Chiggers and such.

This is not a natural or herbal remedy, but it I consider it bushcraft medicine because it's for bushcrafters and it's medicine.
Chiggers can be a %$ * @ ! ... I hate them. So what to do about them and other bugs too? What I do to keep biting insect to a minimum is first, avoid tall grass and weeds if possible. Especially those weeds around a lake or stream, as those seem to be highly infested at least here in the southeast. Secondly, I treat my bush clothing (pants-top half of socks-and shirts) with permethrin. you can find video's on youtube! Third, I use a headnet if needed to keep bugs out of my face and ears. And lastly, I don't like to use deet but I will when it's necessary.
So you have bites already? Well, what I use is 2% hydrocortizone cream if I can get it. 1% if not. Also, a product called chiggerex does a great job at stopping the itch as does orajel toothache medicine. For an herbal anti itch medicine I use jewelweed when available.
I get the minimum amount of bites and oftentimes none since I started using permethrin on my cloths. The military has started this treatment on their clothing i'm told so give it a try.

I use full-strength Listerine in a spray bottle. Spray on shoes, socks, lower legs. Don't know why it works but it does.

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Originally Posted by pete lynch

I use full-strength Listerine in a spray bottle. Spray on shoes, socks, lower legs. Don't know why it works but it does.

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I have to agree, as I have been using this lately as well.....we had a thread a while back, and Listerine was brought up.....and either there aren't any around, or it works....no bites yet, and have been mowing, weed whacking and cutting brush for about a week.
Out here at "The Place" at the end of June.....and the chiggers about ate me up....gnats in the sun, mosquitoes in the shade.
A pain in the privates....

On the bites, the best thing I have found is Preparation H Cool Gel .......really helps.

Deet, followed by Deet and then generally more Deet. If that fails a lot of crying and scratching. I do know Orajel works on mosquito bites so no reason they wouldn't work on chiggers. Good post.

There are reasons there is a great big body of water between me and USA, this is just one of them, I think I'll start that list now.

What? no chiggers in England. Winnie,That's such a shame. you haven't lived untill you've had a mess of chigger bites on your unmentionables.

Oh gads no! I'm so glad we don't have them up here. Yea they are attracted to the bra area as well.

Insect Repellant - All Natural

1/2 -3/4 oz Crushed mint leaves
1 ounce rubbing alcohol or 80 proof vodka
1 ml tea tree oil ( 20 drops from an eye dropper )
8 ounces of water.

Bruise and Crush the mint, cover with alcohol over night in a sealed container.
Strain into small spray bottle, add tea tree oil (Walgreens, Walmart)
add water, shake shake shake.

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Originally Posted by Nomad

What? no chiggers in England. Winnie,That's such a shame. you haven't lived untill you've had a mess of chigger bites on your unmentionables.

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Thankfully England is Chigger free. We do however have Midges the size of Vulcan Bombers who laugh in the face of Deet.

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Originally Posted by zeroed4x

Insect Repellant - All Natural

1/2 -3/4 oz Crushed mint leaves
1 ounce rubbing alcohol or 80 proof vodka
1 ml tea tree oil ( 20 drops from an eye dropper )
8 ounces of water.


Bruise and Crush the mint, cover with alcohol over night in a sealed container.
Strain into small spray bottle, add tea tree oil (Walgreens, Walmart)
add water, shake shake shake.

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Or buy a jug of Listerine.

The old way that works is sulfer in a sock and an all over treatment before you go out.

My dad use to rub kerosene on our boots, socks, and pant legs before we went hunting, and we rarely ever got chiggers ot tick! Just don't smoke until it dries:scared: Yeah it smells and is not the best repellant in the world, but it's cheap and it works!

Rubbing kerosene on my self or clothes is not gonna happen ..on purpose.
I just think that the possible problems would far out weigh any benefit.....remember just because something was done in the past, doesn't mean that it worked or was safe.

They used to "bleed" patients, to get rid of the poisons, as well.....not so popular these days.

I can see you ploppin' down in front of the fire and extending your feet to warm them. POOF! Flaming appendages. LOL.

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Originally Posted by hunter63

Rubbing kerosene on my self or clothes is not gonna happen ..on purpose.
I just think that the possible problems would far out weigh any benefit.....remember just because something was done in the past, doesn't mean that it worked or was safe.

They used to "bleed" patients, to get rid of the poisons, as well.....not so popular these days.

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Once it dries on cotton jeans, it is no more flammable than the cotton itself. But hey, when you are poor you use what you can get!

I remember using coal oil soaked rags tied around our ankles. But that stuff killed grass everywhere you walked so it was bound to be good....................

Chiggers are crazy-makers, f'sure! What helps keep me from losing my mind is to treat the bites with a good quality Tea Tree Oil (not the cheap kind found at Walmart). Don't slather the stuff on (it's too potent and expensive for that kind of treatment). Dab a drop onto the bite, wait a minute or two, then apply a second dab. I don't know why it seems to work best that way (maybe the skin pores open or something?).

