Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire So, how can you tell the difference between chigger bite rash and poison ivy?

dude!

I love me some Seasick Steve!

Easy way to tell is to scratch your ankles and then your nuts. If your nuts start to itch its not chiggers.

I used to like you...

Oh heysoos H.....

Gimme a break, its just CHIGGERS fer chrissakes....

Just a usual occupational hazard of being in the woods in the South is all. The chigger mite leaves a tiny saliva feeding tube going through the skin and it is that foreign protein what causes the irritation.

I usually scratch my chigger bites bloody, looking to scratch out the irritant that way, seems to work. Never did have them get clear to my huevos though, perhaps mine are tougher than others I dunno.

Speaking of tough, judging by the weak sister responses here I dunno that you guys have what it takes to be bird watchers.

(Emergency room? Fer CHIGGERS? Really?)

Birdwatcher

When I was a kid and I suffered from a big chigger invasion on my undercarriage, my Mom would put several glugs (that�s a measurement) of bleach in the tub with really hot water and I would sit in it until the water cooled off.

Not sure if it killed the chiggers or stopped the itching but it kept me from complaining, and Mom said it would help.

You never know what might help when the itching almost makes you crazy.

I've had more than my share of 'em. I just live with the itch for a few days. The nail polish remedy, dabbing bleach on them, etc doesn't seem to help. I scratch them too .

Ya, sorta like bringing a little bit of the outdoor experience back home with you, a felt reminder of the good times you just had being out there in the woods

Birdwatcher

I hear a snake bite can leave you quite a reminder of your time outdoors. Not sure I want to have one of them either!

The best way to get over your fear of chiggers is to go back to that same patch of damp tall grass, strip down to your jockeys, t-shirt and socks, and roll around for about twenty minutes.

I think you can also build up immunity that way, but you need to do that at least three times for that to occur.

IIRC they taught us that at ESF.

Birdwatcher

Best thing for chiggars is a hot shower with lye soap within two hours, or so, of exposure. Even if you've already sprayed down with some deet stuff before the woods trip.

Now, supposing you didn't do that routine. The itching starts after about 24-36 hrs and it's intense. Best thing to do then is scratch until you bleed and I mean scratch those little hills raw!

Now it's time for the product you bought prior to your exposure (right?). Yes, it's time to use the ChiggarRid. Smells like camphor and model airplane glue. Looks like clear finger nail polish. This stuff works! After the intense pain from application subsides, you'll notice the itch has stopped and you can go back to bed.

When you wake in the morning, your legs and ankles seem to be glued to the sheets (you didn't let dry enough). Once freed and all the protective coating is removed you'll notice the itch is back! Time to repeat the process of scratch/bleed/reapply remedy. Be prepared to do this for several days.

Somebody said poison ivy exposure is better? They're right.

This is your friend for chiggers...

I'm starting to believe it!

I'd like to amputate my legs!

That stuff the doc gave me isn't doing squat...

I've started using a benadryl itch cooling spray and it's far more effective.

I'm still not sure what I have going on here as it physically looks like chigger bites, but it's spreading like poison ivy does. Up to my abdomen now...

TFF !

One of them don't ask the question you don't want the answer to.

Chigger bites don't spread...

You sure you weren't frolicking around in the Ivy..?

If it's spreading and it's Ivy, I'd go get a shot to stop the reaction...

Hot shower, as hot as you can take. It will take the itch away for 20 or so hours. Reason is it disolves histamin and eases up the itching.

I had both, chiggers are worse, but hot shower helps a lot.

Scrach it and if it gets better in a couple of days...it's chiggers.

On the left is the pain reliever. On the right is your American Express card.

Yeah, chigger bites don't spread, and poison ivy blisters. I've got no blisters and a spreading rash of what appears to be bug bites.

I've ruled out bed bugs too, fwiw...

I'd say that this quandary is making me really scratch my head...

Mark...it just took the chiggers a long time to crawl from one end of your belly to the other. You got chiggers,brother.

Grab the wire brush, get in a hot,hot shower and scratch.

You will do this for at least 4 maybe 5 days.

Once they bite you and lay that enzyme into your skin,you're going to itch like a Mo-Fo. Killing the bastards does nothing after they've dropped their spittle into you.

My body from the waist down looked like folks used it for a dart tournament before those [bleep] got done with me. I made a hundred frivolous objections in court just so I could stand up and scrape my nuts against the table.

The only cure is time,amigo. It's simply a miserable 4-5 days once they tag you.