# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![westhou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f1d935/32.png) [@westhou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/westhou)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/81 "2019-05-08T03:22:45Z")
In Texas, the fire ants have pretty much eliminated the red bug/chigger population. I had heard that but looked it up. They also eats fleas and ticks. Additionally, I have not seen any fire ant mounds in a while. Maybe they starved to death. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/82 "2019-05-08T14:12:21Z")
> [@westhou](#): > > In Texas, the fire ants have pretty much eliminated the red bug/chigger population. I had heard that but looked it up. They also eats fleas and ticks. Additionally, I have not seen any fire ant mounds in a while. Maybe they starved to death. Fire ants. Ugh. Not only does their sting cause intense pain, it seems that they release a chemical which gets all the other ants riled up and in the mood to sting too. The also wreak havoc with air conditioning systems. I hate the things. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/83 "2019-05-08T17:07:53Z")
Interesting about the fire ant thing. I used to get at least a couple bites a year but now it’s been a while. Noticed the first fire ant mound of the year mowing the lawn yesterday. (I go all out in keeping them out of my yard. Not so much my neighbors so after a good rain this time of year …) I’d rather have the chiggers, please. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/84 "2019-05-08T18:46:13Z")
Another person from NE Ohio who has never encountered a chigger. Ticks, fleas and mosquitoes yes. But I spent a lot of time barefoot outdoors here and never suffered chigger bites. We’ve got a local bar called Chuggers, tho. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/85 "2019-05-09T10:55:02Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > We’ve got a local bar called Chuggers, tho. Dive Bar Name! ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/86 "2019-05-14T15:20:24Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Fire ants. Ugh. > > Not only does their sting cause intense pain, it seems that they release a chemical which gets all the other ants riled up and in the mood to sting too. The also wreak havoc with air conditioning systems. I hate the things. Now that the fire ants have taken care of chiggers, next they’ll send in Chinese needle snakes to get the fire ants. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/87 "2019-05-14T17:22:45Z")
> [@westhou](#): > > In Texas, the fire ants have pretty much eliminated the red bug/chigger population. I had heard that but looked it up. They also eats fleas and ticks. Additionally, I have not seen any fire ant mounds in a while. Maybe they starved to death. I’d love to see a cite for that, because almost any time I walk through grass during the long Texas summer, I get chigger bites. I must be delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346/88 "2019-05-14T18:43:44Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > I grew up in Manitoba, and my father volunteered to help out with the Envirothon, an environmental-science tournament for high-school students. One year he went with the winning Manitoban team to the North American championships in Mississippi. He got a truly nasty set of chigger bites that took a good 4–6 months to fully subside. > > Also, several of the students discovered why poison ivy is actually called an “ivy”. In Manitoba, because of the colder climate, poison ivy is really only a ground cover. So the students didn’t recognize those three-leaved climbing vines on the tree they were leaning against. > > All in all, it was one of the less positive trips my father made with that group. I did tons of training and exercises in the bush in Manitoba, and never had a serious issue with chiggers. Once I went East for higher-level infantry training and all bets were off - they put two of us in restricted bed rest because they thought it may be chicken pox (I have had it twice). Nope. Bloody chigger bites. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chiggers-a-miserable-nuisance-everywhere/833346.md?page=4)