I’d like to figure out what this might be, to avoid future exposure and to guide the exterminator if needed.
She barely seems to notice them - they are mildly itchy, not painful. She spent yesterday playing on a swing set in the woods at a friend’s house (not climbing through deep brush, but surrounded by trees and undergrowth), and then in our back yard playing in the grass and the sand box.
Hey, Unauthorized, are you by any chance a newcomer to the area? I haven’t even seen the *pics, but the first thing I thought of with the description was chigger bites, which just about anyone who had lived in this part of the country for a while would immediately identify.
*Photobucket blocked at work.
I ended up with bites like that all over my arms last fall after doing yardwork. The one I caught in the act and smacked (of course after being squished they’re hard to identify) looked like a small black fly, maybe about twice the size of a fruit fly.
I’ve actually lived here for 18 years, but “going outside” for me usually consists of walking from my car to a building.
Looks like it is indeed chiggers - the itching kicked in while we were at the Y this morning. She’s been doused in hydrocortisone, and I’ve got Benadryl at the ready. I appreciate the help - it’s frustrating as a mom to see your poor little one is being nibbled on by some mystery critter. At least now I know enough to treat appropriately and avoid bites in the future!
Maybe I just have extra sensitive skin, but they look exactly like the fire ant stings I got during my 9 months in Texas a few years back. Being from Alaska, I had no experience with the darned things and was always inadvertently standing on, or too near a fire ant hill, and not realizing it until I started feeling the stings, and they’re not super duper painful, so it might have just felt like getting stuck with a small thorn or something. I often had bites (stings?), on my feet and legs that looked very much like those on your little girl.
