How To Get Rid of Chiggers
How to Get Rid of Chiggers and Prevent them from biting you and infesting your yard.
Chiggers, also known as mites, are related to the spider family. They can cause painful and itchy bites on your legs and arms and most often come from tall grass and weeds or dark, damp places such as garden foliage or bushes. The bites look like tiny red pimples surrounded by an area of skin that is red and irritated. If you’re wondering how to get rid of chiggers, take heart, there are several ways to get rid of them, and prevent them from becoming a huge problem.
An effective killer of these awful little itchy creatures is an insecticidal soap. To make your own insecticide, add 1 teaspoon of dish liquid and 1 teaspoon of any type of cooking oil to a spray bottle filled with water. Spray the affected areas every week for about a month or so to completely get rid of the chiggers. Any piles of decaying leaves and brush can be huge hosts for these mean little buggers. Be sure to rid your yard of any standing piles of leaves, brush or other foliage to reduce the problem.
Knowing how to get rid of chiggers will be helpful in preventing you from getting bitten. Another way to keep the chigger population down in your yard is to keep your lawn mowed. It doesn’t have to be super short, but remember that tall grass and weeds attract them, so if your lawn is regularly mowed and kept trim, they don’t have as much to hold on to.
How to get rid of chiggers by treating indoor plants
If chiggers make it into your indoor plants, take them outside and spray with an insecticidal soap like the recipe mentioned above, until they are soaked. The plants will have to be kept away from people and pets, and the spray wash will need to be repeated every week for four weeks or so.
If a pet or person gets invested with chiggers, wash then and their clothing and bedding with a mixture of soap (dish soap is best) and hot water until they are gone. Being sure to wash the clothing and bedding prevents re-infestations. When washing the body, use an exfoliating pad to help scrub them away and pay close attention to the warmer, moist areas of your body as they can become excellent hosts to these itchy awful things. (Such as underarms, between the cheeks of the buttocks, groin, inside of knees, etc.)
The best defense against chiggers is preventing an infestation, so following these tips on how to get rid of them, as well as doing the preventative measures, will give you a head start on keeping these pests from infesting you and your pets and plants.
Remember that whenever you are outdoors walking or being in grass or doing garden work, wear protective clothing such as gloves, long pants, closed toe shoes and keep your socks and shirt outside your pants. When you come in from being outside wash all garments with soap and hot water in the wash and that should take care of any that got on you. For more information on how to get rid of chiggers or if you have a bad case that will not go away consult your doctor.
