Chiggers, also commonly known as red bugs are tiny arachnids known to give nasty bites to unsuspecting folks camping out hiking or even just in their yards.
If you’ve been bitten by a chigger, you’ll know it by the characteristical intensity feeling chigger bites are known to cause lasting discomfort for up to two weeks.
In this article, we’ll show you how to identify and get rid of chiggers on your property. So you can enjoy the comfort of your lawn as we @pestclue care more about the pest-free human environment.
What are Chiggers?
Chiggers scientifically known as Trombiculidae, belong to the family of mites. They are also a type of fleas which at the stage of larva, they can embed in the body of human and animal host inflicting severe bites on them.
Chiggers are classified into the Order – Trombidiformes, Kingdom – Animalia, Phylum – Arthropoda, Class of Arachnida.
- Egg
- Larva
- Nymph, and
- Adult
How do you Identify Chiggers?
The very first smart step you should take in any pest elimination strategy is to identify what exactly you’re dealing with.
Carelessness to identification can lead to wrong treatment methods costing you time, and money.
Chiggers’s also commonly known as red bugs that harvest mites or berry bugs are tiny red arachnids that grow to be about 0.45 millimeters in length.
They’re so small that magnification is needed to really see them, even most people won’t even be aware of their presence until they’ve been visiting.
They have eight legs as all records of their entire bodies, which are red in color.
How do I Get Chiggers?
Adult chiggers are harmless to people as they actually feed on insects and insect eggs.
The problem is with the larvae unlike adults, the larvae are parasites. They usually feed on small animals, but will also fight humans If given the chance.
As a person travels through an infested area, the larvae will hitch a ride and gain access to the person’s skin.
When it’s found an appropriate spot, the larvae I will use its mouthparts to drill a hole into the skin and inject a digestive fluid that will break down skin cells which are then ingested by the larvae.
Despite popular belief, these pests don’t actually consume blood but just skin cells as chiggers live close to the ground.
Chiggers Bites
Most chiggers bites occur on the feet were around the ankles. However, they can occasionally climb up to the underarms for their meal.
Chigger bites look like hardened raised red bumps, chiggers are commonly mistaken for other tiny red bugs most notably the clover mite while an infestation.
Where do Chiggers Live?
Mostly, chiggers live in wooded areas with dense shrubbery, many people bitten by chiggers happened to be campers or hikers trekking through an infested area.
They are found in sunlit areas and are often seen around residences, many of their host plants, including Shrubbery and ornamentals.
You can also find chiggers invading indoors around the tight cracks and crevices. While these are their preferred habitat.
Inspecting your Property
Once, you know what your pest looks like, check around your property to confirm their presence or find hot spots of activity.
They can be found around the world, but they are prominent in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, they prefer moist overgrown, wooded, habitats, misshapen soil.
They can also be found around links swamps and rivers, as adults, lay, eggs in the soil, in early spring. The biting larval stages are typically present during summer in the warmer climates of some of the southern states.
Chiggers can develop in just several months resulting in multiple generations and more frequent larvae throughout the year.
If you suspect sugar activity on your property, look around for densely grown areas where they may inhabit.
- Check and remove tall grass,
- Cut down all overgrown shrubbery, trees, and bushes.
- Also, check your lawn for nearby sources of water or stagnant water.
Take note of any conditions you spot, as those will direct your treatment and prevention after identifying your pests and inspecting them for activity on your property.
It’s time to start treatment, but before starting any treatment;
Note: Be sure to wear your personal protective equipment (PPE) and remember to keep all people and pets off the treated areas.
How to Get Rid of Chiggers
You’ll need to use an insecticide labeled for chigger controlled like Reclaim IT insecticide. Reclaim IT is a liquid insecticide concentrate mainly of bifenthrin insecticide which is made for broad-spectrum control of more than 50 insects.
These different pests including chiggers with Reclaim IT, all infestation will be controlled in your lawn.
How to use Reclaim IT to Get Rid of Chiggers
- Apply it over your ornamentals
- Mark the perimeter of applications around structures on your property before proceeding.
- Figure out how much square footage you will be spraying.
- You are treating by measuring the length and width of an area you wish to treat and multiplying them together.
- If you’re treating multiple separate areas, get the square footage of each and the evidence together.
- You’ll use this to determine how much product you will be using your mix reclaim IT at a rate between 0.33 and 1.
- Use a fluid ounce of products, per 1,000 square feet.
- Use 1 fluid ounce, If you’re treating heavy infestations
- We recommend you use a 1-gallon handheld, pump, sprayer due to its ease of use especially since we’ll be making several kinds of applications to mix.
- Add half the water into the pump sprayer and your measured amount of products, then add the remaining half of the water and close.
- Shake the sprayer to agitate and pump to produce a low-pressure.
- Spray to start your treatment by broadcasting the solution over your entire lawn.
How to Treat Chiggers
It’s important to be able to administer treatment when chiggers bite. This way you will be able to tell if you have chiggers or clover mites on your property.
However, observe the areas you find them, then apply your solutions, any ornamentals on your property, like, shrubs and even trees.
Be sure to spray underneath the leaves of any shrubs as well. And if your spring trees, just spray 3 feet up the trunk and around the base of the tree, this could cover all areas where chiggers can be residing.
After you’ve treated your lawn and shrubs you want to make a barrier application around the structures on your property.
Although chiggers rarely invade structures, it’s still a good idea to make the application with because not only will reclaim it, protect against chiggers,
It also protects against other invasive pests like beetles, boxelder bugs, roaches, and silverfish.
The first spray, any entry points around the outside of your home, like doors windows vent, openings, and other holes in the wall.
Once you’ve treated entry points. Conduct a perimeter treatment around your structure, start at one point and continue to treat along the outside by going three feet of the structure and three feet out, avoid overlapping,
Note This application with your prior treatments. Once you completed your treatment, it’s important you take a shower with hot water and wash your clothes on high heat.
This will kill any chiggers that may have latched onto you or your clothing during treatments.
How to Prevent Chiggers from Returning
Prevention is essential to keeping pests and check even after you’ve applied pesticides, the best way to stop pest activity is to make sure it can happen.
After you’ve made your initial treatment with Reclaim IT. It’s important to make well-timed follow-up applications for continued control when applying properly.
Reclaim IT has a residual that will last for up to 90 days. We recommend you spray every three months.
Around protection. In addition to making follow-up applications, you can also reduce the areas in which chiggers reside on your property, trim down any overgrown shrubbery, and you’ll also want to mow properly and frequently adjust your mower.
So that the grass comes out into three or four inches tall. So that your grass loses about 1/3 of his height.
About once every two weeks next, see about reducing water sources on your property. If standing water forms on your lawn.
After the rain, see about improving your soil’s drainage. If there are any small features that retain water get rid of them.
In pots be sure to drain and dry them out regularly by reducing the conditions that chiggers find conducive for habitation.
They’ll have less opportunity to live on your property if you’re out and concerned about preventing them from latching onto you.
We recommend you apply a repellent made with Deet. Deet insect repellant has been shown to reliably repelled chiggers from latching onto people and it will also repel other pests like mosquitoes and flies.
Conclusion
Chiggers are responsible for some of the most unpleasant bug bites. Anyone can experience but there are ways to manage and control chiggers infestation that’s gone out of hand.
And these professional clues and tips from Pestclue, you can stop chiggers from invading your property. What’s your experience with this bug, let me know down the comment.
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