Chiggers, Ticks and Nate

An old sock with powdered sulfur inside makes a good duster for dusting the bottom of your pants leg and top of the boot. Works really well with chiggers, maybe ticks also.

James

JaRo, post: 381790, member: 292 wrote: An old sock with powdered sulfur inside makes a good duster for dusting the bottom of your pants leg and top of the boot. Works really well with chiggers, maybe ticks also.

James

Yes, after I posted I wanted to mention that a sock of sulphur was kept in the truck by the owner and used by some.
I had to juggle a few things here and I knew someone would post about sulphur dusting.

I recently got only my second ever infestation of chiggers. Behind the knees. First time was about 11 years ago. It has been about a month, and I still am itching.

At first I thought it was a reaction to some black fly bites I got in northern Ontario (horrible swarms), but then I realized that it was chiggers, by then it had been a few days. Difficult to see behind the knees, had to use a mirror to confirm.

Ticks? I can see them and remove them, not a big deal. But chiggers....horrible little creatures.

The most effective Chigger prevention I have found was something I discovered by accident. My girlfriend at the time and I went swimming, the bank was covered in bermuda grass, she coated down with cocoa butter to work on her tan I did not use any. I was covered in chigger bites and she had none, this got me to thinking of the Indians using bear grease to keep the bugs off. To this day I use Palmers Cocoa Butter everyday, just coat down from the knees down before you put your pants and socks on in the morning. It stays on better than any other oil or vasoline for me.

If I recall correctly, someone told me years ago that Avon skin-so-soft worked as well

My list, in order of hassle:

• Chiggers, almost impossible to prevent them and when severely bitten it's a week or two of weeping, itching hell.
• Mosquitoes, when rampant it gets hard to breathe, handle optical instruments and keep your sanity. Easily solved with DEET liberally applied often, including the balding dome of my head. Bites are itchy but go away fairly quickly. Most mosquito bites are harmless in the US concerning disease.
• White socks, a peculiar fly in Alaska that injects an anesthetic and an anti-coagulant which results in a wound that abscesses and takes weeks to heal. Massive preventative DEET works, sort of. There's similar flies elsewhere.
• Ticks, major danger from disease, unavoidable in spring, but full on DEET doesn't deter them much. They're kinda slow to do damage so a stripdown inspection every night during shower (with help from a friend) you can pull them off. Also protective clothing is a must.
• Gnats, which if small can penetrate your tent and seek out hairlines, eyes and other delicate parts. But their bite is not so bad, more of an annoyance as they fly around your face. DEET works so-so.
• Stinging insects, I carry two EpiPens because I'm susceptible because the doc said one is not enough in a major anaphylactic shock episode. After my first hospital visit (1975) they dealt with it but sent me to a training seminar where I learned how to avoid encounters (back away and then run to water if possible), stay alert, do not enter their alert zone. No swatting or defensive maneuvers. Been 40 years since I've been stung and they claim the anaphylactic response weakens with time, but if caught 150 stings will surely kill me.

put clear finger nail polish cover the chiggers bites they will be gone the next day. They are bad here in louisiana

The most effective chigger control is to never leave your house from late June through September.

chiggers, ticks, mites, skitos

Permethrin does it all. Treat your clothes; not your skin.

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I have tried many things. It wears off. And then, here come the bugs. Its like i had a sign on me somewhere, that said "bite me". Cause the bugs do just that.
Btw, "bite me" is not a part of my language!

Every once and a while, maybe once a week; a fly gets into the house and i complain: "The only fly in Washington and it finds it's way into our house"!

In Nebraska, from May to November, every time the screen door opens, 50 flies come in. With 3 kids, do you know how many times a day the screen door opens?

Don't tell anybody; but the best thing to do is move to where there aren't any bugs. I used to wake up in the middle of the night scratching my chigger bites; I haven't had a chigger bite since 1990; I haven't missed it one bit...:grinning:

Whatever used could be mostly diluted and sweated away early in the day and intensify the effects of the sun 10 fold for the next two months.
:sun:

My understanding is that once you start to itch from a chigger, it is already gone, so the nail polish over the bite may help it feel better, but it doesn't kill the little buggers like you would think. Deet always seemed to keep the chiggers off of me. For me chigger bites are worse than poison ivy but they don't itch for as long a period of time.