DFH

Hello All,

Well, I have discovered that one must be selective about where one frolics and cavorts! A lesson I certainly learned over this past ten days. So I am writing this as an educational blog – but mostly it is to make you laugh! I will call it a non-love story about bugs.

I will be the first to say that I am not a creepy crawler girl. Bob tried to get me to garden one time, until I saw bugs and worms. Aiyiyi – I like to look at flowers, but I don’t want to plant them. The only two things I really know about bugs are when I have time to go get Bob to help me with a bug…..or when I need to stand absolutely still and scream Bob’s name. My knight in shining armor always comes running! Well, at least until he finds out what it is about.

So I got these bug bites on both feet. I didn’t get too excited; the bites were a little redder than usual, but I figured it had been a very hungry mosquito. Until all of the sites started simultaneously itching…..and I mean drive you pert near crazy itching. And then these little blisters starting forming! Of course, I called Bob – Bob of the undergraduate degree in biology who is responsible for answering all bug-related Questions of the Day from Alexa. I believe the only good bugs are lady bugs (they are so cute!), dragonflies and butterflies.  

Bob very patiently examined the bites. I peppered him with questions – “Do you think it was a snake?” Bob said “You didn’t see a snake did you? Plus there are no large fang marks.” “Do you think it was one of those deadly spiders? You know, like the black widow or the brown recluse?” “No, dear, there would be two little bite/fang marks.” (I am quite sure that one day I am going to be successful at making Bob’s eyes roll right out of his head!) Then he asked “Have you been frolicking and cavorting in the grass by chance?” (Yes – he does read my blog.) And I told him I might have frolicked a little in wet grass going to my mom’s neighbor’s house. And then he calmly announced “You have been bitten by chiggers.”

Chiggers? What on earth are chiggers? I think these creatures should actually have been named Demons From Hell (or DFH for short – and thus the title of the blog). Of course, then I just had to Google them – and now, of course, I must share this new wealth of knowledge. Evidently they are called “trombiculid mites”. They have a bunch of nicknames – harvest mites, harvest bugs, mower’s mites and red bugs. Chiggers are mites that are “barely visible to the naked eye (their length is less than 1/150th of an inch”)- sneaky demons. Technically they are not even insects; they are arachnids, in the same family as spiders and ticks. (I have never met a spider or tick that I liked!) They are red – and it is the juvenile ones with their six legs that cause all of the excitement. The young DFH like to hitchhike, so they wait for you to walk by and then they attach themselves to you. They “insert feeding structures (called a stylostome) into the skin and inject enzymes that cause destruction of the host tissue” so it is easier for them to eat. This process evidently takes from 1 to 3 hours…..which made me a human buffet! Thank goodness the enzymes cause itching so you can treat them!

Evidently chiggers are found all across the world. Who knew? I am sure that chiggers serve some critical ecological function. Maybe birds eat them or something. I will be grateful to never again be their source of food. It appears that all mosquito repellents are effective at repelling the DFH. Or I will need to wait until it is cooler to walk in the grass – they evidently don’t like colder temperatures.

So I want you to frolic and cavort…..but for goodness sakes, wear bug spray!!

Phyl

P.S. Hope this one made you laugh! I can laugh now that I am no longer attempting to remove my feet!

P.S.S. – And if this is the first time you have ever read one of my blogs, I promise I do not typically rant about bugs! Please read some of my other posts! LOL.

P.S.S. FOOTBALL IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!