CHIGGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[baymule]

I'm itching already and I don't even know what a chigger or tick is!

Mary

No chiggers or ticks???? ..............shakes head in disbelief...............wow.........just wow..........coming from the land of chiggers, ticks, everything that bites, stings.................. you don't know how lucky you are!

 

[NwMtGardener]

I'm itching already and I don't even know what a chigger or tick is!

Mary

No chiggers or ticks???? ..............shakes head in disbelief...............wow.........just wow..........coming from the land of chiggers, ticks, everything that bites, stings.................. you don't know how lucky you are!

Hahaha, Baymule i was thinking the exact same thing...so innocent, our Mary!! I shouldnt poke fun, we have some ticks but they're not bad like on the east coast (i shudder every time i think about new jersey...). And no chiggers here, THANK GOD.

 

[ninnymary]

I keep telling you guys that I've lived a very sheltered life! I do know what a mosquito bite is like.

Mary

 

[canesisters]

As it turns out, they must have been the teeniest little ticks ever because I could scrape them off with my nail and smoosh them. Most of the itching is gone - thank goodness!!!
Who would've thought that while taking an innocent romp thorugh a field with a flightless buzzard I would manage to put my foot into a nest of the little buggers.

Mary, both ticks and chiggers are in the spider family (I think). They are little round-ish bugs with 8 little hookshaped legs. They can crawl on you without you knowing they're there and they tend to attach themselves - either by burying their heads or their whole selves in your skin - and then you I T C H !!!!! Chiggers can give you a fierce itch for a week or more. Think of the worst mosquito itch you've ever had... a week later and you're still scratching and digging at it.

 

[JimWWhite]

Alcohol will do the trick. Mama always used it when we'd get chiggers. I remember them as tiny little red spots as small as a pin head. I have heard of the kerosene thing too but I don't think today I'd want to do that one. We went for a walk down by the creek the other day and when we came back to the house I spotted a tick on Teresa's leg. In a few minutes we found two more. But none got on me, least not what we could find. And I was leading the way. I hate ticks. They make my skin crawl just thinking of them.

 

[hoodat]

Chiggers are not a natural parasite on humans. In fact they are (believe it or not) allergic to us. They burrow into your skin and then die and the itching is caused by your body getting rid of them. They are a natural parasite on rabbits and don't seem to bother the rabbits that much when they get on them. That's why places like berry patches where rabbit congregate are the places they are most numerous.

 

[canesisters]

That's interesting.. gross...but interesting.
Thanks!

 

[baymule]

Cane, you are lucky that you could scrape them off. Seed ticks are nasty--way worse than chiggers! When I was 14, I went to visit my grand parents on their farm. I went almost every weekend and spent lots of time in the woods. My cousin and a friend of hers were also there that weekend-pure city girls! They wanted to go walking through the woods, so off we went. All 3 of us got into a nest of seed ticks and they were crawling all over us! My cousin and the other girl were freaking out, but I started running for the creek. They ran after me, down in the creek bottom we went. I got on a sand bar and stripped naked, grabbed handfuls of sand and rubbed those nasty ticks off, then rinsed in a pool of water. Those 2 city girls thought I had lost my mind. I told them the ticks would bury themselves and make horrible red whelps all over them........or they could do what I did. It was a bit awkward as teenage girls, we were at that extremely modest stage in our little lives. Naked? In front of someone? No way! But they thought being naked covered with sand and dirty creek water sounded infinitely better than getting eaten alive by seed ticks!

When we finally scrubbed ourselves clean, we got attacked by fits of giggles. There we were, naked in the woods, looking at our clothes that we had NO intentions of putting back on..........now what? They both looked to me to provide the answer. I gingerly picked up my clothes in my forefinger and thumb, making sure that I got no more ticks on me. They did the same. When we got to the clearing around the house, thankfully Grandpa was gone to town. But the neighbor was plowing a field right next to the clearing. We crouched in the bushes waiting for him to make a turn and head back the other way, then sprinted for the house. We took a proper bath in a #3 galvanized wash tub and put on clean clothes. The tick covered clothes spent the night on a tractor tire. A country girl can survive!

 

[canesisters]

Oh my gosh! What a great story!!!