# What is biting my feet and ankles on our back patio? New Orleans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293 "2016-06-25T05:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/1 "2016-06-25T05:25:11Z")
Seems like every time I go out back and sit on my covered patio, something is getting me. I’ll sit out there barefoot with my feet on the concrete, just for a few minutes, and maybe just a foot or two from the lawn. It feels like 20 or more mini-mosquito bites, but only a few are visible. Most of the others I can feel as tiny bumps, and they all itch like crazy. I don’t think it’s anything like scabies, because they’ve never migrated up past my feet. Chiggers don’t really make sense either. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/2 "2016-06-25T05:39:33Z")
ETA (missed my 5 minute window)… Neighbors have dogs on three sides, but I don’t think it’s fleas, either. At 44, I still have near perfect eyesight. I had a very comprehensive exam (opthamologist checking everything because of diabetes) within the last year and all aspects were perfect. Still 20/20. She said (colloquially) that I scored an A+. I get the bites more often at night, but during the day as well, and I never see any bugs biting me. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/3 "2016-06-25T09:37:19Z")
> [@dirty1](#): > > Seems like every time I go out back and sit on my covered patio, something is getting me. > > I’ll sit out there barefoot with my feet on the concrete, just for a few minutes, and maybe just a foot or two from the lawn. > > It feels like 20 or more mini-mosquito bites, but only a few are visible. Most of the others I can feel as tiny bumps, and they all itch like crazy. > > I don’t think it’s anything like scabies, because they’ve never migrated up past my feet. > > Chiggers don’t really make sense either. > > Any ideas? [Ceratopogonidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratopogonidae) ---
**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:** [June 25, 2016, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/4 "2016-06-25T09:43:02Z")
“biting midges also known as no-see-ums” seems to be pretty descriptive 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/5 "2016-06-25T12:51:41Z")
Are there the red itchy spots afterwards like their are from mosquito bites? ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/6 "2016-06-25T13:40:36Z")
Sounds like fleas to me. Some stores sell flea spray to spray directly on a dog. I spray that on my legs and the problem goes away. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/7 "2016-06-25T14:08:33Z")
When I was stationed in the Bahamas, we had what we called “sand fleas”. If there was no breeze or not much of one, they’d be very annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/8 "2016-06-25T17:14:45Z")
Around here the little biting critters you can’t see are called chiggers I once cleared out a flower patch that had gone to weed. Next day it looked like I had some terrible skin disease. You can scratch until you bleed. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/9 "2016-06-25T17:40:55Z")
What **Baker** said. I take a shower as soon as I finish mowing the yard, so I can wash them off before they have a chance to latch on. Otherwise I wind up with chigger bites all up and down my legs. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/10 "2016-06-26T22:38:40Z")
If you go out in the pitch black darkness of night, it could be a grue. Always have your battery powered lantern with you. ---
**Author:** ![albino\_manatee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/albino_manatee/32/2_2.png) [@albino\_manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/albino_manatee)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/11 "2016-06-27T00:11:00Z")
i used to mow the lawn early morning … just as the sun was waking up … the grass being satured with dew … inevitably, i would acquire the same affliction _(chiggers)_ … happened every year. two years ago, i started mowing the lawn in the heat of late afternoon … no more affliction. _[central texas]_ ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/12 "2016-06-27T01:13:40Z")
During recruit training in a class on field sanitation, one of the guys objected to the use of the word “chigger”. From then on, he was known as Private Chigro. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-biting-my-feet-and-ankles-on-our-back-patio-new-orleans/758293/13 "2016-06-27T02:28:00Z")
If you murder one, do you have to give it a funeral with full military honors?