Re: Do chiggers live inside of you until you kill them?

Chiggers, also known as "harvest mites", are a very common human pest, but 
there are often misunderstandings about their life cycle and behavior.  

What are commonly referred to as chiggers are actually the larval form of 
the common red mite.  The adult is a completely harmless tiny little red 
mite (you can see them all the time as tiny red dots moving around).  In 
the adult stage, they usually eat small insects and all type of decaying 
organism matter, etc.  In the spring, they lay eggs which hatch in the 
early summer (May-July).  The larva then climb up the nearest twig or blade 
of grass and wait for a passing rodent, bird, human, dog, whatever.  It 
will then grab onto you and look for a good spot to eat (usually this is a 
warm/wet place, often where your clothing fits tightly).  The larval mite 
then grabs tightly to a hair follicle and secretes saliva onto your skin.  
This actually contains powerful digestive enzymes that dissolve your skin 
cells.  Thus, the larva does NOT burrow under your skin (like a tick does), 
nor does it suck blood (like a mosquito).  It in fact sucks in the juices 
of your dissolved skin (think of it eating a skin milkshake).  After about 
4 days, it becomes "full" and then leaves your body and goes on to develop 
into an adult mite.  Thus, to answer your question, the mite will stay on 
your body (but not inside your body) for approximately 4 days unless you 
kill it first.

In humans, the mite saliva usually causes an immune reaction that causes 
irritation to the skin.  This results in a red welt and very itchy skin.  
This is very bad for the mite because usually it gets dislodged and killed 
by the person scratching.  Thus, chiggers usually don't survive human hosts 
- so really they are not interested in humans at all, but in other animals 
like rodents and birds.  But since the mite can't really tell the 
difference, they often "accidentally" attack humans.  You can prevent 
chiggers by not wearing shorts (for example) and using insect repellent 
(DEET).  Also, after walking around in the brush, if you take a shower 
early enough, they will end up down the drain.  However, once you start 
itching (which is usually how you discover chiggers), it is usually too 
late to wash away the saliva.  At this point, it's best just to use one of 
several available ointments to relieve the itching and irritation.