Chiggers

[TnRiver46]

I’ve currently got tick bites, poison ivy and chigger bites and I will have to say, chiggers certainly are the worst of the group as far as itching, it’s crazy. Anyone know of a remedy other than scratching the skin away??

[Dwight Hottle]

Try some over the counter hydrocortisone cream. 

[roadwarrior]

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

https://www.cutterinsectrepellents.com/products/personal-repellents/cutter-backwoods/backwoods-aerosol.aspx

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, roadwarrior said:

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

https://www.cutterinsectrepellents.com/products/personal-repellents/cutter-backwoods/backwoods-aerosol.aspx

That works for the skeeters but the ticks seem to drink it for nourishment 

[roadwarrior]

They claim it repels ticks.  I have read several reviews comparing various brands and

Cutters stands out. Have you tried this particular brand?

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

They claim it repels ticks.  I have read several reviews comparing various brands and

Cutters stands out. Have you tried this particular brand?

Yes, my fiancé is a bug spray fanatic haha. We have many bottles of all kinds , cutter is good stuff for the backyard mosquitos! 

[Bird]

Chiggers and Deer ticks are bad here.

Get them every year and agree, chiggers are terribly itchy. 

Rubbing alcohol helps some but spraying repellent on before heading out to chigger country works best.

 

My problem is, I forget and then it's to late.

 

Mosquitoes? No worries 

Been using a thermacell for years on boats and treestands and not one mosquito bite, they work. 

 

Oh, living in the mountains has me picking off deer ticks weekly this time of year. 

My youngest daughter just got over lime disease and said she's not visiting me for awhile. 

[BigAngus752]

I get chigger bites on my feet and ankles several times a year. As soon as they appear I put one dab/swipe of clear fingernail polish on top of each bite. It dries hard and completely stops the itching. No idea how or why. The nail polish will usually stay on until the bite is better if I don’t scrub hard in the shower or I may reapply once. 

[gim]

Deer flies are pretty intolerable in a river I fish during the summer.  Its basically surrounded by timber so they can get pretty thick.  I have found nothing that repels them, literally nothing.  I even tried imported Canadian bug spray that was 100% deet.

 

They'll land right on your face and take a bite out of you.  Sometimes I slap at them like a mosquito on my arm or leg and they fly away like nothing happened lol.  I've had to quit fishing a few times over the years because they were intolerable, even when the smallmouth river bite was on.

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

I get chigger bites on my feet and ankles several times a year. As soon as they appear I put one dab/swipe of clear fingernail polish on top of each bite. It dries hard and completely stops the itching. No idea how or why. The nail polish will usually stay on until the bite is better if I don’t scrub hard in the shower or I may reapply once. 

I’ve heard my entire life not to do this as it’s an urban legend . I’ll try if I can find any in her collection.......

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Deer flies are pretty intolerable in a river I fish during the summer.  Its basically surrounded by timber so they can get pretty thick.  I have found nothing that repels them, literally nothing.  I even tried imported Canadian bug spray that was 100% deet.

 

They'll land right on your face and take a bite out of you.  Sometimes I slap at them like a mosquito on my arm or leg and they fly away like nothing happened lol.  I've had to quit fishing a few times over the years because they were intolerable, even when the smallmouth river bite was on.

I fish several places like that! Two days of canoe floating and I swear a horse fly circles your head from start to finish no matter what chemical warfare is waged. Every half hour or so they bite the crap out of you just to remind you they are there 

[gim]

13 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Every half hour or so they bite the crap out of you just to remind you they are there 

They are a plague upon this earth no doubt.

