How to Treat Chiggers on a Mattress

Chiggers, or trombicula alfreddugesi, are not insects. They are larvae mites that live in grassy wooded areas and feed on small mammals and humans. Unlike dust mites, they do not live on mattresses, bedding or any other household upholstery. Their preference is in undisturbed soil or on the host of a potential meal. If you suspect you've been bitten by a chigger, you should employ several methods to rid your home -- and mattress -- of chiggers.

Shower

Vinyl mattress cover

Vacuum cleaner

Square of cardboard

Pyrethrum-based pesticide

Wash your clothing in hot, soapy water. Soap and water usually kills the chigger larvae. If your shoes are washable, throw them in the washing machine as well. In the presence of carbon dioxide, chiggers climb onto blades of grass and jump onto the host. Because of their long legs, they can wander on the surface of your clothing and usually settle on shirt cuffs, bottoms of pant legs or any location close to skin.

Wash your body in warm, soapy water. Once on the body, chiggers may crawl on your body for an hour in search of an ideal feeding spot. Taking a shower will wash them off. And, once they're feeding, they cannot survive a shower.

Cover your mattress with a sealing, vinyl mattress cover. During the larvae stage, chiggers must feed on liquefied tissue in order to survive. Though they don't live on and breed in mattresses or other upholstery, if you have chiggers, it won't hurt to cover the mattress.

Vacuum all carpeting and area rugs, and wash flooring. Because chiggers actively crawl, it's easy to suck them up in the vacuum cleaner.

Locate any chigger infestations in your lawn or garden areas. You can test for the presence of chiggers by laying down a dark square of cardboard, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Chiggers climb to the highest location in the grass awaiting vertebrate hosts. If you have chiggers residing in the lawn, they will inevitably crawl across the cardboard. Chiggers are yellow to red in color and unlike mites with eight legs, have just six.

Dust any infested areas with pyrethrum-based pesticide powders. Pyrethrum, a pesticide derived from the chrysanthemum, is relatively safe to the environment but toxic to chiggers.

Before you walk outside in a grassy area, put on a long sleeve shirt and long pants; tuck pant legs into your socks and dust your clothing with a sulfur-based powder. Sulfur is an effective insecticide, and may prevent chiggers from jumping and remaining on your clothing.

Treat any itchy welts with a hydrocortisone cream and avoid scratching. Itchy, red welts usually show up long after the chiggers have fed and dropped off. The rash is an allergic reaction to chigger saliva, which, when injected into the skin, liquefies tissue for the chigger meal.

If you suspect you've been bitten by chiggers, try not to scratch. Scratching open any pustules or welts can introduce infection under the skin. Treat the itch and if the allergic reaction worsens, seek medical attention.