Tiny six-legged chigger larvae attack campers, picnickers, hikers, bird watchers, berry pickers, fishermen, soldiers, and homeowners in low, damp areas where vegetation is rank such as woodlands, berry patches, orchards, along lakes and streams, and even in drier places where vegetation is low such as lawns, golf courses, and parks. They are most numerous in early summer when grass, weeds and other vegetation are heaviest. Chiggers do not burrow into the skin, but insert their mouthparts in a skin pore or hair follicle. Their bites produce small, reddish welts on the skin accompanied by intense itching as irritating as acute cases of poison ivory or poison sumac. These symptoms often are the only way of learning that an outdoor area is infested since chiggers are so small that most cannot be seen without a magnifying glass.
Chiggers feed on a wide variety of snakes, turtles, birds, and small mammals as well as humans.
The larval stage has three pairs of legs whereas the nymph and adult stage have four pairs of legs. There is a marked constriction in the front part of the body in the nymph and adult stage. Eggs are globular-shaped. Life Cycle and Habits Adult chiggers overwinter near or slightly below the soil and in other protected places. After hatching, chigger larvae climb up onto vegetation from which they can more readily snag a passing host.