Spiders, Wasps & Chiggers – Oh My!

Tom witnessed a life and death battle the other day on the driveway. A large blue and red wasp attacked and killed a large tarantula like spider. Then it dragged the spider about 50 feet up a hill. I would have put something down so you could tell the scale of these things but they were moving too fast. I’d say the wasp was about 2 inches long.

We thought it was going to take it to it’s lair – but it just left it under the cabana. Maybe it didn’t like having it’s picture taken.

The spider lost

What do you think?

And Chiggers – funny name, but not so funny bites.

Again, Brad was the lucky member of our group to discover these nasty things. They are a microscopic member of the arachnid family found in high grass in fields and pastures. Unlike ticks that are just happy to suck your blood, these things inject digestive enzymes into your skin that dissolves your skin cells – then it sucks them up. It keeps moving around injecting this stuff into your skin until it thinks it has enough protein. Then it drops off your body and looks for a houseplant to finish it’s lifecycle.

These are the most itchy bites of all, and they can last up to 2 weeks. Plus, the body’s reaction to the venom is to create huge painful blisters. which can become infected if popped. Brad ignored the itching is his foot for about 12 hours – enough time for these things to spread through his whole body, all his clothes and the bed. I was up picking these things off him with sharp tweezers and a flashlight for 2.5 hours in the middle of the night. Now our daily routine includes checking if we missed any, baking soda baths and slathering him with calamine lotion. The photo below is just his foot – but he has these all the way up to his head. Just imagine!

each red dot is a blistering bite!

I only found 1 on me, and I got it off right away. No one else has been affected.