# Are Chiggers a miserable nuisance everywhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346 "2019-05-01T21:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/1 "2019-05-01T21:47:19Z")
Looked at some land yesterday evening and walked through some knee high grass. Chiggers jumped all over my legs. It’s not the first time. I soaked the clothes & socks in a weak bleach solution and showered extra well. Treating the bites & rash with Chigarid. Are Chiggers everywhere in North America & Europe? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/2 "2019-05-01T21:50:47Z")
Not around here in upstate NY, and I’ve never heard talk of them in New England or along the East coast. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/3 "2019-05-01T21:51:53Z")
Plenty of them here a couple hundred miles north of you. And [oak mites.](https://www.johnson.k-state.edu/lawn-garden/agent-articles/insects/oak-itch-mites.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/4 "2019-05-01T21:52:22Z")
They are mostly a problem[in the southeast and lower midwest.](http://www.thefossilforum.com/uploads/monthly_2018_06/5b3288c1259b1_chiggermapusa.jpg.e4ec3706f83b48b6479c66ed6bc05061.jpg) I never encountered them in Colorado, California, Oregon or other parts of the west, nor in New York or the rest of the northeast. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/5 "2019-05-01T22:03:41Z")
Not especially in Europe that I know of - not in the UK anyway. We do have some nasty tics that can give you [Lymes Disease](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/lyme-disease/) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/6 "2019-05-01T22:10:20Z")
I’ve never experienced them or even heard of them in California. I had to look up the word to find out what chiggers are, although I vaguely remember hearing about them in my youth in Chicago. I don’t really want to know more about this, which I discovered in my research: > [@WebMD](#): > > If you’re a guy and you get a chigger bite in your groin area, you could get a condition known as “summer penile syndrome.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/7 "2019-05-01T22:17:05Z")
My grandmother always called the really pretty [_Asclepias tuberosa_](http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=3789) “chigger weed” and warned me to stay away from it. I was also once warned while collecting Spanish Moss that it was full of chiggers. But I’ve never actually encountered them, in either plant or anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/8 "2019-05-01T22:33:50Z")
They are horrible in S. Arkansas. Mr.Wrekker keeps my dog walking trails around the place mowed so I don’t encounter them. I still put bug juice on my ankles everytime I go out in the spring and summer. I’m not sure if they are the same but we also have red-bugs that bite like crazy. Witch Hazel will kill them on your skin. But, beware! it burns the bites like fire. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/9 "2019-05-01T22:43:03Z")
Red bugs and chiggers are the same thing. Itch like crazy afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/10 "2019-05-01T22:44:05Z")
I’ve never (knowingly) encountered chiggers in the upper Midwest, though I’ve heard of them. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/11 "2019-05-01T22:49:30Z")
Photo. They are tiny. > **[How Do You Prevent and Treat Chigger Bites?](https://scoutlife.org/outdoors/wilderness-first-aid-qa/29247/how-do-you-treat-chigger-bites/)** > > Q: What are red bugs or chiggers and how do you treat their bites? ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_Raygun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c67d28/32.png) [@Ronald\_Raygun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_Raygun)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/12 "2019-05-01T23:01:25Z")
Got three bites on my scrotum when I peed off the side of the freeway in tall grass when fleeing Hurricane Andrew. I was probably 7. Absolutely miserable. Never heard anyone talk about red bugs in California, and natives here tend to not even know what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/13 "2019-05-01T23:02:09Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![EDLance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@EDLance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EDLance)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/14 "2019-05-01T23:45:52Z")
Yes we have Niguas here in South Carolina, you must ever be moving, or they will go up on your feet. Now at this time of year where I live you cannot stand still for a moment, but your feet will be strewn with them. This is hard for me now, cause my toe is broken, and I wear no shoes. That is not the worst though; the worst is when you camp, or sleep in the woods; then there is no haven, and they will do the worst violence to you, your legs, feet, and everywhere else you would rather they not; and they will make great red stings all on your body, and they will ache and itch, and you will be miserable. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/15 "2019-05-02T00:14:58Z")
They don’t occur west of the Rockies, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/16 "2019-05-02T00:18:44Z")
They remind me of fleas. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/17 "2019-05-02T00:27:55Z")
They’re hardly unknown here is Nebraska but I wouldn’t say they’re common. I might get one or two a year. I don’t know the truth of the situation but I’m told we’re too dry for their ideal environment. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/18 "2019-05-02T00:30:13Z")
Chiggers aren’t just a rural problem. The empty lot I looked at yesterday is in a subdivision. I wasn’t expecting to be someone’s lunch. 😉 I’m sure the lot hasn’t been mowed since last fall. We’ve had a lot of rain and the grass is pretty high. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/19 "2019-05-02T00:30:50Z")
I grew up in Western Washington (west side of the Puget Sound). We definitely have them. In summertime, you do not roll around in the grass in swim trunks and no shirt or you will be itching all over. In fact I psychosomatically itch as I type this, recalling the feeling as a child. So yes, they’re up here. And they do remind me of fleas, the way they itch like crazy. ETA: According to the distribution map on Wikipedia they are practically everywhere in the world, including all of the US. > **[Trombiculidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombiculidae)** > > Trombiculidae (/trɒmbɪˈkjuːlɪdiː/); commonly referred to in North America as chiggers and in Britain as harvest mites, but also known as berry bugs, bush-mites, red bugs or scrub-itch mites, are a family of mites. Chiggers are often confused with jiggers – a type of flea. Several species of Trombiculidae in their larva stage bite their animal or human host and by embedding their mouthparts into the skin cause "intense irritation" or "a wheal, usually with severe itching and dermatitis".\[ Trombi... ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/20 "2019-05-02T00:31:37Z")
Never heard of them until I started posting on these boards. Probably don’t survive -40. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346.md?page=2)