in Oklahoma we say chiggers and I noticed that some of the Texas folk say redbugs and I know that everyone in Louisiana says redbugs ..what do Y'all say and what are some treatments that you use ,let me hear the answers as on the way home from Texas i stopped to photograph some flowers and got ate up as we say by chiggers ..I know they were chiggers cause we were on the north side of the Red River,at Stringtown actually.LOL
chiggers or redbugs
We call them chiggers too, and I think the best treatment is to avoid them in the first place, they are horrendous.
Treatment? fingernail polish quik, they make chigger rid which is awesome if you haven't recently run out of it, staying out of tall grasses, that bull frog sun tan lotion is loaded with things I've even seen fire ants cringe from even if I was sunburning (the liquad clear gel form of BullFrog)
Ummm, pretreat bare skin and clothing with anything containing DEET-esp bare skin
Watch out for them in Spanish moss,too.
We call them chiggers, redbugs and somethings that we can't mention here. lol
I'll second the fingernail polish. It smothers them if they are still there. It provides a protective coating on the skin to stop the itch. After a few days, the body oils will allow the polish to come off and the bite/itch are gone. I don't use it for anything else but I keep some in the bathroom cabinet just for this purpose.
A few years back, a young friend that was logging had gotten ate up by them. He couldn't stop itching so I gave him the nail polish remedy. That evening, he asked his wife if she had some she didn't use and would she doctor his bites with it. Well, she did and she did. It was black. He had black spots all over. The next day, he was at his Dads' and slipped off a boot to straighten out his sock. He said his Dad liked to have had a heart attack. LOL He explained that no one would see it and his Dad said "but son, what if you end up at the hospital?" But to this day, you can ask him how to treat chigger bites and he'll tell you nail polish. It does work! But he'd recommend a neutral color.
I have not gotten into chiggers this year but the no-see-ums are ferocious. Grrr...
This message was edited Jun 24, 2012 9:02 PM
The nail polish stuff itself kills them- supposedly they don't actually burrow in, but I seriously doubt you'll convince anyone to believe that who is trying to stop the bites of the critters that'd just move around with any other treatment. Yup, I've been bitten out here this year, the midges aren't where I am- I do worry abt sand fleas burrowing under skin, shudder, my nail polish is pink tho, chuckl.
What I usually do is to presoak my clothes in a permethrin based treatment normally sold to backpackers and it works but I was just lax due mainly to the fact that we have not had any for the last 3 or 4 years ..Due in a large part to single digits on the thermometer,which we did not get any cold temps this past winter anyway I am healing and now have most of my outdoor clothing treated and ready for my next foray with my camera and book..
Great idea, grits!
To stop the itch, soak the area in warm water + Epson Salts. Chiggars are the devil!!!
Carla
In La . the men take a bath at night after working in the woods , with a cup of bleach added .
They got me all under my arms and down my ribs .
I used to know a surveyor that would lace flea collars thru the pull straps on his boots. Swore it discouraged ticks and chiggers ~ probably fleas too... lol
Thank you, digger!
I've been lurking since the 1st reply on this thread - waiting for someone to mention the bleach bath. That is what my Mom used on us kids when we got into redbuds. I only recall the one time. We saw these tiny dots the size of grains of flour, 100's of them moving across skin. We ran home to show Mom. We didn't have any itching yet just could see the dots spreading out across our skin.
Mom put us both in the tub, filled it with water, and then added a 'splash' of bleach. We stayed in the tub for a while, washing and playing, and that was the end of the 'dots'. Because she acted so quickly, we never had any itching or redness. The bleach killed them quickly, inexpensively, and efficiently and did so w/o any harm to our delicate, young skin.
The only reason I didn't post sooner is that I didn't know how much bleach per tub of water. I knew it wasn't much, but I just did not know how to articulate an amount that would kill the redbugs w/o harming a person's skin. I was hoping someone would come by with that information and was monitoring the thread because, if no one showed up with the info, I was going to post what I knew. I felt the bleach bath solution was too good to remain unspoken, even if I couldn't give specifics about the qty of bleach. So glad you came by with that info.