Blessed relief for many hours. The stuff works on any kind of insect stings and other itchamacallits.

The best quality Tea Tree Oil I have ever found without spending a fortune is the Swanson brand (www.swansonvitamins.com). Two other potent ones are the NOW brand and Desert Essence. There are a lot of weak-acting brands out there, so be warned.

If I am in a situation where I cannot shower within a few hours of exposure to chiggers, the next best thing is to "dry wash" them off with a cloth as soon as you can. Although you can't see them easily, they are easily crushed or removed in the process.

I second the recommendation for powdered sulfur. The cheap kind you find in a farm supply store works as a fantastic repellant when dusted onto your pants legs, socks and whatever else the chiggers find to hitch a ride on. It can be dusted around the camp/homesite too.

Unfortunately it repels me too. Gaaahh. That stuff stinks. But it works better than anything else I have tried.

Most species of chiggers seem to like warm humid weather the one good thing about fire ants is that they have been known to reduce chigger populations at least a little bit.

I agree with most of what was written in comment #1 except that DEET if used especially on your footwear and lower pant legs can help a lot. You don't need to get it on your skin if you have issues with that. Use up to 99 or 100% DEET on your boots and lower jeans or whatever AND avoid tall vegetation and almost 99% of your chigger problems will be over until it gets cooler. You can dust with sulphur dust but that just makes you smell like you visited geysers in Yellowstone.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/natur...z05jjzsel.aspx


Now how can we introduce chiggers to the UK? Finally got snakes back in Ireland, Canada has West Nile Virus, but the UK needs chiggers... the English are spending far to much time on the park lawns in the summer. And in Munich, Germany they run around naked in the public parks, clearly they need chiggers there.

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Originally Posted by TXyakr

Most species of chiggers seem to like warm humid weather the one good thing about fire ants is that they have been known to reduce chigger populations at least a little bit.

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There is no "good thing about fire ants"..............

There are few critters I believe should be extinct. Fire ants are on that very short list. Killer bees made it too.

We don't run into chiggers much in South Florida and I don't know why.

We are slap full of fire ants.

My brother Sean is a tick magnet and that seems to be true of chiggers too. He gets covered and my other brothers and I don't get bit.

But, he doesn't like bug spray and I use a lot of DEET.

I'm scratching chigger and fire ant bites as I type. I'll spare you the details but my sig on one forum was, "I got chiggers on my butt I'm pretty."

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Originally Posted by TXyakr

Now how can we introduce chiggers to the UK? Finally got snakes back in Ireland, Canada has West Nile Virus, but the UK needs chiggers... the English are spending far to much time on the park lawns in the summer. And in Munich, Germany they run around naked in the public parks, clearly they need chiggers there.

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Gaahhh! MY EYES, MY EYES!!! Where is the eyeball pain fork? Can you imagine a park full of these poor saps running around...

Attachment 10859


Attachment 10858


...singing and scratching in tune with these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ryo-cd-EU

When I say we are full of fire ants. I put my tent up so that my normal traffic around my tent will not have me stepping in a nest and they won't swarm my tent. Simply because there is no area large enough to completely avoid them and other hazards at the same time. But, I have not been bitten by large amounts of ants in a long time.

We camp in the dry parts of a wet swamp. So, do the ants. LOL

Batch I know what you are talking about if you have ever gone through a recently flooded area in a small boat you have probably seen the swarms of fire ants with their larva up on the trees above the water line. If you bump into the trees and vegetation they drop into your boat with you. I imagine this happens with chiggers and ticks as well but they are not as easy to see. Between that and the poison ivy "4 wheeling" with kayaks and canoes through a newly flooded forest can be "uncomfortable" ha ha ha.

Also reminds me of this old joke from about 10 years ago about "Fake" park rangers offering to check you out for ticks and chiggers:

[IMG]http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...pskqwkimtq.jpg[/IMG]

BTW when I was a kid it was against the neighborhood rules to shoot song birds and we were required to eat every bird we did shoot so "occasionally" we threw them in the huge fire ant mounds, by the next day only bones remained. Also the pigs would consume them even faster. I should probably not admit that but the statue of limitations is over and they cannot confiscate my pellet gun anymore, I sold it decades ago... Also "occasionally" we put our plates in fire ant mounds after eating while camping because we were to lazy to scrape and wash them, by the next meal just flicked them out with a stick and there was almost nothing to wash off. So even as a kid I found uses for fire ants. Still hated them.

