Epidemic: Chiggers

A very interesting piece.

Thanks Leah :)

I have to say that I found the picture you painted absolutely hysterical when you told me about the chigger experiences of your childhood - that if one comes upon a tribe of neighborhood children with nail polish splashed upon them one should be extremely sympathetic. Loved reading this!

I remember very well coming home from Girl Scout camp and being "dabbed" with clear nail polish. It helped a little, but I also remember the itching!

Geez, I started scratching just reading this. LOL!!! Yeah, i remember those times! Thank the Universe they don't exist up here in New England. Good work, Deb!

Ouch! Funny poem/memory, Deb. I remember chiggers, sand flies, red ants and felt the pain all over again.

Would it be a bad thing to say I'm glad all of you remembered?

I had chiggers once that I know of as a child, but at least four times after age 55 when I became serious about becoming a naturalist. So I, too, have worn colorless nail polish--mine, not my mother's. I've heard swabbing the welts with polish doesn't do any good, but I think it does. Although I never wear nail polish, I keep a bottle handy for outbreaks.

A few years ago, red chigger mite larvae swarmed my small patio from a plant I brought home.

Oh, I do remember one episode. The incessant itching just about got me. Imagining all the children dabbed was funny. This was fun.

I was scratching my head over the poem until I read the comments!

This is a Live and learn thing for me. :-)

I'm like the Duck. This was all new for me, too!

Me, too. Being a New England kid, we never heard of this! Funny but awful!!!!

I have a memory best left unpoken about Karen Green and nail polish. ;-D

I'm glad to never have experienced this!

Great work, though!

We just put the polish on our nails as a kid. I still do. I think I lived a sheltered life after reading your post! HA HA!!

Thanks for all the comments. They made me smile.

Did I miss something? What are chiggers? I will have to google them. Is it like lice?

From Ohio State Extension Service:

"Probably no creature on earth can cause as much torment for its size than the tiny chigger. Tiny six-legged chigger larvae attack campers, picnickers, hikers, bird watchers, berry pickers, fishermen, soldiers, and homeowners in low, damp areas where vegetation is rank such as woodlands, berry patches, orchards, along lakes and streams, and even in drier places where vegetation is low such as lawns, golf courses, and parks. They are most numerous in early summer when grass, weeds and other vegetation are heaviest. Chiggers do not burrow into the skin, but insert their mouthparts in a skin pore or hair follicle. Their bites produce small, reddish welts on the skin accompanied by intense itching as irritating as acute cases of poison ivory or poison sumac. These symptoms often are the only way of learning that an outdoor area is infested since chiggers are so small that most cannot be seen without a magnifying glass. Chiggers feed on a wide variety of snakes, turtles, birds, and small mammals as well as humans. "

I'm so glad we don't have chiggers here!

Chiggers! I remember those in Mississippi - first time this Cape Cod girl had to put on shoes outside instead of going barefoot! But I don't remember the nail polish. I remember my little sister getting ringworm, tho. I was fascinated by the tiny white circles on her tummy....

ugh - i have the heebs after reading bob's post. i'm glad we're chigger free in the northeast, too! anyway, i really like the poem, the flow and pace is perfect for the subject!

Wow! I've heard of chiggers but never encountered any. After reading the comments, I'm certainly glad of that.