Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was recently in the field looking to photograph some wild herps. I found a few fence lizards but thats about it as far as herps.

I ALSO FOUND what I thought were ticks! However, now I think they were maybe chiggers. Does anyone have any experience with either or both of these pesty little creatures? I had about 15 of them on my left ankle and most were trying to crawl further up my calves & thighs. I assumed they were ticks BUT they looked so small. I am going to call my doctor and maybe see if I need to get checked for Lymes (if they were in fact ticks). However, now (2 days later) I have little tiny mosquito-like bumps where they were. Ticks would NOT leave little bites, right? I always thought that reactions from ticks took more than 2 days to appear. Plus, ticks I have had in the past never left any little itchy bumps...so I think it might have been chiggers. I will call my doc either way but just thought I'd get opinions from others who venture into the field for herps and come home with insects instead!
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carl3
www.members.aol.com/northeastsnakes

Just like all other field injuries, spit on it, wipe it off and keep herpin'

Ticks or Chiggers?

First the bad news. The type of ticks that carry lyme disease are tiny. Small as a sesame seed.
Second the bad but not so bad news. Chiggers are red. At least the ones down South are.
A tick is biting you to suck your blood, and will hang on to you until its finished.
A chigger will burrow in your skin to use its saliva to dissolve your tissue for it to suck up in its feeding tube.

BEST SIGN OF A CHIGGER: incessant itching, so bad you can't sleep, worse than the worst mosquito bite.

The doctor can give you help on both of these 'issues'. There is a product out there called 'Chiggeraid' but I haven't used it. I use a Benadryl pen, also sold in drugstores.
But the best bet in the future is to use lots of Deep Woods Off,
and/or deet cream, I have seen D.W. Off fail when the mosquitos are really bad in the summer here in the South. 95% of the time I use Deep Woods Off though and have had not had a chigger bite yet this year...

good luck
JUDY

A tick bite wouldn't itch like a mosquito bite, would it? They were only on me a few hours, or less. I got all/most of them off with the help of my wife's keen eye, tweezers and rubbing alcohol. Now (a few days later) I have little red bumps that are like mosquito bites and itch (but not too bad). I live in the northeast and do not think we have rocky mtn spotted fever, just Lymes Disease (as far as I know). Its so hard to tell if the little buggers are red or brown. They are just so small its too hard to tell for sure if they are baby ticks or chiggers. I never had ticks leave little red itchy bumps so I am thinking that they were chiggers. I just don't want to mess with Lymes disease b/c its extremely bad news to deal with.
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carl3
www.members.aol.com/northeastsnakes

These are the ticks you have to worry about; Known as deer ticks. Your chances of getting lyme disease are very slim however unless you were in the Northeast. Even there, chances are slim. Your chances of getting the disease from an infected host are still very slim if you removed the tick right away. Lyme does occur in the South but not as common. One of my good friends contracted lyme disease 2 years ago. He got weak as heck to the point that he was bed bound for a month or so. He received medication and today is as good as new.
The CDC advises that most transmissions occur when the tick is left to feed for more than 1 day. Having hunted in the South for many years, I have come across locations where there were chigger infestations like you describe and if you dont get rid of them, they will itch (as said before) like crazy. From the CDC's web site as per syptoms:
"Lyme disease most often presents with a characteristic "bull's-eye" rash, erythema migrans, accompanied by nonspecific symptoms such as fever, malaise, fatigue, headache, muscle aches (myalgia), and joint aches (arthralgia)."
See the link if you need more info...
I've been bitten hundreds of times by ticks and chigger as have many on these forums. I wouldn't worry too much unless you start getting symptoms...

Lyme Disease Info

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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

When you apply clear nail polish to the chigger bumps (if they are chiggers), the little buggers will begin to suffocate and come to the surface of the skin and die. Chiggers are small and, often, red. There are a couple of reasons to use clear nail polish. First, you will be able to see if the chigger comes to the suface (they are hard to see since they are tiny). Second, you don't want to have colored dots all over you body from colored polish (lol!).

When I go herping on our land in Oklahoma, I usually "find" more chiggers and ticks than herps.

