Subj : Re: Chiggers
To   : alt.tv.farscape
From : Nick
Date : Thu Sep 08 2005 01:20:04

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape

John Iwaniszek wrote:

> Nick wrote:
> 
>> John Iwaniszek wrote:
>> 
>>> Excuse me.  "Chigras".
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I am chigger-bit up one side and down the other.  I have never
>>> been this afflicted in my life.  
>>> 
>>> The weird thing about chiggers is that they are not evolved to
>>> feed off of humans.  Their natural prey are birds and reptiles,
>>> and thier saliva developed to anesthetize the animal's skin
>>> against the irritation of being disolved and sipped by a micron
>>> sized arthropod. Being able to irritate the living hell out of
>>> humans is just gravy. 
>> 
>> 
>> I hate those little buggers.
>> 
> 
> I was recently stung by some fire ants for the first time.  I was
> at a Lucinda William concert and I thought that I would take
> advantage of the excellent view by a tree that no one in the crowd
> seemed to be taking advantage of.
> 
> The way fire ants sting is by latching on with their mandibles
> then stinging with the stinger in their abdomen.  The twist and
> can sting in a circle.
> 
> The sting "produces an immediate wheal and flare reaction,
> followed within a few hours by the development of a papule and,
> later, a vesicle. Within 24 hours, a characteristic pustule on an
> erythematous base develops. In the absence of secondary infection,
> this pustule resolves in three to ten days, leaving a superficial
> scar." 
> 
> You get a white thick-walled blister surrounded by a red spot that
> is less than a centimeter across.  The sore eventually turns black
> and scabs over. 
> 
> I have chigger bites on the fire ant scars.
> 
> 
> The only satisfaction (except the obvious scientific one) I got
> out of the episode is that the two middle aged love birds standing
> immediately behind me and speaking sweet-innanities to to each
> other that blotted out the music all night, also decided that the
> fire ant hill wa a better place to watch the music.  Not only did
> I get to enjoy a few songs uninterrupted by their juvenile
> first-date blather, but I got to see them shimmy and shake to the
> fire ants' crazy beat. 
> 

Those things breed like mad.  I think I have finally gotten rid of 
the last mound in the yard for a couple of weeks.  Man, there is 
nothing worse than having your baby find a mound of those little 
bastards that you failed to notice.

.