This spring, when you head out into your yard to do lawn work or
tend to your plants, you may have a surprise waiting for you. In
fact, this may not be the first year that you’ve had this surprise
waiting for you. Often, chigger bites are mistaken for tick bites,
mosquito bites, or a simple rash. If you’re noticing bites after
being outside in your yard, you might want to consider that those
bites could have come from chiggers.
What is a chigger?
Chiggers are the larval stage of certain species of mites. When
they get onto you or your pet, they can leave itchy bites that are
usually accompanied by a rash.
How did I get chiggers in my yard?
Since chiggers are baby mites, you should ask yourself, “How did I
get mites in my yard?” Well, the answer is simple. Mites live on
warm-blooded animals. If wildlife is able to come into your yard,
they are able to bring those mites in with them.
How do I stop chiggers from coming into my yard?
You can protect your yard from chiggers in the same way you protect your vegetable garden or fruit bushes from wild animals. If you set up a fence all the way around your backyard, you can limit, and even stop, wildlife from coming in, especially it that fence is electrified. That will stop the chiggers, but this is somewhat impractical if you’re not trying to protect rows of vegetables or bushes filled with delicious raspberries.
