Last Sabbath, August 30, I went hiking at a place my friends and I have been to many times. On this visit, however, we did something we don’t usually do, and went for a walk around the lake. The weeds were kind of high along parts of the trail. What I didn’t realize until later was that I had picked up some hitchhikers: chiggers.
Unfortunately, chiggers are nearly microscopic, and chigger bites only appear after the damage is done. By then the chigger has already packed up and said goodbye. After feeding, chiggers drop off and turn into harmless adults. Sometimes extra chiggers may tag along, hiding in your shoes, socks, carpet, bedding, etc., and come out for dinner later. For this reason, if you’ve been in chigger country, it’s a good idea to take a shower and put your clothes in the wash after you get home. (If you’ve had a bad experience with chiggers in the past, you may be tempted to burn your clothes.) Using insect repellent works well at keeping them off.
Like their relatives, ticks, chiggers seem to prefer tight, warm places between skin and clothing, and so socks and waists are frequent targets. They leave behind extremely itchy welts, lasting a few days to a week or so.
On this occasion I ended up with about 30 chigger bites, mostly around my ankles, as well as a little poison ivy rash on my right ankle for good measure.
This experience got me to thinking about chiggers: what they are, where they live, what they do in their free time.
After all, there are only so many hosts for a chigger to choose from, and one can never know when a host might come by. Life as a young chigger must have its long, lonely moments. I imagine groups of intellectual young chiggers passionately debating whether it’s better to “wait” or be more proactive. You only go through the life cycle once, and whoever you pick, you’re stuck with.
Of course, whether a chigger chooses to wait or hunt probably depends on its location. Country chiggers who choose to hunt could end up on wild goose chases or chasing rabbits. There’s lots of wild, open spaces, and it can be hard to catch someone who’s just passing through. On the other hand, waiting could go on for a long, long time. A suitable match might never swing by. Life can seem hard and a bit random for the chigger trying to make it in the country.
But things are different if you’re a city chigger. For the lucky chigger living near the big city, life is constant action. You hardly need to do anything. In fact, you can practically just sit there, looking pretty, and some sweet dear might come along and practically sit on you. On the other hand, if you jump at the first bite, you might miss a better option. A new one comes by every few minutes sometimes, so it’s safe to bide one’s time and wait. You just don’t want to get into a habit of waiting, because you’re only young for so long, and you need to get busy and start a family while you still can. Of course, with increased opportunities come increased risks. The environment can be quite toxic. The city isn’t the ideal place you’d want to raise larva.
For some reason, once chiggers reach adulthood (at which point they are no longer chiggers, but full fledged mites), they all go vegan. I suppose a fast-paced lifestyle of living off cellular fluids eventually catches up with you, and it’s nice to just sit back and sip vegetable juices. “They goes grandpa,” the young chiggers say, “drinking his green grass juice.” Meanwhile, their eyes are on the legs of a pretty young woman passing by. Here she comes, here she comes…. Bite!
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