How to Get Rid of Chiggers

Controlling Chiggers Outdoors

Mow your lawn regularly and cut back 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. Regularly prune your trees, bushes, and other shrubs to lower the humidity around those plants and allow more sunlight to filter in. These measures reduce the shade and moisture chiggers thrive in. They particularly dislike dry, sunny areas with good air circulation. Continue these practices year-round. Dormant chiggers will return once the weather warms up.

Discourage chigger host animals from entering your yard. Reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals are favorite hosts among chiggers. Discouraging these animals from hanging around may also cause the chiggers to leave, since they'll follow their food source. Remove sources of water that invite reptiles and amphibians. Cut back dense foliage or shrubbery to discourage small mammals that use these areas as convenient hiding places. Secure the lids of your trash cans and set up fencing around the perimeter of your garden or yard.

Identify chigger hot spots in your yard for targeted treatment. When applying natural or chemical insecticides to kill chiggers, you should treat hot spots instead of treating the entire area. This is less expensive, quicker, and generally more effective. To do this, though, you first need to find the chiggers! Pick out hot spots by propping up small squares of black cardboard around your yard, especially in damp, shady areas with thicker vegetation. After 15-30 minutes, check for tiny yellow or pink specks on the cardboard—these are chigger larvae! Alternatively, place small dishes of water in the same strategic locations. The larvae should be attracted to the elevated humidity. Keep track of the hot spots you identify for targeted treatment.

Sprinkle diatomaceous earth over chigger hot spots in your yard. Doing a broadcast application of diatomaceous earth, which is a natural, organic pesticide, can help eliminate chiggers and other garden and lawn pests. Wear gloves, glasses, and a facemask and either spread it by hand or with a lawn spreader. This is a natural product made up of the fossils of small creatures called diatoms. It comes in the form of a fine white or off-white powder. Sprinkle the diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of your yard and over any areas that may offer ideal conditions for chiggers to live in. Focus on tall grass, weeds, and briars. If a chigger ingests any of the diatomaceous earth, it will die of dehydration. The sharp granules may also cut into and kill any chiggers that crawl over it.

Spray chigger hot spots with an appropriate insecticide. Look for an insecticide containing bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, esfenvalerate, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, bifenthrin, carbaryl, cyhalothrin, or permethrin. Insecticides containing any of these chemicals are usually effective at killing chiggers. However, read the label carefully to determine if a specific insecticide is formulated for mites and/or chiggers. Follow the label instructions concerning application safety. Wear protective clothing to prevent insecticides from coming into contact with your skin or eyes as you apply them. Retreat the area 2 to 3 weeks later if you have a large number of chiggers infesting your yard. Liquid spray insecticides are generally more effective against chiggers than granular insecticides. If selecting a granular insecticide, however, choose one containing bifenthrin.

Call a professional pest control operator for severe infestations. If preventative measures, natural remedies, and home chemical remedies do not succeed in getting rid of your chigger problem, contact a professional exterminator. Pest control professionals are licensed to use stronger formulations of chemicals that are more hazardous yet more effective. For instance, the exterminator may use propoxur, cyfluthrin, or fluvalinate to get rid of chiggers. Stay off treated areas until dry. Prevent children and pets from walking over treated areas for as long as recommended by the exterminator. Even with these stronger chemicals, you may need to retreat the area after 2 or 3 weeks if the infestation is heavy enough.

Removing Chiggers from Skin and Clothing

Brush off any exposed skin every 15-30 minutes while outside. Chiggers do not necessarily latch on as soon as they come into contact with your flesh. Regularly brushing over any exposed skin on your arms and legs 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. Use a towel or soft bristled brush.

Shower with hot water and soap after coming indoors. If you were in an area that may be infested by chiggers, take a hot bath or shower immediately after coming back inside. If you’re lucky, you’ll wash away and kill any chiggers before they get the opportunity to latch onto your skin. To ensure extermination, you should lather, rinse, and repeat several times during the shower. The water must also be very warm to hot, not lukewarm. Vigorously scrub your skin with a washcloth to dislodge any chiggers that may have attached themselves.

Wash your clothes in hot water. If you may have been exposed to chiggers outside, 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 °F (52 °C), or the chiggers may not be killed. Additionally, the washing cycle should last for 30 minutes or more to ensure the chiggers are washed away. After washing your clothes, 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 may not kill the chiggers.

Reduce the itching of any bites without scratching them. If chiggers did attach themselves to your skin, you’ll have to deal with itchy bug bites within a few hours. 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 a paste of baking soda and water. Don't scratch the bites, no matter how much they itch! If you do, you may break the skin and cause an infection. If you feel warmth in the area or see a discharge coming from the bite, contact your doctor.

Keeping Chiggers off of You

Cover your skin with tightly-woven fabrics to block chiggers. If you’re going into a chigger hot spot or any area with tall vegetation, prevent chiggers from attaching to you by concealing as much skin as possible. Wear long sleeves, long pants, long socks, and tall boots. 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.

Tuck or tie 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, seal off any openings to your skin as best as possible. Focus especially on areas from the waist down, since chiggers often move from tall grass to your lower body. Tuck your socks into your pants or your pant legs into your socks, sealing off the gap of skin between them. Tuck your shirt into your pants. Chiggers like to nibble on areas with thinner skin, such as the genitals—ouch! If venturing into tall grass or weeds, tie off your sleeves around the wrists with rubber bands or ribbon. When possible, wear clothes with zippers rather than buttons.

Sprinkle sulfur powder in your socks and shoes. Certain strong odors, including sulfur powder, are reputedly effective at driving 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 has a potent odor, which may make it a less than ideal solution if you have a particularly sensitive sense of smell. There’s also not much reliable evidence to prove that this method really works.

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. You can also apply it to your clothing (but not your skin underneath clothing) in these areas. DEET treatments can last for 2 to 3 hours. You’ll have to reapply it after that. 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 the label directions carefully. Some repellents can damage clothing, plastics, nail polish, and painted or varnished surfaces.

Try permethrin treatments for your clothes. Like DEET, permethrin (0.5%) repellents are also very useful against chiggers. However, permethrin should only be applied to your clothes, never 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, you may want to treat your clothes the 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 completely before putting the clothes on. Follow the 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.

Avoid venturing into tall grass whenever possible. If you are walking in a park, picnic area, or other location where you have no control over how tall the grass and weeds are, make sure you stick to well-worn paths. Assume that any spot with tall grass is a chigger hot spot, especially if it’s also damp and shaded. Steer clear of 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 chigger environment.

Don’t sit or lie on the ground, especially anywhere near a potential hot spot. Even though chiggers do not often hang out in low-cut grass, they may be in the area if there is taller vegetation nearby. If chiggers have migrated to the shorter grass, they may bite and attach themselves to the bare skin of your hands, neck, or head.