[Jaderose]

take a couple of Benadryl and then go operate heavy equipment.  Things will get weird pretty quickly

[Bird]

Might as well add black gnats and noseeums to the list of pests. Lol

[TnRiver46]

53 minutes ago, Bird said:

Might as well add black gnats and noseeums to the list of pests. Lol

Gnats are also immune to chemical spray! We only have no seeums high into the smokies thank god 

[FryDog62]

Sorry, PSA time ~

 

Any signs or symptoms of Lyme, request your doc give you Doxycycline even before you are tested. The testing is extremely antiquated and unreliable. If you have Lyme and it goes longer than 3-4 weeks you could have it for several years if not for life. I have 2 family members that tested negative 2-3 times each and weren't treated until they tested positive months later. By then it was too late. They have both been battling it now going on 3 years and has resulted in A-fib, Graves Disease, Neurological degeneration, pelvic floor disorder, etc.  Its an absolute B*%tc$ don't wait to get treated even if you feel even a little off. If your doc refuses, go to another clinic until you find one that has had patients go through this before, they will understand and write the RX. 

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Jaderose said:

take a couple of Benadryl and then go operate heavy equipment.  Things will get weird pretty quickly

Haha! I’m allergic to bee stings and always “have” to carry an epipen, though I’ve never used it. One time I was digging out a groundhog hole to set a trap and dug into some yellow jackets. Two of them got me

on the fingers, not even close to serious enough for the pen but my hand was getting quite huge. I pulled over and got some Benadryl then started driving to my next job. I think I fell asleep 10 times in 25 miles! 

3 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

Sorry, PSA time ~

 

Any signs or symptoms of Lyme, request your doc give you Doxycycline even before you are tested. The testing is extremely antiquated and unreliable. If you have Lyme and it goes longer than 3-4 weeks you could have it for several years if not for life. I have 2 family members that tested negative 2-3 times each and weren't treated until they tested positive months later. By then it was too late. They have both been battling it now going on 3 years and has resulted in A-fib, Graves Disease, Neurological degeneration, pelvic floor disorder, etc.  Its an absolute B*%tc$ don't wait to get treated even if you feel even a little off. If your doc refuses, go to another clinic until you find one that has had patients go through this before, they will understand and write the RX. 

People around here get Lyme disease a lot yet doctors refuse to admit it exists in this region. I’ve had a bullseye form around a tick bite before, I’ve probably had it dormant for years 

 

thanks for the advice, I think you are way ahead of doctors on that topic 

[BassNJake]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Anyone know of a remedy other than scratching the skin away??

This is my technique.

Once it starts to bleed pretty good it stops itching.

[Bubba 460]

Chigger bites take months to heal, they are the worse  and you might have a mark for a year. Believe me I know... I stomped all over Virginia's fields, pastures, woods and swamps digging up Civil War relics for 12 years. And whatever you do DON'T get poison sumac on you. You will curse the day you come in contact with that. You will writhe in agony during the sleepless nights, curse the whole world during the day and pay any amount of money for a cure that is not out there. Had Lyme disease too... Fun.

[PhishLI]

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve currently got tick bites, poison ivy and chigger bites and I will have to say, chiggers certainly are the worst of the group as far as itching, it’s crazy. Anyone know of a remedy other than scratching the skin away??

Sorry, I have no suggestions for relief. There's a lake I go to where two of the dudes got chiggers. Both reported 3 weeks of misery. One poured gasoline on his feet hoping that would do something, anything. I'm not kidding. Since then we wear high calf tube socks, cheap sneakers, and really spray them down with deet before we go in. I found out the expensive way that deet attacks the adhesive used in sneaker manufacturing. They basically start falling apart. If this lake wasn't so juicy I wouldn't bother, but it is.

 

As far as biting insects go, my only strategy to deal with them at their peak is with heavy clothing. Many of the lakes I fish are very close to salt water and salt marshes here. We have wicked green flies and mosquitoes. I don't know whether or not there's such a thing as a salt water mosquito, but these things are different. They'll penetrate a ball cap like nothing, so I'm forced to fish with a heavy wool skull cap in August. The last time I wore a ball cap there I had lumps on my scalp for 3 days. I also wear a heavy sweat jacket when wading. Garment thickness is the only thing I've found to be effective at stopping them. I dose my gloves and neck gaiter with Natrapel, but they still get my face and neck. Thankfully, they can't bite through my chest wader material, or I'd quit fishing there when they're active.

