Too sexy for my shoes

[BlackShanglan]

That's right. I've pried them all off.

Of course, it might have something to do with needing to sit with my feet and legs immersed to mid-calf in a portable cooler filled with water and baking soda. Our recent vacation was a delight, but it introduced me to my first serious encounter with chiggers, which have bitten my feet, ankles, and lower calves something like (rough estimate) fifty billion times. Compounding my cheery feelings on this topic, of course, is the SO's response to my wondering observation that they'd only bitten me and not the SO: "Yes. Remember when I offered you that insect repellent, and you said the mosquitos weren't biting and left it off?"

So I'm sitting in a recliner with a lapdesk over the arms and my bare legs, covered in (again, roughly; could be more) fifty billion bright red spots stuck in a large rolling cooler filled with water.

God, I'm sexy. Come have a nibble.

 

[maggot420]

That does sound damn sexy I must admit.
Unfortunately I opted to play hockey this morning and my legs are now sandbags and I am thus incapacitated. Otherwise I'd be all over the nibbling.

I share your woe.

 

[carsonshepherd]

You could just get some Chig-r-rid, unless you like being all dramatic with the soaking and the poultices.

*nibble*

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'll wait till you're healed, before I offer you fifty billion little kisses-- check, ifyou haven't done so, the wikipedia article on chiggers

I recommend calendula ointment, if you're herbally inclined-- it does seem to speed healing

 

[neonlyte]

I recommend calendula ointment, if you're herbally inclined-- it does seem to speed healing

And it's such good fun smearing the cream into the fetlocks. Just make sure there are no tick bites among those blotches

 

[Guest]

Don't you just hate it when they're all right and stuff???

my 2c - oatmeal bath. Soothing for the skin.

kissykissykissy

 

[cloudy]

Clear fingernail polish, Shang. Paint each bright red spot with the polish, and let it dry, and you will be chigger-less in two days, tops.

 

[unpredictablebijou]

Poor horsie!

I am rather the queen of itches, between a fierce allergy to poison ivy and some sort of pheromone that attracts chiggers and mosquitoes from miles away.

I have had great success with benadryl, either orally (do they make that in horse pills?) or in ointment form.

For the future, two things work very nicely for chiggers: use tea tree or eucalyptus oil on your socks and shoes. If they can't climb onto you, they won't get any further up. And since they can only bite if they have something to push against, you must have had socks on your fetlocks. Going naked is a better choice, except for those little naughty places that have creases they can get into, and the parts under your saddle blanket, which can be protected with tea tree oil.

The great irony of chiggers is that they are actually nice little guys - all they're doing is the rather helpful task of ingesting a few of your dead skin cells. Problem is, their saliva is so caustic it causes that nasty reaction you're experiencing.

Mythbuster: the chigger is NOT STILL THERE. People will tell you it has burrowed under your skin and you must smother it with nail polish. That is extremely silly. Don't bother.

They'll clear up within a few days to a week, generally, and in the meantime go for benadryl so you don't have to sit still with your hooves in buckets.


my deepest sympathy,
bijou

 

[glynndah]

And how exactly did chiggers know where to bite before humans started wearing socks and underwear?

 

[unpredictablebijou]

And how exactly did chiggers know where to bite before humans started wearing socks and underwear?

They bit the naughty parts. Folds, creases, armpits, legpits, that sort of thing. Hooray for sox. At least they don't tend to go further up that way.

bijou

 

[MarshAlien]

Oh, for pete's sake, it's a horse! Who among us doesn't remember the old Far Side cartoon? "Like the other veterinary students, Pete breezed through the chapter on equine medicine."

If you're really worried, give him some bute and just turn him out.

 

[BlackShanglan]

You could just get some Chig-r-rid, unless you like being all dramatic with the soaking and the poultices.

*nibble*

Oooh! I had no idea there was such a thing.

I'm going shopping.

(But I might keep the drama.)

Thank you all for the excellent advice!

 

[jomar]

It's Friday, so don't forget the healing powers of alcohol. (Unless you use too much.)

 

[unpredictablebijou]

I never had much luck with the Chig-r-rid. Found benadryl far more effective. But it doesn't harmonize quite as well with booze, so be careful.

bijou

 

[glynndah]

A caution about Chigarid or clear nail polish. Be sure it's all gone before you shave your legs. Neither remedy is razor compatible.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I've taken Benadryl (internally and externally, in the appropriate forms) and will see how that goes. The lovely thing about Benadrl, for me, is that even half a dose knocks me flat, so I don't feel the itching. If that doesn't end the problem, when I wake up I will head out to the drug store for Chig-r-rid and clear nail polish. Then I'll shave and cover myself in eucalyptus oil - but that's not really for the chigger bites.

The baking soda soaks do really, really help. That brought down the itching enough that rubbing on the Bendryl cream didn't even leave me scratching wildly from the tickle.

 

[English Lady]

Awww, poor horsey. *strokes and tickles*

 

[BlackShanglan]

Awww, poor horsey. *strokes and tickles*

Ahhh. At least I feel sexy again.

 

[English Lady]

Ahhh. At least I feel sexy again.

you really are easy, aren't you?

 

[BlackShanglan]

you really are easy, aren't you?

I'm an honorable horse: I've never denied it.

 

[Vermilion]

eurgh <freaks out> you have so many horrible biting things in the States. I'm having paranoid itching delusions now... or are they hallucinations. Either way I wish I hadn;t read this thread!
x
V

 

[English Lady]

I'm an honorable horse: I've never denied it.

I'd have you no other way.

 

[Guest]

Gives sympathy and a sugarcube to Shang.

 

[impressive]

Then I'll shave and cover myself in eucalyptus oil - but that's not really for the chigger bites.

As a peppermint devotee, I concur.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Carson, bless you for letting me know that Chig-r-Rid exists. It's working wonders. And Cloudy, I see that your advice must be good too, as this Chig-r-Rid stuff actually smells like nail polish and creates a tough shiny skin over the bites. Strange, but thus far more effective than anything else I've tried.