For 15 years when being outside I had no problem with insects, other than the usual tick, flea, or mosquito. Sure, I was afraid of buzzing insects during summer, but I hadn’t gotten stung that regularly. Even when I started having field cats did I not have that much of a problem, for fleas I just spray them down with PetFresh and I’d be fine, too.
However, as the weather became more humid, winter milder, and I walked in the woods more, since the cats did too, a problem started. About 3 years ago I started getting strange, incredibly itchy, bits that were so small and numerous that it formed large lumps up and down the underside of my arm. The first instinct is to scratch, of course, which made them more itchy, red, and larger. Finally I researched and came across chiggers, yet I couldn’t believe that could be the culprit, since I’d never gotten them before even when walking in the woods, and they were on my arm. After coming across different insect bites and continually coming back to chiggers, I realized that’s all it was.
“Chiggers are microscopic and are almost invisible to the naked eye. Once chiggers hatch from eggs (larva), the mites feed on the skin tissue of a host (human or animal) before falling off and turning into an adult mite. Found around the world, chiggers live outdoors on plants in wooded or grassy areas, typically around water. They are most active during the summer months when temperatures are hot.” - clevelandclinic
And here’s where it feels like a horror game:
“The chigger larva will release a liquid chemical into your skin to kill skin cells (digestive enzyme). The dead skin cells form a tiny straw (stylostome) for the chigger to drink your skin tissue. The chigger’s chemical causes itching that is very intense for the first 24-48 hours before slowly going away over the next two weeks. Chiggers will fall off of your skin if you begin to scratch.”
While this seems terrifying, what’s really cool is that chiggers are so fragile that simply wiping off the area will kill them. Even so, I rely on soap to get them off. The thing is, chigger bites won’t show until a full day later, in which they will have moved up or down my arm and are biting in a new location when I look over the old one. That’s why changing clothes and washing with soap within 30 minutes (my experience) of having had them on me is so important.
How ever did they find my arm though? I didn’t think that I was rolling around in the woods all that much, though the cats certainly did. Fortunately for them, their fur is so thick that the chiggers tiny teeth can’t penetrate, also why bites on humans show up in tender regions. However, when I touch their fur, that’s where the chiggers hitch a ride and end up on my hands and arms.
Remedies
While doctors will recommend lotion or medicine, I don’t want to buy an expensive this or that when the potential for bites is every day. The best remedy is simply not to scratch. Easier said than done when first having them, though I’ve noticed that since I’m so used to them, I’ve grown a resistance from itching. It was much different when I first felt them.
What helped me a lot was my dad’s homemade product called EcoShield that’s an insecticidal soap. Strange, I know, but boy did it help. When the itching got so intense, I would take gauze and wrap it around my arm covered in EcoShield. This way, it would dry out my skin and the areas would turn a lighter bubbly orange color, then shed dead skin.
Then when my cat put his face on my face, I got covered with chigger bites on my neck, face, and (worse of all) ears, I just kept applying the insecticidal soap, and somehow they didn’t affect my face all that much; I guess I really would’ve had a form of demodex mites then, haha! Considering my rosacea, I mean.
Fortunately I haven’t needed EcoShield at all since then, instead I opt for oils that help the inflammation and healing. Boy I haven’t seen my chigger bites clear up so fast until I started using Tamanu oil.