# What kind of bug bit my kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689 "2012-06-29T13:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/1 "2012-06-29T13:16:01Z")
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. [Picture 1](http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd282/UCinnamon/177892_2865756461272_998458911_o.jpg) [Picture 2](http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd282/UCinnamon/335977_2865757621301_1109962759_o.jpg) Thanks! (Obviously if they really get terribly itchy or any other problems arise I’ll take her to the doctor.) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/2 "2012-06-29T13:26:38Z")
Looks like the early stage of [chigger bites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chigger) to me, but I wouldn’t call chigger bites “mildly” itchy. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/3 "2012-06-29T13:28:32Z")
Because of the way the bug(s) bit, it looks like bedbugs. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/4 "2012-06-29T13:30:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/5 "2012-06-29T13:31:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/6 "2012-06-29T16:03:00Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 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’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! ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/7 "2012-06-30T02:43:32Z")
Chiggers! Got me two days of bed rest on a military course since they thought it was measles or chicken pox. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/8 "2012-06-30T06:12:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/9 "2012-06-30T09:52:02Z")
my first thought was mosquitoes ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/10 "2012-06-30T11:40:09Z")
Quite probably chiggers, but also potentially sand fleas, given her activities. If they fill with fluid, you’ll know. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/11 "2012-06-30T11:59:46Z")
“Bug bites”. I’ve never thought further than that. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bug-bit-my-kid/626689/12 "2012-06-30T12:39:31Z")
Chiggers.