[TnRiver46]

6 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Sorry, I have no suggestions for relief. There's a lake I go to where two of the dudes got chiggers. Both reported 3 weeks of misery. One poured gasoline on his feet hoping that would do something, anything. I'm not kidding. Since then we wear high calf tube socks, cheap sneakers, and really spray them down with deet before we go in. I found out the expensive way that deet attacks the adhesive used in sneaker manufacturing. They basically start falling apart. If this lake wasn't so juicy I wouldn't bother, but it is.

 

As far as biting insects go, my only strategy to deal with them at their peak is with heavy clothing. Many of the lakes I fish are very close to salt water and salt marshes here. We have wicked green flies and mosquitoes. I don't know whether or not there's a such thing as a salt water mosquito, but these things are different. They'll penetrate a ball cap like nothing, so I'm forced to fish with a heavy wool skull cap in August. The last time I wore a ball cap there I had lumps on my scalp for 3 days. I also wear a heavy sweat jacket when wading. Garment thickness is the only thing I've found to be effective at stopping them. I dose my gloves and neck gaiter with Natrapel, but they still get my face and neck. Thankfully, they can't bite through my chest wader material, or I'd quit fishing there when they're active.

In the words of axel rose , “you know where you are ??? You’re in the jungle, baby!!”

[PhishLI]

3 hours ago, Bird said:

Been using a thermacell for years on boats and treestands and not one mosquito bite, they work. 

Got that as a Christmas gift last year. Can't wait to give it a whirl. Just need to figure out how to strap it to myself for when I'm wading through mosquito ridden green ooze. Can that be done without setting myself ablaze?

[wdp]

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve currently got tick bites, poison ivy and chigger bites and I will have to say, chiggers certainly are the worst of the group as far as itching, it’s crazy. Anyone know of a remedy other than scratching the skin away??

I have found this stuff works better than any of the other OTC remedies. It’s like camphor mixed with clear finger nail polish. So the camphor relives itching while the nail polish is supposed to “smother” & kill the chigger bug. At least that’s what I’ve heard. Stuff has worked for me for a number of yrs now. It’ll still take a couple of weeks to clear up. And I usually apply it twice a day, especially that 1st week when the bites are so annoying & itchy. 
 

I usually get it at CVS, but it’s getting harder to find in the stores but they’ll order it for ya. I always keep an extra bottle around & will get another once I open a new one. 
 

https://www.chigarid.com/shop/

 

Also, any bug repellent with DEET should do a pretty good job of repelling chiggers along with skeeters & ticks. I spray liberally when bank fishing. Just forget sometimes, so the Chigarid is handy to have. 

[Bird]

24 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Got that as a Christmas gift last year. Can't wait to give it a whirl. Just need to figure out how to strap it to myself for when I'm wading through mosquito ridden green ooze. Can that be done without setting myself ablaze?

Hah !

It won't work strapped to ya' but like the way you think.

The mat shown in pic is heat activated so the thermacell itself has to be relatively level to be effective and moving around will also limit its usefulness. 

 

Note: they don't put out enough heat to catch a person on fire.

[A-Jay]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve currently got tick bites, poison ivy and chigger bites and I will have to say, chiggers certainly are the worst of the group as far as itching, it’s crazy. Anyone know of a remedy other than scratching the skin away??

 

 

A-Jay

[BigAngus752]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve heard my entire life not to do this as it’s an urban legend

Yup.  I was told to do it as a kid because it would allegedly suffocate the chigger if it was still attached.  I learned later in life that this was b.s. but I had already discovered that it helped with the itching so I keep doing it.  Can't guarantee it will help you, but it helps me.  Good luck