Swarming tents. On the list. Gotta get some more paper. There really is something dreadfully wrong when you make a statement..." there is no area large enough to completely avoid them and other hazards at the same time." That's a very telling complaint that a lesser man might mistaken for something completely normal. I would like to point at that I am not a lesser man and there is nothing normal about that. Then again, I've seen you handle dinosaurs so I know there's something not right with you. I say that in the most respectful way possible. "Not right" is a Yankee saying with a lot of meanings. (Good God, if he gets upset with me he's apt to show up with several items that are on the list)

I just put one of my business cards outside my tent. They generally avoid the area.

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Originally Posted by TXyakr

...........
Also reminds me of this old joke from about 10 years ago about "Fake" park rangers offering to check you out for ticks and chiggers:

[IMG]http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...pskqwkimtq.jpg[/IMG]

.

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Is that right?.....I made appointments with her for tomorrow and the next day...as well......?

Crash is ripped. The only guy his age I know that can pull off bike shorts...

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Originally Posted by Rick

Swarming tents. On the list. Gotta get some more paper. There really is something dreadfully wrong when you make a statement..." there is no area large enough to completely avoid them and other hazards at the same time." That's a very telling complaint that a lesser man might mistaken for something completely normal. I would like to point at that I am not a lesser man and there is nothing normal about that. Then again, I've seen you handle dinosaurs so I know there's something not right with you. I say that in the most respectful way possible. "Not right" is a Yankee saying with a lot of meanings. (Good God, if he gets upset with me he's apt to show up with several items that are on the list)

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Well technically it isn't the tent that swarms. LOL

See lots of the ant migrations you are talking about TX. But, I have never had a problem with fire ants falling out of trees. Usually that is the elongated twig ant. In fact if we are in South Florida and an ant falls out of a tree onto you. I would bet it was an elongated twig ant. If it stings you I am going to double down. LOL

They are in Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. So, you have probably had the pleasure of making their acquaintance as well. Though most ants aren't that bad.

Elongated twig ant. On the list!

Yeah, I've spent a LOT of time in TX and FL. I was headquarted in both states for many years. Our corporate headquarters was in Dallas and our I.T. headquarters was in Tampa. I worked in both groups at one time or another. Florida is one of the few states where you can walk out of a hotel and go instantly blind....until you remove your fogged up sunglasses.

Humid it is. LOL

I spent a bit in Tampa. I learned to swim near Bellows Lake. I learned to ride horses right there and rode horses to see Star Wars when it came out. I already knew how to shoot archery and guns. But, competed in both for the first time up there.

I rode my first bull in on a cattle farm in Lakeland and my second and my third. Jumped my first train in Fort Meade. The freest I have ever been is in that region. We should all be dead! What a childhood!

I gotta ask and all due respect, to those that posted... just spray up with Deep Woods OFF. IT has stood the test of time and prevents, all crawling insects, chiggers, fleas, black legged ticks, bed bugs, and I just found out messes the hell out of Yellow Jackets from finding your soft areas. It has been tested by universities, the EPA, The FDA... & me! Yea I spray my shoes & pants with DWO and I dont have BB after 6 years of finding them in beds.

It is a true repellent you can spray flies directly and they dont care. It will not kill bugs based on tests here at home. it only confuses their senses. I got tapped by the third Yellow Jacket nest in one day and discovered there must be a pheromone or key-tone (insect version) of stuff on my gloves. I sprayed up and kept working. I delt with the swollen hands later-took three-four days to go back to normal.

Why would you mess around with finding something that might let you down in the woods when this is the best hands down... When I forgot to use it, I got lymes twice (Found the Bullseye's), Rocky Mountain Fever once... all in ten years. All I can say is thank you for the prescription meds...

Two women in Africa bathed in it and although they are alive they are the only people to get sick enough to end up in hospital ... But they probably needed to bathe in it. Scabies comes to mind.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jv-vx0HDjF...-lee-ermey.jpg
Yes this post is from the front lines... now make a decision.

Hey Dad. Have you seen Crash's pics of me in the dirt?

I have never bothered to take a picture or video of the floating mounds of fire ants after a flood because I grew up with them and it was common place. As kids we would occasionally dump gasoline into the water which also floated and light it just for the satisfaction of watching them burn after flicking a match on it. Here is a video of a mound of fire ants that got floated out and is floating. Eventually they will find dry land or a tree or something. Chiggers and ticks do the same thing if they find you in the flood water you will be miserable. I try to stay out of flood water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW1E96AS_iU

In deepest, darkest Louisiana (where I am originally from), we call 'em "ant balls." I would really, really hate to bump into one. Those ants can cover you up faster than you can imagine...

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Originally Posted by Grizzlyette Adams

In deepest, darkest Louisiana (where I am originally from), we call 'em "ant balls." I would really, really hate to bump into one. Those ants can cover you up faster than you can imagine...

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Ant balls, they must be very small, how do you see them..............LOL

The are normally right next to the ant gloves and ant ball bats.

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Originally Posted by madmax

Crash is ripped. The only guy his age I know that can pull off bike shorts...

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Seriously, I let that line go and nobody but nobody ran with it.