The larval stage of certain mite species is called a chigger, or sometimes the redbug and the harvest mite. During summer, chigger larvae attack people and animals outdoors while walking around vegetation leaving them with intense itching and small reddish welts on the skin.
Adam's licensed, Pest Management Professional (PMP) has the proper equipment and training to safely exterminate chiggers from your property. Adam's will carefully apply a proven, EPA-approved residual product to all chigger habitats, especially tall grass and vegetation and the perimeter of areas used by people, such as play areas, gardens, outside storage areas, driveways, paths, and mailboxes. An added benefit of the treatment is that it will also exterminate any ticks in the treated area.
Adam’s Pest Control has a dedicated team of representatives who are driven to protect your home or business and can answer any questions that you may have.
Chiggers, sometimes called the “redbug” or “harvest mite,” are the larval stage of a mite (Trombicula alfreddugesi) and technically they are not insects. Chiggers are "arachnids," in the same family as spiders and ticks. During summer, chigger larvae climb onto people and animals while they walk around in infested outdoors vegetation. Chiggers are parasites and their feeding leaves intensely itchy, small reddish welts on the skin.
Chiggers are nearly impossible to see without the aid of a magnifying glass; but the itching that follows a chigger bite is hard to miss.
Chigger bites often develop tiny red bumps that look like blisters, tiny hives, or small pimples.
People are often bitten by chiggers around the ankles, waist, under arms, and in skin folds after they have been in an outdoor area infested with chigger mites.
The chigger larvae must feed on animal tissue in order to mature. The chigger mite is only parasitic during the larvae stage of its lifecycle.
Larvae wait in large numbers on the tops of grass, leaves, and twigs – usually less than a foot off the ground – for a warm-blooded animal to brush past. They are attracted to the carbon dioxide exhaled by the host and are sensitive to movement. Typically, dozens or more chigger larvae will fasten onto a host at one time.
Once on the host, the chigger larvae look for possible feeding sites. Often chiggers will stop to feed where their movement has been impeded by tight clothing such as a waistband, sock top, or even a backpack strap. The back of knees, under arms, between thighs, in the crook of elbows, and other areas where the skin is folded or thin are also prime feeding areas for the chigger larvae.
To feed, the chigger inserts its mouthparts, called chelicerae, into the host’s skin; usually in a skin pore or hair follicle. Once the chigger is attached, it secretes saliva, which contains proteolytic enzymes, into the host’s skin. The digestive enzymes liquefy the skin tissue so the chigger can ingest it.
The area around the chigger bites soon hardens and a feeding tube, called a sylostome, forms in the puncture wound. It is the feeding tube that causes the itchy, red bump.
Not in North America*. While chigger bites can cause intense itching and may cause an allergic reaction in some people, chiggers in our area are not known to transmit any disease-causing pathogens.
The itching from chigger bites can usually be treated with over-the-counter ointments. The bumps will heal within two weeks.
Secondary infections from scratching are possible.
(* Another species of the mite, Leptotrombidium delicense, found in East Asia and the South Pacific can carry the tiny bacterium that causes scrub typhus.)
Chigger larvae are fragile creatures.
Take a hot shower or bath soon after you have been in an area prone to chiggers. Apply a thick lather of soap, rinse, and repeat.
A brusque toweling should dislodge or crush any remaining larvae. (Even without a bath.)
Adult mites are approximately 1/60” in length, have eight legs, and are reddish-orange in color.
Nymphs are yellowish and have eight legs.
Larvae have six legs, are yellow to light red in color, and have a body diameter of approximately 1/125” - 1/100”.
Chiggers most likely hitched a ride into your yard while feeding on reptiles, amphibians, or small mammals.
Your yard will be attractive to chiggers if there is tall grass, weeds, or shrubbery and moisture to survive.
Also, plenty of organic material on or in the soil provides a suitable environment for the adult mites.
Unlike mosquitoes, ticks, or bed bugs that feed on blood, chigger larvae feed on liquefied skin tissue.
Nymphs and adult chiggers feed on decaying organic matter and insects in the soil. They are not considered a pest to humans.
Chiggers typically will not survive on humans more than three days.
Chigger larvae attach to a host, but they do not burrow into the flesh.
The itching from a chigger bite does not begin until three or more hours after the feeding.
It is possible to have hundreds or even thousands of chiggers on your body after being in an infested area. Fortunately, chigger larvae cannot easily attach, so relatively few chiggers successfully bite.
Chiggers live in every country around the world.