Nathan Hall

I had about 15 of them on my left ankle and most were trying to crawl further up my calves & thighs. I assumed they were ticks BUT they looked so small. I am going to call my doctor and maybe see if I need to get checked for Lymes (if they were in fact ticks). However, now (2 days later) I have little tiny mosquito-like bumps where they were. Ticks would NOT leave little bites, right? I always thought that reactions from ticks took more than 2 days to appear. Plus, ticks I have had in the past never left any little itchy bumps...so I think it might have been chiggers.

It sounds like they were young instars of some sort of tick. I have gotten hundreds of these on me on a couple of occasions. You generally brush against a bush or some grass, and you look down and see lots of these little barely visible little specks crawling up your legs. Often, if you have socks on they will attach to and feed around your ankles for a few hours then drop off, leaving these little red bumps.

Lyme disease should still leave the characteristic bull's eye rash (a red ring around a lighter area around the bite). You can get lyme from young instars of ticks I believe, so I would watch the bite areas.

Also, you should be aware that there are other more serious conditions that you can get from tick bites, such as Rocky Mtn Spotted fever (a misnomer as it is more common in the eastern mts). If you ever get a tick bite and develop flu-like symptoms, you should get to a doctor ASAP. Untreated Rocky Mtn spotted fever can be fatal in less than 2 weeks.

I, too, used to be lackadaisical about ticks and have had dozens (hundreds?) in my life but had my feelings changed on a herping trip a few years ago where my herping partner got a tick bite and came down with a Rickettsial disease and became deathly ill in just a few days. Without a quick antibiotic intervention, I wouldn't want to think how serious it would have become.
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Chris Harrison

Chris may sound like this is the worst case senerio, but he is right. I live in northern virginia and have contracted lyme twice in two years of the last three. All localy, the flu like symtoms come up ,go get the blood test, but youre to late. The key is to prevent, check and watch. Prevent the ticks, checkoften for climbing and atached ticks, then watch the bite area, for the bullseye. My kiaser permeneta insurance has a pictyre of my back on the doctors buliten board, to show what it looks like.
be carefull.

On a side note. As much as I HATE fire ants; there are places that I used to hunt snakes in North Central Texas as a kid and would come home infested with chiggers and/or ticks. With the introduciton of the fire ants, I can go to the same places now and never see a single tick or chigger. If they weren't so dang mean and killed everything else in their path, I'd like'em. I actually saw a fire ant mound once as they were working over a huge tick. I found myself smiling watching his suffering until they discovered me watching, OUCH!

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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

There prolly is a direct correlation between fewer ticks and chiggers due to the fire ants being increasingly prevelent. Have you noticed a decline in reptile populations in that same area? The imported Fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) has done major damage to populations of terrestrial egg layers (both lizzards and snakes alike). Biologists in Mississippi have attributed this factor as the main reason for the possible extinction of Southern Hognose in it's historical range in Ms.
Paul Bollinger

Yep they pretty much kill anything that's unfortunate enough to cross their paths and cannot get away.
Quail populations and reptile populations have both suffered pretty bad by most studies. Texas has under taken the "natural enemy" approach to the fire ant population.
They have begun releasing a wasp (or fly)that lays their eggs on the fire ant which ultimately causes the ant's head to fall off. I haven't heard if it has been successful or not but if it is, I'm sure we will hear about it..JP
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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

I really hope that they help control the ant populations, however, There may be additional repercussions of introducing another exotic species, who knows?
Paul Bollinger

Hi Carl,

You are most likely the victim of a chigger. Local use of benadryl and cortaid for several days should suffice, however, if redness, pain or warmth develops you may have a skin infection referred to as cellulitis. This will require an antibiotic.

Not much else to do unless your symptoms worsen. Look for a bulls eye type rash (about 50/50 chance) or mild flu like sx. check the local Health Dept to see if your area is endemic or known to be a high risk area. If your doc agrees prophylactic Antibiotics can be used but this is controversial and should be discussed.

Not sure if I helped? Take care

:

Ok it might not the absolute healthiest of solutions but as soon as you get home from the field soak in a bath with a couple of caps full of bleach. I know that we are supposed to avoid contact with bleach but the couple of cap fulls should not be enough to cause you any problems. Just don't wash your hair in it! The bleach will kill any chiggers you may have picked up. I'm not sure about the ticks but I have never had a problem with either since I started doing this.

n/p