Get Rid of Chiggers

Chiggers are small red mites that can cause big problems, especially if they bite you. While chigger bites are not usually dangerous, they can be severely itchy and even painful. Keep reading if you're interested in getting rid of chiggers before they bite.

Steps

Natural Remedies for Your Lawn and Garden

1. Mow your lawn regularly and reduce tall vegetation. Briars, weeds, and tall grass are all well-known hiding spots for chiggers. Pulling weeds and keeping your grass short is a simple yet effective way to get rid of any chiggers living in your yard.
   • Removing these elements removes the shade and moisture chiggers thrive in. Sunlight and good air circulation presents a discouraging atmosphere for chiggers to live in.
   • You should also regularly prune your trees, bushes, and other shrubs to lower the humidity around those plants and allow more sunlight to filter in.
   • Continue these practices year round. Dormant chiggers can still return once the weather warms up, so to get rid of them completely, you need to make the habitat as unfriendly as possible at all times.
2. Discourage chigger hosts from coming to your yard. Reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals are favorite hosts among chiggers. Discouraging these animals from hanging around your garden or yard may also cause the chiggers to leave since they will instinctively want to follow their food source.
   • Remove sources of water that invite reptiles and amphibians.
   • The removal of dense foliage or shrubbery can discourage small mammals that might otherwise use these areas as convenient hiding places.
   • Secure lids onto your trashcans and consider setting up fencing around the perimeter of your garden or yard.
3. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth. If you need a natural, organic pesticide for severe chigger infestations, you can do a broadcast application of diatomaceous earth to help ward off chiggers and other garden and lawn pests.
   • This is a natural product formed soft sedimentary rock, which in turn was produced by small, fossilized creatures called diatoms. It comes in the form of a fine white or off-white powder.
   • Sprinkle diatomaceous earth over the perimeter of your yard and over any areas that may offer ideal conditions for chiggers to live in. These areas include anything that may be overgrown or any area that offers a good hiding place, shade, and moisture. Focus on tall grass, weeds, and briars.

Preventative and Natural Solutions for Your Skin

1. Avoid tall grass. If you are walking in a park, picnic area, or other location at which you have no control over how tall the grass and weeds are, you should avoid areas with tall vegetation and stick to well-worn paths.
   • Avoid unmowed fields and walk in the center of mowed trails to avoid accidentally brushing up against taller vegetation.
   • Chiggers need well-hidden vegetation that offers plenty of shade and moisture in order to thrive. Tall vegetation provides the perfect environment, which is why you should avoid it if you want to avoid chiggers.
2. Keep your skin covered. If you have no choice but to go into an outdoor area with tall vegetation, you should prevent chiggers from attaching themselves to your skin by concealing as much skin as possible. Wear long sleeves, long pants, and tall boots.
   • You should also opt for tightly-woven fabrics over airy, loosely-woven ones. Chiggers are small enough to find their way in between the gaps present between threads of loosely-woven fabrics, but they will have a significantly harder time finding their way through clothes with smaller gaps.
3. Close off all openings in your clothes. Chiggers can find their way to your skin by hopping onto your clothes and crawling underneath. To get rid of them before this happens, you should seal off any openings to your skin as best as possible.
   • Tuck your socks into your pants or your pant legs into your socks, sealing off the gap of skin between them.
   • If venturing into tall grass or weeds, consider tying off your sleeves around the wrists with rubber bands or ribbon.
   • When possible, wear clothes with zippers over clothes with buttons.
4. Sprinkle sulfur powder in your socks and shoes. Certain strong odors, including sulfur powder, have a tendency to drive chiggers away. Sprinkle a fine dusting of sulfur powder into your shoes and/or socks to drive off any chiggers lurking in the grass and weeds by your feet.
   • For even better protection, consider sprinkling a light dusting of sulfur powder over the inside of your shirt and pants.
   • Note that sulfur powder does have a potent odor, which may make it a less than ideal solution if you have a particularly sensitive sense of smell.
5. Brush exposed skin every 30 minutes while outside. While chiggers have been known to bite exposed skin, they do not necessarily latch on as soon as they come into contact with your flesh. Quickly brushing over any exposed skin on your arms and legs every half hour or so may help you to get rid of any chiggers hanging out on your body.
   • To the same end, you can also brush off your clothes to help remove chiggers from your garments, as well.
6. Avoid sitting or lying on the ground. Even though chiggers do not often hang around low-cut grass, if that grass is near taller vegetation, you should avoid sitting or lying on it. Chiggers can migrate to those areas, and exposing the bare skin of you neck and face could cause chiggers to bite and attach themselves there.
7. Shower with hot water and soap after coming indoors. If you were outside in an area often infested by chiggers, you should take a hot bath or shower immediately after coming back inside.
   • To ensure extermination, you should lather, rinse, and repeat several times during the shower. The water must also be hot, rather than lukewarm.
   • Vigorously scrub your skin with a washcloth to dislodge any chiggers that may have attached themselves to your skin.
   • If chiggers did attach themselves to your skin, you may have to deal with the bug bite afterward. Itching associated with chigger bites can be temporarily relieved with benzocaine ointment, hydrocortisone cream, and calamine lotion. You may also be able to reduce itching with petroleum jelly, baby oil, or fingernail polish.
8. Wash your clothes in hot water. If you suspect that you may have been exposed to chiggers while you were outside, you can get rid of any hiding out in your clothes by washing the garments in hot, soapy water.
   • The water should reach a minimum of 125 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Celsius).
   • The washing cycle should last for 30 minutes or more to ensure extermination.
   • After washing your clothes, you can dry them in a drying machine or in the sunlight.
   • Do not wear chigger-infested clothes before washing them. Do not wash the clothes in cool water, since this will not get rid of the chiggers.