Every cure mentioned here with the exception of the sulphur I have used my Mother swore by the bleach bath but one problem is once you are bitten the bleach and epson salts just provide temporary relief with the same being true of vicks and fingernail polish they both just seal the area from oxygen what I have used lately is neosporin with pain relief in a pinch sensodyne tooth paste works pretty good
Hold on Dream , Mother also had a dry cleaners and tailor shop business when I was growing up. Anyone that was burned by steam from the presses also had a small bottle of Purex bleach sitting on the press . Poured in hand and stroked on those burns almost instantly stopped or minimize the pain , and also helped keep the blisters from forming . My little brother pulled a hot pot of coffee over on him when he was a toddler in a walk- a-bout .The cord was hanging off the table . Mother scooped him up , poured bleach out on the table and scooped it over his burnt skin which was nasty red . It ruined all their clothes , but Sandy never had any ill effects from the scalding coffee , no blisters and I don't remember any peeling skin .
Off topic , I know . Just wanted to add some virtues of bleach .
Dabbed on most insect bites full strength works .
Years ago , I bleached a water stain on the ceiling with rubber gloves on . The bleach was full strength and in contact with my wrists for a good while . I had terrible chemical burns that lasted a month , so care should be used when using full strength , altho very short term is harmless enough.
Sorry for O T , I'm gone
When you mentioned the sulphur, it reminded me of another, more serious insect pest I had dealt with once in my life. The pest in question was ultra tiny, possibly even microscopic, not sure, and actually burrowed under the skin - and itched like crazy. My mom took me to the Dr. I was given a topical, prescription medication to put on after each bath. I recall that it had metallic flakes in it like glitter (visible all over me after use) and that it made me nauseated. It came with a long list of scary sounding warnings, but it did kill the organism in a couple of weeks.
After I had gotten rid of the organism, my Mom began to show symptoms (red patches of skin and 'tracks' plus maddening itch). My grandmother told her the 'old' remedy for this was to coat the effected areas with sulphur and lard, the latter to hold the sulphur on the skin and block out air. I thought that 'cure' sounded ridiculous, but Mom used the sulphur & lard treatment. It worked just as well as the prescription product I had used, except w/o the barfing or the glitter. My guess is that the sulphur/lard was probably less harmful and less prone to side effects than the expensive, prescription product I used, and it worked at least as fast, maybe faster.
I mention this because, while I don't recall the organism involved, if sulphur worked for it, I figure it will likely work for redbugs. The organism may even have been redbugs. Not sure. I was a kid at the time. I only recall that the organism in question was IN the skin, not on the surface as with a tick, and that made it more difficult to treat/remove. Also the symptoms as stated were red patches on the skin above where the organisms were located and unrelenting itching so severe I would scratch almost until I bled. Nothing seemed to soothe the itch until the organism was gone.
digger, I once used full strength bleach for a big cleaning task (w/o gloves). My hands began to burn. I looked down to see that tiny, pin holes had developed all over my fingers. Eek! I learned from that experience that bleach in high concentration can harm the skin. That's why I was reluctant to recommend that people bathe in water with bleach in it w/o knowing the proper amount. I recalled that Mom had poured in a rather small amount for our bath/soak that day for the redbugs. The 1 cup qty that you mentioned sounds consistent with what I recall.
Except for the bleach bath when I was a kid, I've never used bleach for anything except cleaning & bleaching (as in tie-dying). I just don't have any experience with the other uses you mentioned - but I will keep them in mind. I think I would be a bit leery of pouring on a burn. Not saying it doesn't work, just that I would be afraid to do it.
Any contact with bleach on bare skin should be brief . I know it would be better not to do it at all , just wanted anyone to know what Mother did with success .
Yeah Dream , when you get those little red pinpricks , it's too late .
Be careful though about the l cup measurement. How much bleach would depend on how much water in the bathtub also.
Dream , those under the skin itch sounds like scabbies . Very common to pick up from pets , I had a case of that when I worked with the local humane society . I wasn't alone either . Sulpher and grease was a "always have on hand " .Some of the pitiful dogs we got in had to have it rubbed in all over the body . It works . My sweet , departed ex MILaw used it in rabbits ears to heal them .
Deep enough to scoot down and cover up to chin .
I call them chiggers and my Dad does, too. So in Illinois they are chiggers. When I was eight I won a one month's subscription to the local newspaper as a prize for my question which I sent in to "Ask Mr Science" regarding chiggers. Mr Science said they don't burrow into your skin, the red rash is from irritation to the chigger's saliva. At least that is what Mr Science said. For some reason they don't seem to bother me, but they love my DH. We use Calagel--available at WallyWorld.
