Yes it’s true. I’m not all that keen on going outside right now because the beasts that lurk out there are nasty.
Chiggers are insidious little mites that are barely visible to the human eye. Unlike mosquitoes, you don’t notice their bite until up to three hours later, so you have no chance to defend yourself. They don’t feast on blood, but instead insert a saliva that liquefies your skin cells. They continue to liquefy and sip until they are interrupted. If left undisturbed, they can continue feasting for up to 4 days (I shudder at the thought). Our skin reacts by hardening the cells around the chigger’s saliva. This forms a stylostome which we see as a hard red welt. The welts are maddeningly itchy and can last up to 10 days. I’ve had some that are still around after 2 weeks.
To make matters worse, chiggers can linger on your clothing and bite you again when you wear it. They can survive laundering in cool or warm water so you have to wash chigger-infested clothes in hot water. If your garments can get damaged in hot water the only other recommendation is to set them out in the hot sun and hope for the best.
I’ve gotten several chigger bites each spring for the last couple of years, so I was thrilled when May and June passed without any sign of them.
Two days ago I was outside for several hours mowing the lawn, weeding and watering. That evening I remember scratching my side a few too many times, but it wasn’t until the next morning that I discovered a row of chigger bites under my waistband. I counted 7 of them. I immediately isolated all the clothing I wore the day before and made sure I scrubbed my skin with a washcloth in the shower to dislodge any other chiggers that might still be hitching a ride. It was too late. By last night I counted a total of 15 welts. The itching is almost unbearable. I got 2 hours of sleep last night and am stumbling around the house today like an itchy zombie.
I’ve laundered my clothes, but some of them can’t be washed in hot water. We haven’t really had any good hot weather and today it’s raining, so there’s no noon sun to bake my clothes in. I’m trying a different experiment. I read that chiggers supposedly die at temperatures below 42 degrees, so guess who put her clothes in a plastic bag and stuffed it in the freezer?
I’m pretty sure that if I get one more welt I may go stark raving mad, so I plan to admire the garden from the house for awhile.