it is not bites, he is still there he is a red speck that burrows in the places where your clothes are the tightest. They burrow into your skin. the longer he goes the more it itches you have to smuther him with fingernail polish.

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/
Here is a link that tells all about the chigger and what it does. I hope this helps clear things up for those who have never experienced the itching of a chigger bite.

Put clear nail polish on them. It smothers the chiggers, and they quit itching and you won't ever itch again from the bites!
(Learned that in college.)
Mariah

When I was growing up in FL, we called them Red Bugs, and used red nail polish to smother them. But Kerosene (lamp oil) kills them and stops the itching almost instantly. Anyone from the Orlando area familar with *Red Bug Road*? <grin>

Have never tried it on chigger bites; but another old time remedy for bites is old time lye soap. When my kids were small, we kept a bar in the bathroom. All you need to do is wet your finger, rub it on the bar and then on the bite. Believe it or not, I learned of this at Dollywood (in Tennessee) many, many years ago. I was a skeptic but purchased a bar just to see. Well, low and behold, it did work. So now with grandchildren, I still keep a bar on hand. I bought mine at a craft fair, I think.

We called them red bugs and a cool soda bath helped.

Chiggers can also be called red bugs or red spiders. They are very, very small, I have never seen one, but at one time had over 100 bites on my ankles, feet and toes. I am slightly allergic to them and usually have to use a cortisone ointment or if they get to bad have to go in for oral steroids. A friend use to bath her children in water/bleach mixture. Forgot the ratio of bleach to water. She was able to see the mean bugs.

My mother always said to put on nail polish. I must share a funny story - Early in my husband's ministry, he was due to take a bus with other men from the church he was serving. The bus station was near my parents, so he took me and the kids up to my parents. I dragged him out in the woods to pick wild blueberries, and yes, he got the chiggers all over his legs. Okay, my mothers remedidy was nail polish and of course all she had was RED. So he plastered that RED polish all over both of his legs on those chiggers. The next day he went on the bus out to the men's conference. He shared a room with another man from church and when it came to to go to bed, he took off his pants, not thinking of all of those red spots on his legs. What an embarrassment for a young pastor! We still giggle over his predictment. So, clear nail polish sounds real good.

My husband puts Windex soaked paper towels on chigger bites. There is also an OTC cream called "Chigger Stop", or something like that. It does have the word "Chigger" in the name

I've always used clear nail polish, but I saw a new OTC med at Co-Op the other day can't remember the name but it was a small tube (like chapstick) that you rub on the bite. I need to pick up one of those and try it.