Scabbies are far worse .
We always used Campho obelisks in the animal ears- and I remember my grandfather pouring motor oil on hogs backs in summer- thought scabies was from having chicken pox- and yeah I am told will occupy your mind with itching,my guess is the bleach was used to avoid imphantigo, wrong spelling, but bleach1 part to 20 party's water will even kill parvovirus virus on the floors and walls..
So glad I started this thread just think how much we learn from memories of days gone by > We were just remanicing( still can't spell S***) about all those old time remedies last week, specially remember the sulphur and grease LOL for whatever the reason we never said lard twas always "sulphur and grease" My dw doen't like the old remedies she is a believer in Doctors and pills Though I have finally convinced her about the effectiveness of Castor oil as a rub on cure for leg cramps as well as sore muscles
Leg cramps.... charlie horses. DH has been dealt misery with them. A friend told him to drink a glass of water right before bedtime and amazingly, the cramps went away. It seems when laying down, the fluid is drawn out of the legs causing cramps. Extra water allows it to come out more slowly. At least it works for him.
Scabies! Dust mites! Yes, Florida is bad with them! And the medication is outrageously expensive, you can get em just being around someone with em.crawling bugs detest sulphur, supposedly so do snakes, doesn't kill them tho, just relocates em, was once used around outside of homes to keep unwanted crawling things away from homes/ yards,
podster,
That is interesting about the water. I'm wondering if the problem might also relate to a lack calcium and/or potassium. He might try taking a calcium supplement for a few weeks to see if that helps. For potassium it's safer to go with food sources. A few excellent, high potassium sources are: bananas, tomato sauce (including spaghetti sauce), and yogurt. If he likes yogurt, adding a yogurt a day would increase both his calcium & potassium. Most men love pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, etc, all of which include tomato sauce (or paste) which is super high in potassium (right up there with bananas) - and the lycopene in tomatoes is good for men in other ways.
Just a thought. Low calcium is known to contribute to leg cramps.
The organism I was referring to that was under the skin was scabbies as several people mentioned. I mentioned it in reference to sulphur, thinking if sulphur works to eradicate an organism like scabbies which is under the skin, it should probably work for redbugs.
I've only had the one brush with scabbies. I was a kid at the time, and there was an 'epidemic' of sorts at the time in local grammar schools and kindergartens, so much so that it made the front page of the local newspaper. My best friend got scabbies. Her dog tested positive, but it was hard to say at the time whether she got it from the dog or passed it to the dog after picking it up at school. By the time she was diagnosed, I had it, no doubt from close contact with her. My mom apparently got it from me. It seems to move from person to person quite easily with only minimal contact - which is why it blazed such a trail through area schools and kindergartens at the time.
Did not mean to change the subject away from redbugs though (or cause confusion about symptoms). Just adding my support to the use of sulphur once the redbugs find a spot and dig in.
A 12v electric wire 1" off the ground works just fine .
Worth a try on the sulphur barrier, chuckl, make a wide band and let us know...
If you use sulphur as a snake deterrent, do you need to replace it after every rain? I could really use a good snake barrier, but we have frequent afternoon showers, some 52in/year.
Hmmm, pepper for crocs and alley gators, my guess is yes the damp could be a problem, seems like it might accumulate along that band- I don't know, don't know how foolproof it is either...
seems as tho Sulphur would be fairly cheap since nowadays it is readily obtained as a by-product of coal fired gen plants(electro-static scrubbers in the stacks) to the extent that an artificial gypsum is commonly made using the sulphur from the coal fired plants and oyster shells, gyp is calcium sulphate Just saying but I do know it ain't cheap when you buy it by the bag at a garden center i do wonder just how it kills/repels insect does anyone know????
I'm going into the dry season. So I don't expect I'll have to reapply often for snakes. Let ya'll know if I find any :0)
Grits, sorry, not really sure 'how' it works. I didn't know you could treat the lawn for them..A quick search shows applications rates for alkaline soils. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Chigger_vq13.htm
Interesting, he also mentions Monarda citriodora as repellent.
We use sulphur as a soil amendment, it's fairly cheap at the feed store. I'll look up how much we use on acidic soil, since Howard Garret never really says on the site.
Someone tol me once it burns them, truth and memory lost in time, and am also assured it may depend on the bug, if they fly, the barrier is obviously iffy.