Chemical Repellents and Insecticides

1. Use a repellent containing diethyltoluamide (DEET). DEET is one of the most effective bug repellents for use against chiggers and other mites. Apply the repellent to your exposed skin, especially on the hands, arms, and legs.
   • DEET treatments can last for two to three hours.
   • Do not spray DEET repellents near your mouth or eyes.
   • Do not spray DEET repellents on skin covered by clothing, as doing so may cause skin irritation.
   • Follow label directions carefully when applying. Some repellents can damage clothing, plastics, nail polish, and painted or varnished surfaces.
   • If any allergic reaction occurs, seek emergency medical treatment.
2. Try permethrin treatments for you clothes. Permethrin repellents (0.5%) are also very useful against chiggers, but these should only be applied to your clothes and not directly to your skin.
   • Permethrin repellents can last for several days after application and remain on your clothes after being washed once or twice. In fact, it is recommended that you treat your clothes one day before you wear them.
   • Apply the repellent to both sides of your clothing, focusing on openings like cuffs, necks, and waistbands. Let the repellent dry before putting your clothes on.
   • Follow label directions carefully as you apply the repellent. As with DEET repellents, some permethrin repellents can damage clothing, plastics, nail polish, and painted or varnished surfaces.
   • If an allergic reaction occurs, seek emergency medical treatment.
3. Look for an insecticide containing bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, esfenvalerate, chlorpyrifos, diazinon bifenthrin, carbaryl, cyhalothrin, or permethrin. Insecticides containing any of these chemicals will usually prove effective at killing chiggers, but you should read the label carefully to determine if a specific insecticide is formulated for mite or chigger removal.
   • When applying insecticides to use against chiggers, you should treat hot spots instead of treating the entire area. This is less expensive, quicker, and generally more effective.
   • Pick out hot spots by placing small squares of black cardboard around the edge of the grass. Watch for a few minutes for yellow or pink chiggers. If you spot any, you can consider the area a hot spot.
     • Test 10 to 12 locations and focus on areas with ideal chigger habitats. Weeds, tall grass, dead leaves, and briars are the best areas, but you should consider any location in your yard that is moist and shaded.
   • Follow label instructions concerning application carefully. Wear protective clothing to prevent insecticides from coming into contact with your skin or eyes as you apply them.
   • Note that you may need to retreat the area two to three weeks later if you have a large number of chiggers infesting your yard.
   • Note that liquid spray insecticides are generally more effective against chiggers than granular insecticides. If selecting a granular insecticide, however, choose one containing bifenthrin.
4. Call a professional pest control operator. If preventative measures, natural remedies, and home chemical remedies do not succeed in getting rid of your chigger problem, contact a professional exterminator to help out.
   • Pest control professionals are licensed to use stronger formulations of chemicals that are more hazardous yet more effective. For instance, the exterminator will often use propoxur, cyfluthrin, or fluvalinate to get rid of chiggers from a yard.
   • Stay off treated areas until dry. Prevent children and pets from walking over treated areas, as well.
   • Even with these stronger chemicals, you may need to retreat the area after two or three weeks if the infestation is heavy enough.

Warnings

• Do not wear flea collars around your wrists or ankles to keep chiggers away. You should not use cattle ear tags, either. These products are not designed for human use, and as a result, you may be exposed to harmful toxins or get nasty chemical burns on your skin.

Things You'll Need

• Lawnmower
• Weed trimmer
• Diatomaceous earth
• Long sleeves, long pants, tall boots
• Sulfur powder
• Soap
• Hot water
• Washing machine
• DEET repellent
• Permethrin repellent
• Insecticides

Sources and Citations

See also

• Fumigate for Fleas
• Get Rid of Fleas Naturally
• Get Rid of Fleas
• Eliminate a Flea Infestation in Your Home
• Kill Fleas in a Home
• Kill Fleas Naturally
• Make a Flea Trap
• Make a Lemon Flea Spray
• Rid Your Pet of Fleas
• Prevent Flea Bites

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• Avoid Chigger Bites