching. Their diet consists of skin cells of humans, toads, rabbits, and even rattlesnakes. I read once that scientists had counted the number of chiggers under the scales of a rattlesnake: 10,000. No wonder they are cranky!
Various preventives include sublimed sulphur dusted on clothing and skin, insect repellants, and Avon's Skin So Soft, which contains citronella. When I get "suited up" to go outdoors I rub Skin So Soft all over my body and dust sulphur and insect repellent on my clothing. Chiggers love tight spots under clothing, so I pay special attention to knees, groin, chest and waist. My brother always takes a shower and scrubs every inch to dislodge them after being outdoors.
Not everyone is vulnerable to chiggers. My friend Barbara says she has never had a chigger bite. Dennis is almost invulnerable, too. Most of us, though, had better watch out. One visitor to Paradise had so many chigger bites he went to the emergency room in misery.
If you get a chigger bite, never, ever scratch it. The more you scratch it, the more it itches. Use an itch control product and self control instead.
Luckily, most of the country is not suitable for chigger habitat. They require moist, humid conditions. Eastern Kansas, sad to say, is right at the edge of chigger country. You see, Paradise is not truly paradisiacal.
2 comments:
I keep my 'going in the garden when chiggers are around' gardening clothes in the basement. Sox, underpants, shirt and long pants have been dusted with yellow sulphur and sprayed with "Off". These do not get washed until gardening and chigger season is over. Then, immediately after gardening, I, too, scrub myself in the a shower or tub. Some of the sulphur smell still remains. It's enough to confine me to the porch until frost.
Those little buggers came so early this year!
Good tips, Linda. I will try your approach. I haven't been to the garden for a week and need to get out there.
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