How Can You Prevent Chigger Bites and Itching?

You might as well call chiggers “no-see-ums,” even though that description is usually reserved for a different type of biting arthropod. Chiggers are so tiny you rarely, if ever, see them on your body. They are also known as red bugs, berry bugs (because they seem to hang out around berry bushes), and harvest mites. The latter is a good name for them because they are not actually bugs. They are known as Trombiculidae, a tiny little critter in the mite family. By the way, no-see-ums are actually sand flies that belong to the family Ceratopogonidae. They are known as midges rather than mites. Several readers want to know if there is any way to prevent chigger bites.  Some offer tips from experience.

How to Prevent Chigger Bites:
Q. You’ve written about treating chigger bites, but you should really think about prevention. We live in the country. When I’m going to be walking in tall grass and weeds, I wear my snake boots which I’ve sprayed with Sawyer’s permethrin. It’s available at Walmart in the camping aisle. You can also spray your pants with it – but not while you’re wearing them! This will last through several washes.

Continue reading to learn more about preventing chigger bites, written by Joe Graedon.